Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 16th April 2022

NEWS

Robin Uthappa has been appointed as the brand ambassador of Karnataka Brain Health Initiative

DETAILS

• Diagnosis and timely treatment of common neurological problems
• What problems are treated - epilepsy, headache, stroke, dementia and brain infections
• Diagnosis can be done from the grassroots level of primary health centres, secondary-level district hospitals and NIMHANS at the tertiary level in Karnataka
• Launched by State government in association with NIMHANS and Niti Ayog in January
• Preparations to start Brain Health Clinics in the three pilot hospitals – Jayanagar General hospital in Bengaluru Urban, SNR Hospital in Kolar and District Hospital in Chickballapur – has begun, the government has appointed cricketer Robin Uthappa as the brand ambassador for brain and mental health programmes
• The pilot project has also been announced in this year’s State Budget
• Brain health promoting activities such as physical exercises, yoga, sports, traditional art and crafts, stress reduction and nutritional support will be initiated in three pilot districts
• Overall 180 doctors, including 26 neurologists from NIMHANS, are involved

 NEWS

Karnataka to celebrate birth anniversary  of Sri Siddalinga Swami of Tontadarya Mutt’s in Gadag as ‘Integration Day’

SRI SIDDALINGA SWAMI

• Great philosopher and thinker
• Dedicated to building a harmonious society
• Received the Rajyotsava award for communal harmony and the Rashtriya Basava Puraskar, National Integration Award
• Led the ‘Save Kappatagudda’ movement as he was immensely concerned about the environment
• Written scores of literary works with social reforms as the main theme
• Well known for his progressive actions
• 19th head of Tontadarya Mutt
• 80 educational institutions had also been established by him
• Aikya Mantapa is a structure built around the location where the seer’s mortal remains were buried on the Tontadarya Mutt grounds in Gadag

NEWS

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has recently issued guidelines to states and union territories asking that they modernize prisons as part of the Modernisation of Prisons Project

DETAILS

• Started in 2002-03 with the goal of improving the conditions of prisons, prisoners, and prison personnel
• As per new guidelines project will run for five years, from 2021 to 2026.
• Government of India has opted to provide financial assistance to states and union territories under the Project for Using Modern-Day Security Equipment in Prisons for:
• Increasing the security of jails.
• Through correctional administration programmes, the task of reforming and rehabilitating prisoners is facilitated.
• The Central Government will provide a grant to states and UTs to implement the project.
• Grants-in-aid are payments made by one government to another government, body, institution, or individual in the form of assistance, donations, or contributions.
• Implementation Strategy: MHA will allocate funds to states and union territories based on the number of jails, inmates, jail staff, etc.
• The Steering Committee formed to monitor the implementation of the modernization of prisons project will make the proposal of funding.
• Coverage: The project will include all states and union territories, as well as the following jail types: Central Jails, District Jails, Sub-Jails, Open Jails, Women Jails, Special Jails, and so on.

NEWS

The Ministry of Roads, Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has developed the portal named ‘e-DAR’ (e-Detailed Accident Report) to speed up accident compensation claims

DETAILS

• Designed in consultation with insurance companies
• Provide instant information on road accidents with a few clicks
• Help accelerate accident compensation claims, bringing relief to victims’ families
• Digitalised Detailed Accident Reports (DAR) will be uploaded for easy access
• Will be linked to the Integrated Road Accident Database (iRAD)
• Stakeholders like the police, road authorities, hospitals, etc., are required to enter very minimal information for the e-DAR forms
• Would be linked to other government portals like Vaahan and would get access to information on driving licence details and registration of vehicles
• Would provide geo tagging of the exact accident spot along with the site map
• Details like photos, video of the accident spot, damaged vehicles, injured victims, eye-witnesses, etc., would be uploaded immediately
• Apart from the state police, an engineer from the Public Works Department or the local body will receive an alert on his mobile device and the official concerned will then examine the accident site
• Would conduct multiple checks against fake claims by conducting a sweeping search of vehicles involved in the accident, the date of accident, and the First Information Report number.

UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE

WHAT

• All people have access to the health services they need, when and where they need them, without financial hardship.
• Includes the full range of essential health services, from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care.

