Why in the News?

• A new study by Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), a premier cancer treatment and research institute, has estimated that the productivity loss of the country due to oral cancer in year 2022 was approximately $5.6 Billion.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Background (Context of the Article)
• Key Findings of the Study
• Measures Taken by the Govt. of India

Background:

• According to the World Health Organization (WHO), India’s cancer scenario is burdened with oral cavity cancer being the most common among men.
  • India accounts for almost a third of the global incidence and mortality related to oral cancer.
• Despite strides in oral cancer diagnosis and treatment, escalating healthcare costs strain both providers and patients financially.
• Moreover, these cancers are becoming increasingly common among the younger age groups, in contrast to the western world.
• This can put a significant strain on the productivity of the economy.
• To tackle these issues, Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, Director, ACTREC, led research to quantify the economic loss resulting from premature mortality related to oral cancer in India.

Key Findings of the Study:

• Years lost
  • The study said that the 671 years were lost to early (29.8%) and advanced cancers (70.2%).
  • Considering the retirement age in India being 62 years, 91 per cent of the deaths or incurable recurrence of cancers were in the premature age groups. The median age is of 41.5 years.
• Middle class affected
  • Both early (70 per cent) and advanced (86 per cent) stage cancers were from a middle-class socioeconomic status.
  • 53 per cent requiring some form of insurance schemes or financial support in order to complete treatment.
• Productivity lost
  • Productivity lost due to premature mortality among females and males was ₹57,22,803 rupees and ₹71,83,917 rupees, respectively per death.
  • The amount of money that society lost because of early-stage oral cancer was around ₹31,29,092 rupees for each person affected.
  • For advanced-stage cancer, it was about 71,72,566 rupees per person.
  • Looking at how many people died from oral cancer in the country, the total cost of lost productivity in India in 2022 was about $5.6 billion.
    • This is about 0.18 percent of all the money the country made that year.

Significance of the Study:

• Oral cancer is caused due to tobacco consumption including smokeless tobacco, betel-quid chewing, excessive alcohol consumption, unhygienic oral condition, and sustained viral infections that include papillomavirus.
• In India, oral cavity cancer has emerged as the most prevalent cancer among men with the country contributing to almost a third of the global incidence and mortality.
• Doctors say that this study re-emphasizes the need for early screening for the younger age group.

Measures Taken by Govt. of India to Address Rising Cases of Cancer:

• The above table highlights the estimated number of mortalities of cancer cases State/UTs wise during 2020 to 2022.
• National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NP-NCD)
  • Government of India provides technical and financial support to the States/UTs under the NP-NCD. Cancer is an integral part of NP-NCD.
  • The programme focusses on the following aspects:
    • strengthening infrastructure,
    • human resource development,
    • health promotion & awareness generation for Cancer prevention,
    • early diagnosis,
    • management and referral to an appropriate level of healthcare facility for treatment of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), including cancer.
• Population-based initiative
  • A population-based initiative for prevention, control and screening for common NCDs i.e., diabetes, hypertension and common cancers has been rolled out in the country under NHM and also as a part of Comprehensive Primary Health Care.
  • Under the initiative, persons more than 30 years of age are targeted for their screening for the three common cancers i.e., oral, breast and cervical.
  • Screening of these common cancers is an integral part of service delivery under Ayushman Bharat – Health and Wellness Centres.
  • Under Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), health insurance cover of ₹5 lakhs per family per year for secondary or tertiary care hospitalization to over 60 Crores beneficiaries is provided.
• Financial assistance
  • Financial assistance is provided to poor patients belonging to families living below poverty line, suffering from major life-threatening diseases including cancer.
  • These assistances are provided under Umbrella scheme of Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN) and Health Minister’s Discretionary Grant (HMDG).
  • Financial assistance up to a maximum of ₹1.25 lakh is provided under HMDG to defray a part of the treatment cost and the maximum financial assistance provided under the Umbrella Scheme of RAN is ₹15 lakhs.
• Availability of drugs
  • Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment (AMRIT) Pharmacy stores have been set up in some hospitals/institutions.
  • These have been set up with an objective to make available Cancer drugs at a substantial discount vis-à-vis the Maximum Retail Price.

