Daily Current Capsules 12^th December 2020

Health
Indian Railways Launches Hospital Management Information System Trial Project

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about HMIS and its application) + Mains ( GS II Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources)

What's the NEWS

• Indian Railways has launched another major IT initiative towards according priority for the well-being of its work force. The Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) has been launched The HMIS will bring a paradigm shift in the health care systems maintained by Indian Railways. The new system will improve the quality of health services and aid in utilization of resources in a transparent manner.
• Patients waiting time at the hospitals will be minimized and medical records will be available to the team of doctors at all the times.

Know! about HMIS IN Railways

The HMIS in Railways has been developed by Indian Railways in coordination with RailTel Corporation Limited. The objective of the HMIS is to provide a single window of clearance of hospital administration activity such as clinical, diagnostics, pharmacy, examinations, industrial health etc.

The primary objectives of envisaged solution are:

• Effectively manage all the health facilities & its resources
• Monitor performance of hospitals across the administrative channel
• Impart quality health care services to its beneficiaries
• Improve the patient turn-around time
• Generate and maintain EMR (electronic medical records) of all patients

Science & Technology
Indigenous mRNA vaccine gets Drug Controller nod to initiate Human clinical trials

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about mRNA vaccine + about Ind-CEPI mission + about BIRAC) + Mains ( GS III awareness in the field of science and technology)

What's the NEWS

• India's first indigenous mRNA vaccine candidate has received approval from Indian Drug regulators to initiate Phase I/II human clinical trial.
• The novel mRNA vaccine candidate, HGCO19 has been developed by Gennova, Pune and supported with seed grant under the Ind-CEPI mission of Department of Biotechnology of M/o Science & Technology.
• Gennova, in collaboration with HDT Biotech Corporation, Seattle, USA, has worked together to develop an mRNA vaccine candidate.

Know! about mRNA vaccine

• The mRNA vaccines do not use the conventional model to produce immune response. Instead, mRNA vaccine carries the molecular instructions to make the protein in the body through a synthetic RNA of the virus.
• The host body uses this to produce the viral protein that is recognized and thereby making the body mount an immune response against the disease.
  
• mRNA-based vaccines are scientifically the ideal choice to address a pandemic because of their rapid developmental timeline.
  
• The mRNA vaccine is considered safe as is non-infectious, non-integrating in nature, and degraded by standard cellular mechanisms.
  
• They are expected to be highly efficacious because of their inherent capability of being translatable into the protein structure inside the cell cytoplasm.
  
• Additionally, mRNA vaccines are fully synthetic and do not require a host for growth, e.g., eggs or bacteria.
  
• Therefore, they can be quickly manufactured in an inexpensive manner under cGMP conditions to ensure their "availability" and "accessibility" for mass vaccination on a sustainable basis.

Know! about the Ind CEPI mission

• The Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India is implementing the IndCEPI mission ‘India Centric Epidemic Preparedness through Rapid Vaccine Development: Supporting Indian Vaccine Development' which is aligned with the Global Initiative of CEPI and aims to strengthen the development of vaccines and associated competencies/technologies for the diseases of epidemic potential in India.
  
• The Ind-CEPI mission of DBT is implemented by its PSU, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council ( BIRAC).

Know! about BIRAC

• Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) is a not-for-profit Public Sector Enterprise, set up by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India as an Interface Agency to strengthen and empower the emerging Biotech enterprise to undertake strategic research and innovation, addressing nationally relevant product development needs.
• BIRAC is a industry-academia interface and implements its mandate through a wide range of impact initiatives, be it providing access to risk capital through targeted funding, technology transfer, IP management and handholding schemes that help bring innovation excellence to the biotech firms and make them globally competitive.
  
• BIRAC has initiated several schemes, networks and platforms that help to bridge the existing gaps in the industry-academia Innovation research and facilitate novel, high quality affordable products development through cutting edge technologies.
•  BIRAC has initiated partnerships with several national and global partners to collaborate and deliver the salient features of its mandate.