ROUTES TO ACHIEVE

• Two basic approaches: public service and social insurance
• In the first approach, health care is provided as a free public service, just like the services of a fire brigade or public library
• The second approach (social insurance) allows private as well as public provision of health care, but the costs are mostly borne by the social insurance fund(s), not the patient
• The basic principle is that everyone should be covered and insurance should be geared to the public interest rather than private profit

CHALLENGES

• Absence of public health centres, dedicated to primary health care and preventive work, create the risks of patients rushing to expensive hospitals every other day thus making the whole system wasteful and expensive.
• Containing costs is a major challenge with social insurance, because patients and health-care providers have a joint interest in expensive care — getting better healthcare for one and earning for the other
• Identifying what services are to be universally provided to begin with and what level of financial protection is considered acceptable.
• Another challenge with social insurance is to regulate private health-care providers. A crucial distinction needs to be made between for-profit and nonprofit providers.
• Non-profit health-care providers have done great work around the world
• For-profit health care, however, is deeply problematic because of the pervasive conflict between the profit motive and the well-being of the patient.

HEALTHCARE AS AN OPTIONAL PUBLIC SERVICE (HOPS) FRAMEWORK

• It is possible to envisage a framework for UHC that would build primarily on health care as a public service. The framework might be called “Healthcare As An Optional Public Service” (HOPS).
• Under HOPS, everyone would have a legal right to receive free, quality health care in a public institution if they wish.
• It would not prevent anyone from seeking health care from the private sector at their own expense.
• But the public sector would guarantee decent health services to everyone as a matter of right, free of cost.
• If quality health care is available for free in the public sector, most patients will have little reason to go to the private sector.
• Social insurance could also play a role in this framework by helping cover procedures that are not easily available in the public sector (e.g., high-end surgeries).
• Although HOPS would not be as egalitarian as the national health insurance model initially, it would still be a big step toward UHC.
• Moreover, it will become more egalitarian over time, as the public sector provides a growing range of health services.
• The basic principles remain: everyone should be covered and insurance should be geared to the public interest rather than private profit.

EXAMPLES OF HOPS

• Tamil Nadu is well placed to make HOPS a reality under its proposed Right to Health Bill.
• Tamil Nadu is already able to provide most health services in the public sector with good effect (according to the fourth National Family Health Survey, a large majority of households in Tamil Nadu go to the public sector for health care when they are sick).
• The scope and quality of these services are growing steadily over time.
• A Right to Health Bill would be an invaluable affirmation of the State’s commitment to quality health care for all.
• It would empower patients and their families to demand quality services, helping to improve the system further. Last but not least, it would act as a model and inspiration for all Indian States.

NEWS

The record sightings of Malabar tree toad by citizen scientists has increased. Since 2014, over 100 ‘citizen scientists’ have recorded 201 observations from various locations in Kerala, Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka

MALABAR TREE TOAD

• Also known as warty Asian tree toad
• Species of toad found in forests along the Western Ghats of India south of Goa
• Found in wet tree hollows or leaf bases containing water
• Endangered species
• Spends most of its life on trees, coming to the ground only during the first monsoon showers to mate
• Found only in the evergreen forests of the Western Ghats and nowhere else in the world
• Can be sighted only when they descend to the ground at the beginning of the Southwest monsoon to breed in forest streams
• Found across Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu
• Threats - deforestation, forest fragmentation, and changing weather patterns due to global climate change

NEWS

World Chagas Day is observed annually on the 14th of April

DETAILS

• The 72nd World Health Assembly, 2019 approved the designation of Chagas Disease
• Called silent because it progresses slowly, and silenced because it mainly affects the poor people who often lack political voice and proper health care
• Got its name from Dr Carlos Ribeiro Justiniano Chagas, who diagnosed the first patient with the disease in Brazil on April 14, 1909
• Classified as a neglected tropical disease (NTD)
• Affects the low-income populations in developing countries across the globe
• Also called the American trypanosomiasis, this vector-borne disease hits the most poverty-stricken communities, especially in Latin America
• A parasitic protozoan called Trypanosoma cruzi that causes this vector-borne disease is usually transmitted by faeces and urine of triatomine bugs or kissing bugs, which belongs to the family of assassin bugs
• Can also be transmitted by contaminated food, organ transplantations, blood or blood products transfusion, and infected mothers to newborn
• Lack of awareness and neglecting the symptoms, especially among poor households, results in much severe symptoms and even death.
• Symptoms include fever, muscle pain, headache, difficulty in breathing, abdominal or chest pain and enlarged lymph glands.