Why in news?

• As per the Union Health Ministry, poor identification and certification of brain stem death or brain death cases is keeping the rate of organ donations at low levels in India, despite the availability of many potential cases.

What’s in today’s article?

• brain death
• Organ transplantation in India – Statistics
• Regulatory frameworks guiding the organ transplantation in India
• Poor identification of brain death and low level of organ donations

Brain death

• About
  • Brain stem death, also known as brain death, occurs when the brain stem stops working and a person can no longer breathe or regain consciousness without support.
  • The brain stem is the lower part of the brain that controls vital functions like breathing, heartbeat, blood pressure, and swallowing.
  • A person who is brain dead is legally confirmed as dead. They have no chance of recovery because their body is unable to survive without artificial life support.
• Confirmation
  • Two senior doctors perform tests to confirm brain stem death, and one of them should not be involved in the patient’s care.
• Brain death and status of other organs
  • Once brain stem death is declared, the person is legally dead, but their organs are still alive because they are kept alive artificially.
  • Hence, after brain death, it may be possible for the person’s organs to be used in transplants.

Organ transplantation in India – Statistics

• According to the NOTTO data, there has been an overall increase in the number of transplants in the country, with a record high of 16,041 such procedures in 2022.
• India has an organ donation rate of about 0.52 per million population.
  • In comparison, the organ donation rate in Spain, the highest in the world, is 49.6 per million population.
• 

Regulatory frameworks guiding the organ transplantation in India

• Legislation
  • In 1994, The Transplantation of Human Organs Act (THOA) was promulgated by the government of India.
  • The Transplantation of Human Organs Rules followed in 1995 and were last amended in 2014, increasing the scope of donation and including tissues for transplantation.
  • The act made commercialization of organs a punishable offence and legalized the concept of brain death in India allowing deceased donation by obtaining organs from brain stem dead person.
• Institution
  • National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) is a national level organization set up under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
  • Besides laying down policy guidelines and protocols for various functions, it coordinates all the activities associated with organ donation at national level.
• Organ transplant rules
  • In February 2023 the govt modified national organ transplantation guidelines.
  • The new guidelines have done away with the 65-year age limit for registration of patients seeking organs from a deceased donor.
    • There was no age cap for living donor transplants, where family members donate organs like kidneys and livers.
    • However, people over the age of 65 years couldn’t register to receive organs from deceased donors as per guidelines of NOTTO.
  • It has asked states to remove the domicile criterion for registering those seeking organs from deceased donor for transplant procedures.
    • Now the needy person can go to any state of the country and register for getting organ and also get the transplant done.
    • The patient will be allotted a unique ID by NOTTO on registering.
    • This will get carried forward even if the patient changes multiple hospitals in different States.
  • Noting that some states have been charging fees ranging between Rs 5,000 to 10,000 for registering such patients, this guideline has asked them not to charge money.

Poor identification of brain death and low level of organ donations

• Impact of Poor identification and certification of brain stem death on organ donation
  • Poor identification and certification of brain stem death or brain death cases is keeping the rate of organ donations at low levels in India.
  • The health ministry has expressed concern over the rate of organ donations in the country remaining at less than one donor per million population in a year.
• Identify each potential brain death case admitted in the ICU
  • The govt asked health authorities to identify each potential brain death case admitted in the ICU and inquire whether the potential donor had pledged for organ donation.
  • If not, hospital authorities should make family members aware of the opportunity to donate organs before the heart stops.
• Hospital to facilitate and monitor the certification of brain death cases
  • It asked every hospital to facilitate and monitor the certification of brain death cases to ensure compliance with the THOTA Act and Rules.
  • The Health Ministry also asked hospitals to install ‘Required Request Display Boards’ at strategic locations.
    • These boards should convey the message to the public that in the unfortunate event of brain death or cardiac arrest, donation of organs and tissues could save lives.
• Update the NOTTO on a monthly basis
  • The authorities were told to update the NOTTO on a monthly basis, on:
    • the number of brain death cases identified and certified,
    • number of cases where the family gave consent to donate organs and
    • the number of organs donated and utilised among other details.

