Doctors appearing in ads for hospitals may face action                                          

Telangana addresses maternal mortality                                                                  

Anti-dumping duty put on saccharine                                                                        

India, UK in talks to build Naval supercarrier under ‘Make in India’: Report         

Delhi: How courts can cut down on pending cases                                                 

Doctors appearing in ads for hospitals may face action

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Context :

• Recently,a group of doctors working in a corporate hospital in Kerala has violated the Medical Council of India(MCI)’s Code of Ethics after their photographs and details were featured in a newspaper advertisement for the hospital.

Background:

• Earlier,MCI had taken action against a group of physicians who had reportedly appeared in an advertisement released by the hospital they were working in.It had removed their names from the Indian Medical Register/State Medical Register for 15 days for transgressing the Code of Medical Ethics.

• In 2013 the MCI took disciplinary action against nine doctors who were featured prominently in an advertisement of Saxena Multispeciality Hospital, Pvt. Ltd., Sonepat, Haryana.

• The MCI took this decisive action because doctors promoting themselves through advertisements with photographs is a violation of the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002.

Medical Council of India(MCI)’s Code of Ethics :

• Section 6.1 of the Code of Ethics states that “…a physician shall not make use of him/her (or his/her name) as subject of any form or manner of advertising or publicity through any mode either alone or in conjunction with others … as to invite attention to him or to his professional position, skill, qualification …”

• “Corporate hospitals are free to advertise their facilities and services but they cannot advertise their services making use of the photographs and details of the doctors under their employment.

• The MCI’s Code of Ethics is binding on the doctors and not on the hospital as MCI has jurisdiction only over doctors.Even if the hospital that is putting out the advertisements featuring doctors photographs,the doctors alone will be held liable for the violation of medical ethics.

                                                                                                                                  Source :- The Hindu

Telangana addresses maternal mortality

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health.

Context :

• Telangana has taken a wide range of initiatives which have brought down the maternal mortality rate (MMR) in the state.

Key Facts and  Data’s :

• According to the Sample Registration System’s special bulletin on ‘Maternal Mortality in India 2014-16’, the MMR across India was 130 per 1, 00,000 live births.

• The lowest MMR of 46 was recorded in Kerala, followed by 61 in Maharashtra.

•  However, in Telangana the MMR dropped from 92 per 1, 00,000 live births in 2011-’13 to 81 per 1, 00,000 live births in 2014-’16. The state now hovers close to the 70 mark. Their efforts has resulted in a pan-India drop in MMR from 167 to 130.

• Telangana government embarked on a series of reforms to increase the number of institutional deliveries in public health facilities, reduce C-Sections and bring down the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) from 81 per 100,000 live births in 2014-16 to 70 per 100,000 live births—as mandated in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal.

• The State government data says that the institutional deliveries in public facilities have risen from 30 per cent to well over 50 per cent.

What works for Telangana?

• Upgrade public health facilities :

  • The standardisation of labour rooms entailing the revamping of public health facilities with modern delivery beds, equipment and general beautification to make them attractive topped the objectives.

  •  Among the first State to adopt the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the World Health Organization for standardisation of labour rooms

• KCR Kit scheme :

  • Telangana had launched KCR Kit scheme in 2017.

  • The kit is equipped with 16 essential items for a mother and her new-born.

  • It also has a cash component of Rs 13,000 for the birth of a girl and Rs 12,000 for the birth of a boy.     

•  Introduction of ‘102’ Amma Vodi vehicles :

  • Launched towards the end of 2017, the State government introduced a toll-free number 102 to offer transportation services for pregnant women seeking pre and antenatal care, pre and post-delivery drops from their homes to the hospital, and immunisation visits to public health facilities.

  • Amma Vodi programme seeks to address the glaring institutional gaps they suffer.

•  A new cadre of midwives :

  • Telangana has also been training midwives under the Midwifery Nurse Practitioner Diploma course.

  •  It is claimed that Telangana is first State to have certified midwives.