Bilateral Relations
India, Qatar set up task force to identify projects for investment
Relevance IN - Prelims ( facts about the task force ) + Mains ( GS II bilateral relations)

What's the NEWS

• The Task Force on Energy, represented by VP of Qatar Petroleum and a senior officer from the Petroleum Ministry to identify specific projects in India's energy sector for Qatari investments
• Qatar Petroleum, the national oil company of the Gulf nation, will be represented by the vice president (VP) in the task force, while the Indian side would be represented by a senior official from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Know! about India - Qatar RelationsCash-rich

• Qatar Investment Authority is looking to invest in India, particularly in the energy and infrastructure sector.
  
• India is the world's third-largest oil and LNG importer.
• India and its biggest LNG supplier Qatar agreed to set up a task force to identify projects in India for investment by the gas-rich Gulf nation
• India imports 8.5 million tonnes per annum of gas in its liquid form (LNG) from Qatar under a long-term contract. It also buys LPG to meet the fast-expanding cooking gas requirements in the country.
• India wants to significantly boost its gas consumption and expand its gas infrastructure. An investment of USD 66 billion is lined up in developing gas infrastructure which includes pipelines, city gas distribution and LNG re-gasification terminals
• India is targeting to raise the share of natural gas in its energy basket to 15 per cent by 2030 from the current 6.3 per cent.
• India had sought Qatari investment in India's oil and gas exploration and production as well as its participation in the building of the second phase of strategic oil reserves.

Bilateral Relations
India and Uzbekistan virtual summit

Relevance IN - Prelims ( highlights about the virtual summit) + Mains ( GS II bilateral relations)

What's the NEWS

• India and Uzbekistan attended a virtual summit to discuss bilateral relations and strengthen cooperation in the post-Covid world.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev discussed regional and global issues of mutual interest.
• This is the first bilateral virtual summit between India and a Central Asian country
• The visits of the Prime Minister to Uzbekistan in 2015 and 2016 and President Mirziyoyev to India in 2018 and 2019 have imparted a new dynamism to the strategic partnership,
• PM Modi has already attended virtual summits with leaders of the EU, Italy, Australia, Sri Lanka, Denmark, and Luxembourg is expected to conduct more such in the near future.
• A virtual summit with Bangladesh is scheduled for December 17.

India and Uzbekistan virtual summit - takeaways

• New Delhi and Tashkent at a virtual summit decided to explore connectivity routes via International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) - a 7,200-km multi-mode ship, rail, and road freight route connecting India, Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia - and Chabahar port in Iran
• India and Uzbekistan have been engaging under various formats including India Central Asia Dialogue at the foreign minister's level.
• Under the line of credit announced by India during the virtual FMs meet earlier this year, a number of projects are being mulled in the country.
• India will provide expertise according to country's development needs like in infrastructure, IT, training, capacity building, education, health.
• India's western Gujarat state and Uzbekistan's Andijan already have cooperation and now the focus is on cooperation between the Haryana and Fergana.
• Indian Prime Minister had visited the doubly landlocked central Asian country in 2015 and 2016, followed by visits of Uzbek President Mirziyoyev to India in 2018 and 2019.
• During the summit, India confirmed its approval of 448 million USD line of Credit to be extended to four development projects of Uzbekistan in the field of sewerage treatment, road construction, Information Technology.
• India welcomed Uzbek proposal to hold a trilateral dialogue among India, Iran and Uzbekistan to promote the connectivity through Chabahar port.
• India also requested Uzbekistan to join the North-South Transport Corridor. This will provide India an overall improvement of connectivity in the Eurasian space.
• India thanked Uzbekistan for its support to Indian candidature for the United Nations Security Council. India congratulated Uzbekistan for its successful election to the United Nations Human Rights Council (2021-23).
• India and Uzbekistan signed three Memorandum of Understandings in the field of Defence in 2019 to enhance cooperation in military medicine and military education.
• Dustlik 2019 - It is the joint military exercise held between India and Uzbekistan. The first Dustlik military exercise was held in 2019.
• In January 2019, India and Uzbekistan signed a nuclear deal for long term of supply of Uranium to India.
• Uzbekistan is the seventh largest exporter of Uranium in the world. After Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan is the second central Asian country to export Uranium to India.
• India has offered a line of credit of 40 million USD for procurement of goods and services by Uzbekistan from India.

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