THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 27 May 2020 (Tackling the surge (The Hindu))

Tackling the surge (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2:Health
Prelims level: India’s COVID-19 caseload
Mains level: Steps towards to improve infrastructure to the hospitals in India

Context:

• With less than a week for Lockdown 4 to end, India’s COVID-19 caseload has surged past 1,40,000.
• The relaxation of restrictions from the third phase of the lockdown onwards has added to the challenges faced by the country’s already overburdened healthcare system.
• According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, the positivity rate has gone up to 7 per cent in the three weeks of Lockdown 3 and 4 — it was around 3 per cent at the end of Lockdown 2.
• The mortality rate, reassuringly, has remained static at about 3 per cent.
• Moreover, more than 80 per cent of the infected do not require hospitalisation.
• Even then, the sheer scale of the pandemic seems to be taxing the resources of hospitals in most parts of the country and taking a toll on the health of medical professionals.
• The death, on Sunday, of a COVID-positive nurse employed at a private hospital in Delhi, who was allegedly made to wear used PPEs, frames the difficulties of those at the frontlines of the battle against the virus.

Mobilise Public resources:

• In the past two months, states have tried to mobilise public resources, rampup medical centres, and shore up quarantine facilities.
• In most parts of the country, such efforts have, at best, produced mixed results.
• In Delhi, more than 75 per cent of the beds earmarked for COVID-positive patients in private hospitals are already occupied.
• Though the Delhi government claims that the situation is under control, it needs to be on high alert because the city has been adding more than 400 COVID cases daily for more than a week now.

Mumbai:

• In Mumbai, as a report in this paper showed last week, the situation is much more critical.
• There is an acute shortage .............................................................................................................

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Overwhelmed Medical professionals:

• Overwhelmed by the pandemic, some medical facilities have turned up the pressure on medical professionals, particularly junior doctors and nurses.
• Last week, the Gujarat High Court pulled up the state’s health minister and chief secretary for neglecting the problems faced by patients and staff at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital.
• Responding to an anonymous letter detailing the problems of the government hospital’s junior staff, the court described the healthcare facility as a dungeon.

Conclusion:

• As the country’s COVID-19 caseload increases, policymakers and hospital authorities need to work at creative solutions to deal with the patient influx.
• As a first step, they must treat healthcare workers in a humane manner, ensure their safety.

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Prelims Questions:

Q.1)With reference to the India-China border dispute, consider the following statements:
1. The main differences are in the middle sector of India-China border.
2. The middle sector of 545 km length falls in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer........................................................................

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Mains Questions:
Q.1)What are the measures needed ...............................................................