Why in news?

• The Eta Aquariid meteor shower, which has been active since April 15, will peak on May 5 and 6.
• Comprising burning space debris moving at speeds of around 66 km per second (2.37 lakh kmph) into Earth’s atmosphere, these showers are seen in May every year. These are best visible to countries such as Indonesia and Australia in the Southern Hemisphere.

What’s in today’s article?

• Comets
• Meteor showers and comets
• Eta Aquariids

What are comets?

• About
  • Comets are icy, small, cosmic snowballs of dust, rock, and frozen gases that orbit the Sun.
  • They are often called dirty snowballs and are thought to be remnants from the formation of the solar system about 4.6 billion years ago.
• Composition
  • Comets are made up of a nucleus, coma, hydrogen envelope, and dust and plasma tails.
  • The nucleus is a loose collection of ice, dust, and small rocky particles that can range from a few hundred meters to tens of kilometers across.
• Location
  • They are located in two regions of the solar system:
    • Kuiper Belt – A wide disk beyond Neptune’s orbit that contains short-period comets that orbit the Sun in less than 200 years.
    • Oort Cloud – A sphere-shaped region at the solar system’s outer edge that contains long-period comets that take much longer to orbit the Sun.
• Features
  • Comets orbit around the Sun in highly elliptical orbits which can, in some cases, take hundreds of thousands of years to complete.
  • Comets come in different sizes, although most are roughly 10 km wide.
  • However, as they come closer to the Sun, comets heat up and spew gases and dust into a glowing head that can be larger than a planet.
  • This material also forms a tail which stretches millions of miles.

How exactly are meteor showers related to comets?

• Meteors are simply grains of dust or rock that burn up as they enter the Earth’s atmosphere. This burning also creates a brief tail.
• Since most meteors are tiny (the size of a grain of sand) they completely burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.
• However, once in a while, a large enough meteor passes through and hits the ground (at which time it is called a meteorite), often causing significant damage.
• A meteor shower can be observed when Earth passes through the clouds of dust left behind in a comet’s orbital plane.
  • The sky lights up with small and large meteor tails as the debris left behind by the comet interacts with Earth’s atmosphere.

Eta Aquariid meteor shower

• About
  • The Eta Aquariid meteor shower is formed when Earth passes through the orbital plane of the Halley’s Comet, which takes about 76 years to orbit the Sun once.
  • The shower seems to be originating from the Aquarius constellation — hence ‘Eta Aquariid’.
    • While it was observed as early as 240 BCE, it was only in 1705 that astronomer Edmond Halley realised that the periodic appearances were re-appearances of the same comet.
    • Last seen in 1986, Halley’s comet is due to enter the inner solar system again in 2061.
  • Like Eta Aquariids, the Orionids meteor shower is also caused by the Halley’s Comet, and appears every October.
• Uniqueness
  • The Eta Aquariid meteor shower is known for its rapid speed. This makes for long, glowing tails which can last up to several minutes.
  • According to NASA, about 30 to 40 Eta Aquariid meteors can be seen per hour during the peak of the meteor shower, if observed from the Southern Hemisphere.
    • The number decreases to about 10 meteors per hour if being viewed in the Northern Hemisphere.
  • This is due to the location of the “radiant” — the position in the sky where the meteor shower seems to come from.
    • In the Northern Hemisphere, Eta Aquariid meteors most often appear as ‘Earth grazers’ — long meteors which appear to skim the surface of the Earth.
    • In the South, they can be seen higher up in the sky, and hence are more visible.