Read the given passage carefully and answer the following questions. Certain parts have been highlighted to help answer the questions
It is overwhelming for parents to be told that their child may have heart defects. It is worse when the child does not get treated in time due to lack of paediatric cardiac care in the vicinity of his/her home. Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) , which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) , Atlanta, U.S., acknowledges to be the most common congenital disorder, is responsible for 28% of all congenital birth defects, and accounts for 6%-10 % of all the infant deaths in India. Paediatricians say timely medical intervention can save 75% of these children and give them normal lives. The lack of a national policy for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases in children keeps a huge number outside the ambit of treatment. It is estimated that over 1,0,000 children keep getting added to the existing pool of children awaiting surgery.
According to the Pediatric Cardiac Society of India (PCSI) , the prevalence of congenital cardiac anomalies is one in every 100 live births; or an estimated 2,00,000 children are born with CHD every year. Only 16,000 of them receive treatment. At least 30% of infants who have complex defects require surgical intervention to survive their first birthday but only 2,500 operations can be performed each year. A case in point is the premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) , where infants are waitlisted till 2026 for cardiac surgery. A retired health bureaucrat says that there has been more neglect and little improvement in child health care because creating a comprehensive paediatric cardiology care service is usually considered economically unviable — it is resource intensive and requires infrastructure investment that policymakers choose to evade. There are 22 hospitals and less than 50 centres in India with infant and neonatal cardiac services. Geographically, these centres are not well distributed either. A 2018 cardiology department report of AIIMS, highlighted how South India accounted for 70% of these centres; most centres are located in regions with a lower burden of CHD.
What is/are the reason(s) child health care is lagging?
Correct Answer :
Policymakers dismiss the development of pediatric cardiology care services as they aren’t economically feasible
Solution :
The correct answer is: Policymakers dismiss the development of pediatric cardiology care services as they aren’t economically feasible
Step-by-Step Explanation:
1. Analyze the Passage:
In the second paragraph of the provided passage, the text explicitly mentions:
"A retired health bureaucrat says that there has been more neglect and little improvement in child health care because creating a comprehensive paediatric cardiology care service is usually considered economically unviable — it is resource intensive and requires infrastructure investment that policymakers choose to evade."
2. Match with Options:
- Option 1 mentions outdated technologies/machinery, which is not stated in the passage.
- Option 2 states that "Policymakers dismiss the development of pediatric cardiology care services as they aren’t economically feasible", which directly corresponds to the passage's explanation about services being "economically unviable" and policymakers choosing to evade the investment.
- Option 3 talks about monetary help from private players, which is not mentioned in the passage.
Conclusion:
Therefore, the reason child health care is lagging is that policymakers consider pediatric cardiology care services economically unviable/infeasible.
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