  • Proper training of midwives is expected to reduce number of C-Section deliveries and maternal mortality

                                                                                                                                 Source :- The Hindu

Anti-dumping duty put on saccharine

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth.

Context :

• The Finance Ministry has, on the recommendations of the Commerce Ministry, imposed an anti-dumping duty of $1,633.17 per tonne on the import of saccharine from Indonesia.

Saccharine:

• Saccharin is a non-nutritive sweetener and is considered to be a low-calorie substitute for cane sugar.

• It is used in a variety of industries such as food and beverage, personal care products, table top sweeteners, electroplating brighteners, pharmaceuticals, etc.

•  There are primarily two types of saccharin — soluble and insoluble.

                                                                                                                                                              Source :- The Hindu

India, UK in talks to build Naval supercarrier under ‘Make in India’: Report

GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests.

Context :

• The UK is in talks with the Indian government on building a new state-of-the-art aircraft carrier - along the lines of Britain's HMS Queen Elizabeth as part of the ongoing 'Make in India' negotiations, according to a media report.

• Earlier,India had bought the Britain’s Falklands War carrier HMS Hermes to India in 1987 which was renamed as INS Viraat and it was decommissioned in 2017.

INS Vishal Aircraft Carrier :

•  Indian Navy to buy detailed plans for the 65,000-ton British warship to build a so-called "copycat supercarrier" to be named INS Vishal in 2022.

• As per Make In India negotiations, if a deal is inked then the warship will be built in India.

• However, the parts of the warships will be supplied by UK-based companies, the report stated.

• The design would be modified to meet Indian Navy and local industry requirements.

• INS Vishal would serve alongside India’s 45,000-tonne carrier INS Vikramaditya which was bought from Russia in 2004 and the under construction 40,000-tonne INS Vikrant.

HMS Queen Elizabeth Aircraft carrier :

• The HMS Queen Elizabeth is in service with the UK’s Royal Navy and is touted as being the most potent aircraft carrier after the US Navy’s nuclear powered carriers.

• The Queen Elizabeth class is significantly larger than INS Vikramaditya and INS Vikrant.

• It has a maximum displacement of over 65,000 tonnes and can deploy up to 40 F-35B fighter.

                                                                                                                                                               Source :- The Hindu

Delhi: How courts can cut down on pending cases

GS PAPER  - 02 GOVERNANCE - Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.

Context :

• Zero Pendency Courts Project is the pilot project of the Delhi High Court.

Zero Pendency Court Project :

• The pilot project was undertaken in certain subordinate courts of Delhi to identify benchmarks for different types of cases timelines, number of judges required, case flow management rules and a host of other relevant factors.

• The project was also aimed to provide information on the judicial time required to dispose of a case together with the gathering stage wise details in each case.

• The ‘Zero Pendency Courts Project’ is a one-of-its-kind project in India aimed to study the life cycle of cases to come up with optimal timelines for cases.

Key findings :

• Delhi needs 43 more judges above the current strength of 143 to clear all the pending cases in one year.

• Persisting delays have made the system less credible as litigants have to wait for decades to get their cases resolved.

• As a result of the increase in the number of filings over the years, the pendency of cases is bound to increase if no proper targeted steps are taken to overcome the issue

Reasons for Delay :

• such as shortage of judges,

• shortage of staff,

• Frequent adjournments from the parties/advocates,

• Non-service of summons to the parties,

• Absence of witnesses,

• Delay in getting Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) reports,

• Time consuming investigations and delay in filing chargesheets.

• In criminal trials, the study points out, the victims remain untraceable or parties file cross FIRs (First Information Report) against each other.

Concern expressed:

• Increase in workload: With the lesser number of judges, the workload of an individual judge could increase.

• Credibility issue: With persisting delays the system becomes less credible as litigants have to wait for the decades to get their cases resolved.

• Increase in pendency: With an increase in the number of filings, the pendency of cases is bound to increase if no proper targeted steps are taken to overcome the issue.

                                                                                                                               Source :- The Hindu

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