Click here to Download 9 PM Daily Brief PDF (30th Sept. 2016)
NATIONAL
[1]. ‘T.N. in dire need of water’
The Hindu
Context
Reiterating the need for the immediate constitution of Cauvery Management Board as ordered by the Supreme Court, the Tamil Nadu government on Thursday demanded that Karnataka release the stipulated quantity of Cauvery water which was vital for at least one samba crop this season.
Tamilnadu CM’s statement
- Tamil Nadu was in dire need of water and that, in the spirit of the SC order, the Centre should ensure that Karnataka complied with it and released water to Tamil Nadu.
- Further, Karnataka should release the stipulated quantity of water as per the Final Order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, including the backlog of 76.042 TMC as on September 26, 2016,
- “This is absolutely vital for the survival of at least a single samba crop in the Cauvery delta which is the granary of Tamil Nadu as well as to meet the drinking water needs of a large number of towns and villages
[2]. Envoys of 31 nations on Spice Route to meet
Context
A meeting is expected to be convened in New Delhi in November 2016 where ambassadors of these 31 countries, which traded spices and other commodities with Kerala, will discuss the sharing of knowledge on their ancient trade with Kerala through the Muziris port, said to have been located near Kodungalloor in Kerala.
Spice route
The Spice Routes, also known as Maritime Silk Roads, is the name given to the network of sea routes that link the East with the West. They stretch from the west coast of Japan, through the islands of Indonesia, around India to the lands of the Middle East – and from there, across the Mediterranean to Europe.
What is Muziris?
Muzirisis the largest heritage conservation project in India and is a State government initiative involving renovation of ancient places of worship, old markets, forts and the construction of museums
- Muziris project speaks of how cosmopolitan the land was and how it contributed to the present cultural diversity of the region
[3]. ‘Miracle’ TB drug hit by low enrolment
Context
Six months after the launch of ‘miracle’ drug Bedaquiline — the most effective treatment for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis — the Indian government has enrolled a mere 36 patients.
Bedaquiline
Bedaquiline is used exclusively to treat patients who have failed to respond to second-line anti-TB medicines.This is the first drug in decades to dramatically improve MDR-TB treatment outcomes.
India had received a donation of 300 doses from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
- The drug was to be introduced in six hospitals in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Guwahati and later be introduced in 104 districts in five States
Negligence
India has been really negligent with its bedaquiline programme, only a handful of patients have been enrolled. India has about 2,300 XDR-TB patients: only 36 are currently on the government’s access programme. India has made a lot of promises about new drugs on paper but they are failing to deliver.
MDR-TB burden
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), India shoulders 71,000 multi-drug resistant tuberculosis patients. Its report says nearly 10 per cent of all multi-drug resistant TB patients have extensively drug resistant TB or XDR-TB — “resistant to any fluoroquinolone, and at least one of three second-line injectable drugs (capreomycin, kanamycin and amikacin), in addition to multidrug resistance.”
- Other countries like South Africa, Swaziland or even Belarus have put nearly 5% of their MDR TB patients on bedaquiline within a year.
Reasons for slow enrollments
The government set stringent eligibility criteria, allowing only patients residing close to the treatment centres.
To increase the enrollments
- Technical criteria has been relaxed
by using the drug on patients who are resistant to any fluoroquinolone
- Geographical criteria has been relaxed
Now patients in the entire city and not just the immediate neighbourhood will be eligible
EDITORIAL
[1]. Budget merger may need Parliament’s nod
Context
The Centre may have to pass a resolution in Parliament in the upcoming session to finally put an end to the practice of presenting a separate Rail Budget.
Constitutional provision
- The Constitution does not provide for a separate Rail Budget, it was separated from general finances after a resolution was passed in the Legislative Assembly (now Parliament) based on therecommendations made by the Acworth Committee in 1921.
- Based on the recommendations made by Acworth Committee, it was decided that the separation of Railway Finances be effected by means of a Convention to be laid before the Legislative Assembly (now Parliament), in the form of a resolution, and that the Assembly be asked to agree to it.
- The matter was placed before the House, which voted the Convention resolution of 1924.
Presentation of a separate Budget is more of a matter of Convention than any rule.
Indian Express
[2]. A low priority called health
Context
Article brings forth the fact that India’s healthcare system is riddled with problems and private sector is more dominant in this arena
An article published in The Lancet on June 26 reveals the tragedy of India’s healthcare system in more objective terms.
- It evaluates the role of private players in the healthcare system of countries. The article brackets India with Nigeria in the group of nations with a “dominant private sector”.
Few questions arises
What went wrong that private players are predominant in the country’s healthcare sector?
Share of the private sector
The private sector’s share in healthcare in India is an astonishing 78 per cent in urban areas and 71 per cent in rural areas; in Sri Lanka the share of the two sectors is nearly equal.
Public money to private coffers
What is more chilling is that public-funded healthcare insurance schemes in India, like the RashtriyaSwasthBeema Yojana, give more than 80 per cent of their reimbursements to the private sector. Simply put, money from public coffers is finding its way to private lockers through legitimate systems.
Poverty due to health expenditure
Poverty caused by expenditure on health has doubled in India in the past 15 years. Out-of-pocket health expenditure in India accounted for 6.8 per cent of household resources (and 12.1 per cent of non-food expenditure) in 2011-12.
Importance of health
Healthy people contribute physically and intellectually to a nation’s well-being. Unfortunately, however, health ranks low in the priorities of our rulers.
- Low GDP spending: At 1.3 per cent of the GDP, public spending on healthcare in India is lower than some of the poorest countries of the world. Bhutan and Ethiopia spend more on health than we do.
Comparing IMRs
- Bangladesh: The UN Population Division’s World Population Prospects reveals that Bangladesh has a better infant mortality (IMR) rate than India — 31 versus 38 per 1,000 live births.
- Nepal’s IMR is even better — 29 per 1,000 life births – while Sri Lanka’s IMR is better than a number of Western countries — eight per 1,000 live births.
- Iraq: The fact that even war-ravaged Iraq has an IMR of 27 per 1,000 live births speaks volumes of the shambles in which the Indian healthcare system finds itself
Consequences
The strengthening of private healthcare at the cost of the public sector has had disastrous consequences. People are forced to look towards the private sector in the absence of a robust public health system.
Solutions
- Increase in spending on healthcare
- Formulating relevant health policies (in a country where deaths due to diarrhea are more than deaths due to SARS)
- Making the healthcare system accountable are some of the urgent necessities
Conclusion
Private health players should understand that they exist to complement the public healthcare system not replace it
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