Malta and Swaziland are the laziest countries in the world followed by Saudi Arabia. Kuwait and UAE also figure in the top ten list of the countries where people are not undertaking sufficient physical activity to keep them fit. Among the other European nations Serbia tops the list followed by UK.

India figures at the lower half of the 100 plus nations table as reported in a new study by the Lancet Medical Journal. The report has been released to coincide with the London Olympics and to highlight the global attention to lack of physical exercise which is leading to fatal lifestyle diseases.

The study shows in Malta, 71.9% of adults are inactive and in Serbia the proportion is 68.3%. Saudi Arabia is placed third with 68.3 % of its adults failing to get into any exercise. Kuwait and the UAE also rank in the top ten with 64.5 percent and 62.5 percent of adults not meeting the recommended level of activity. In UK where the London Olympics are being held , 63.3% of adults do not exercise. 

India is placed at the lower half of the table with 15.6 % of its total population being inactive. The most active countries are Greece, where only 16% are inactive followed by Estonia and Netherlands and all of them have a significant number of people engaged in regular physical exercises.

The report, which uses data from the World Health Organization, suggests that the couch potato lifestyle kills about five million people worldwide every year. Inactivity has largely been blamed on wrong social trends, such as spending more time in cars and in front of computers. 

The WHO recommended levels of physical activities include walking briskly for 30 minutes or more five times a week or taking more vigorous exercise for 20 minutes three times a week.

Government has banned readymade imported ELISA kit for blood tests in hospitals to detect tuberculosis,TB. Following the findings of an expert group, the Union health ministry has banned the import of sero-diagnostic kits, ELISA,saying it is giving inconsistent and imprecise results leading to wrong diagnosis of the air-borne disease.The official gazette notification says, their use is likely to involve risk to human beings, and safer alternatives are available. An expert group, set up by the Drug Controller General of India, DCGI , had found that blood tests are mostly inaccurate for TB detection. The committee has said it is not advisable to use blood tests and hence should be banned.Our Correspondent reports,most of these ELISA kits are imported from France and the UK. However, these countries themselves do not approve the same tests for clinical use on their own TB patients.The World Health Organization, in its first-ever negative policy recommendation, recently called on governments to immediately ban blood tests prescribed and used to detect TB, mainly in the private sector.Despite the evidence against blood tests to detect TB, experts say 15 lakh TB serological tests are estimated to be done in India, with patients spending an estimated 75 crore rupees annually on such tests.

A resolution moved by India to develop a common action plan to address the issue of mental health was approved by member countries and World Health Organisation, at the 65th World Health Assembly. New Delhi had played a leadership role in promoting the global debate on the need for urgent action plan for the promotion of mental health at the ongoing World Health Assembly in Geneva.

The government has been separately working on strengthening interventions in the 12th Plan for the care of people with mental illness, including emphasis on family and community care and training of health and community workers, and short and long stay homes.