The Evening Wrap: Parliament panel blames private hospitals

The Hindu Newsletter - Here are the latest updates and the big news stories to follow today

	Saturday 21, November 2020

The Evening Wrap

Here are the biggest news stories of the day Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day's biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. We hope you are staying safe. Private hospitals charged exorbitant fees, says parliamentary panel report on Covid-19 Inadequate beds in government hospitals and absence of specific guidelines for Covid-19 treatment resulted in private hospitals charging exorbitant fees, a parliamentary panel on Saturday said, asserting that a sustainable pricing model could have averted many deaths. Chairperson of the parliamentary standing committee on health Ram Gopal Yadav submitted the report on 'Outbreak of Pandemic Covid-19 and its Management', to Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu. This is the first report by any parliamentary committee on the government's handling of the pandemic. Underlining that healthcare spending in the country with a population of 1.3 billion is "abysmally low", the panel said the fragility of the Indian health ecosystem posed a big hurdle in generating an effective response against the pandemic. "The committee, therefore, strongly recommends the government to increase its investments in the public healthcare system and make consistent efforts to achieve the National Health Policy targets of expenditure up to 2.5 % of GDP within two years as the set time frame of year 2025 is far away and public health cannot be jeopardised till that time schedule," the report stated. The National Health Policy 2017 has set a target of increasing government expenditure on healthcare to 2.5 % of GDP by 2025, from just 1.15 % in 2017. Stating that the public had to undergo trauma and distress due to the absence of a dedicated healthcare system, the committee observed that the number of government hospital beds in the country were not adequate to handle the increasing number of COVID and non-COVID patients. The report also said that the need for effective legislation to counter bio-terrorism was one of the important lessons to be learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic. "The adverse effects of Covid-19 pandemic have taught the lesson on the importance of controlling biological agents and the need of strategic partnerships among different nations. The Committee, therefore, feels that the present time is the most appropriate for the Government to formulate effective laws to counter bio-terrorism." The report, however, does not explicitly state that the Covid-19 virus itself was a bio-weapon. The international scientific community has repeatedly debunked the conspiracy theory that Covid-19 virus was developed as a bio-weapon. Ayurvedic doctors can now perform general surgery Post Graduate (PG) students of Ayurveda can now perform general surgery, including orthopaedic, ophthalmology, ENT and dental. The Union government, in a gazette notification, has allowed those who have cleared post-graduation in Ayurvedic medicine to receive formal training for such procedures. The training modules for surgical procedures will be added to the curriculum of Ayurvedic studies. The development came after the Central Council of Indian Medicine amended the Indian Medicine Central Council (Post Graduate Ayurveda Education) Regulations, 2016, to allow PG students of Ayurveda to practise general surgery. "The Central Council of Indian Medicine, with the previous sanction of the Central Government, hereby makes the following regulations further to amend the Indian Medicine Central Council (Post Graduate Ayurveda Education) Regulations, 2016," the gazette notification read. The Act has been renamed Indian Medicine Central Council (Post Graduate Ayurveda Education) Amendment Regulations, 2020. "During the period of study, the PG scholar of Shalya and Shalakya shall be practically trained to acquaint (themselves) with as well as independently perform the following activities so that after completion of his PG degree, he is able to perform the following procedures (list of the procedures) independently," the gazette notification stated. The notification stated that students will be trained in two streams of surgery and would be awarded titles of MS (Ayurved) Shalya Tantra (General Surgery), and MS (Ayurved) Shalakya Tantra (Disease of Eye, Ear, Nose, Throat, Head and Oro-Dentistry). This move by the Union government comes in the wake of other decisions that indicate an increasing emphasis on traditional medicine. NCB arrests comedian Bharti Singh after cannabis seizure from her house The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) today arrested comedian Bharti Singh following seizure of ganja (cannabis) from her house in suburban Andheri, an official said. The NCB searched Singh's house and office as part of its probe into alleged drug use in the Hindi film industry. A team led by Sameer Wankhede, the central agency's zonal director, carried out a search at Singh's residence at Lokhandwala Complex as well as her production house based on a tip-off, a release said. It recovered 86.5g of ganja during the search, the release added. Actor Bharti Singh. Photo: Twitter/@bharti_lalli "Both Ms. Bharti Singh and her husband Harsh Limbachiya accepted consumption of ganja. Bharti Singh was placed under arrest under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and examination of Limbachiya is underway," the NCB release added. The quantity allegedly seized from Singh's possession is considered as "small quantity" under the act, as against "commercial quantity", an NCB official said. Upto 1 kg of ganja is considered small quantity, which attracts a jail term of up to six months and/or fine of ₹10,000. Possession of commercial quantity — 20 kg or more — can attract up to 20 years in jail. For the quantity in between, the punishment can be as much as 10 years in jail. "Singh's name had cropped up during the interrogation of a drug peddler," the NCB official said. Singh has appeared in many comedy and reality shows on TV. She has also hosted a few such shows. The NCB has been probing alleged drug use in Bollywood on the basis of WhatsApp chats involving drugs. India has set target of cutting carbon footprint by 30-35%: PM Modi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said India has set a target of reducing its carbon footprint by 30-35%. He made the statement while addressing the convocation ceremony of Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University (PDPU), Gandhinagar, through video conference. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the 8th convocation ceremony of the Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University through videoconference on November 21, 2020. Photo: YouTube/Bharatiya Janata Party "Today, our country is moving ahead with the target of reducing the carbon footprint by 30-35%. When I said this to the world, it expressed surprise and wondered if India can achieve it," he said. "Efforts are on to increase the use of natural gas capacity four times during this decade, and work is also on to nearly double the oil refining capacity in the next five years," he said. Modi also said that work is constantly going on to strengthen the start-ups in the energy sector, and a special fund has been allocated for the purpose. "If you have any idea, product or a concept that you want to incubate, then this fund will be a good opportunity for you, and a gift from the government," he said. Farooq Abdullah flags issue of selective security measures for candidates fighting local polls National Conference (NC) president and Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) chairman Dr. Farooq Abdullah on Saturday wrote to the State Election Commission and raised the issue of selective security measures for candidates fighting the District Development Council (DDC) polls. "Security cannot and should not be used as a tool or an excuse to interfere in democratic processes," Dr. Abdullah wrote in a letter to State Election Commissioner K.K. Sharma. He alleged that candidates put up by the PAGD are immediately whisked away to "secure locations" in the name of security and confined to those "secure locations". "They are not allowed to canvass, they are completely out of touch with those from whom they are supposed to seek votes," Dr. Abdullah claimed. He said the government had structures in place which ensured security for all contestants irrespective of the ideology they espoused or the parties they represented. "The current state of affairs in the realm of security is blatantly oriented towards providing security to a select few and confining others," he added. The three-time Chief Minister said this comes across more as an attempt to interfere in the democratic process than any real concern for the well-being of the contestants. Earlier in the day, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti had tweeted, "GOI sabotaging participation of non-BJP parties in DDC polls." Jammu and Kashmir will have its maiden DDC polls from November 28. Covid watch: Numbers and Developments The number of coronavirus cases reported from India stood at 90,84,054 at the time of sending this newsletter, with the death toll at 1,33,202. In Brief: Different farmers' organisations in Punjab, protesting the three Central farm laws, today announced their decision to lift their rail blockade from November 23. The decision came after a meeting of representatives of farmer leaders with Chief Minister Amarinder Singh in Chandigarh. "Punjab farmers to completely lift their rail blockade from Monday [November 23] to allow all goods and passenger trains, in response to impassioned appeal by the Chief Minister at a meeting with Kisan Unions," tweeted Raveen Thukral, media advisor to the Punjab Chief Minister. Farmer union leaders attend a meeting called by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh in Chandigarh on November 21, 2020. Photo: Twitter/@capt_amarinder Former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi's health is reportedly in a critical state. "Multi-organ failure has begun. We have given all possible medication. Next 48 hours is critical. We are hoping that he will respond to the medication. He has been put on mechanical ventilation," said Dr Abhijit Sharma, Superintendent of Guwahati Medical College and Hospital where he is admitted. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.

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