VIT entrance exam to be held from July 29

07/05/2020,VELLORE

VIT Engineering Entrance Examination (VITEEE) for admission to engineering programmes in the VIT group of Institutions is scheduled to be held from July 29 to August 2. The examination will be held in 119 cities. Government guidelines on social distancing would be strictly followed, a press note from the institution said.

Donation to medical college

07/05/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI

The Tamilnadu Foundation, a 45-year- old charitable trust set up by NRIs (Tamils) in the U.S., has donated funds to procure a polymarase chain reaction testing equipment to the Stanley Medical College Hospital.

An advance cheque for ₹16.17 lakh was handed over to the college dean P. Balaji. “We hope to collect more funds to help in fighting COVID-19 in other medical colleges, said S. Rajarethinam, chairman of the Foundation in a press release.

‘Elderly must take precautions even after lockdown’

Co-morbidities a major cause of fatality among geriatric population, say experts

07/05/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT ,CHENNAI

A senior citizen collecting relief material. Photograph used for representational purpose only.

Lower immunity levels and co-morbidities put the geriatric population at a higher risk for COVID-19. This is why doctors have been stressing the need to protect the elderly from the infection. More importantly, precautions should continue even after the lockdown is lifted, they add.

In Tamil Nadu, less than 10% of patients who tested positive for COVID-19 are above the age of 60. As of Tuesday, 336 such persons — 221 men and 115 women — have tested positive for COVID-19, accounting for 8.2% of the total number of positive patients in the State. A majority of the fatalities have occurred in the age group of above 50.

Senior geriatrician V.S. Natarajan said that elderly persons were more affected due to their lower immunity levels; the reasons being multiple diseases and intake of medications. “If you take the global census, 70% of persons affected are above 60 years. Eighty-three percent of persons who died had more than one ailment. A co-morbid condition is the most important factor in the elderly and is responsible for mortality. The common ailments are diabetes, asthma, renal disease and cancer,” he said.

G.S. Shanthi, head of department, Geriatric Medicine, Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, said with the lockdown in place, persons, including the elderly, were following certain precautions.

“Once the lockdown is lifted, elderly persons must still continue these precautions of self-isolation at home, wearing of masks, avoiding exposure to those who cough or sneeze, and regular washing of hands. They need to maintain physical distancing, especially with younger persons who will go out once the lockdown is lifted. These young persons may contract the virus and be asymptomatic, but they can be carriers,” she said.

In the last three days, the hospital has been seeing more asymptomatic patients in the 20-50 age group, she said, adding: “Only some have symptoms suggestive of COVID-19. We are isolating the younger patients from those who are above 50. They are in a different block as we need to protect the vulnerable population.”

Herd immunity

“As more people test positive without too many symptoms, we can expect herd immunity to develop. However, older persons have to be careful as their immunological response will be lower. They should avoid going out, not even for walks or to grocery stores. Their diet should include food items that can improve their immunity and seek medical care if needed,” Dr. Shanthi said. If they are on regular medication for conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, heart, kidney or liver ailments, they should continue the medicines without fail to avoid complications, she added.

Anxiety level

Dr. Natarajan said that there was an increase in anxiety levels among the elderly as they have not been able to get advice from doctors on time due to the lockdown. Many have not been able to go and get medicines from government hospitals, while others have been unable to check their sugar and creatinine levels as many laboratories are closed.

Tasmac outlets to open but restrictions will be in place to check crowding

Customers told to carry Aadhaar cards and wear masks

07/05/2020, SANGEETHA KANDAVEL,CHENNAI

A Tasmac outlet in Perur, on the outskirts of Coimbatore, is fully decked up and ready to open on Thursday.

After six weeks, despite severe opposition, the Tamil Nadu government on Thursday will throw open the doors of its 3,850 Tasmac outlets across the State, barring Chennai, with full police protection.

Only medically fit employees of Tasmac (below 55 years of age) have been called for work and tipplers walking in to purchase liquor should carry Aadhaar cards and wear masks. “Aadhaar card is a must and those walking in without a mask will not get liquor,” said a senior government official. The official added that the increase in liquor prices would fetch additional revenue of up to ₹4,000 crore for the State coffers. The Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation has ordered that there should not be any bulk sales at the outlets.

On Wednesday, with the help of district managers, Tasmac moved its stock from godowns and depots to shops through lorries. A few weeks ago, people broke open Tasmac shops to steal liquor, after which the State government had decided to shift stock to nearby godowns and deploy additional security. “Lorries and private vehicles were used to bring stocks to the shops,” said a manager at a shop near Coimbatore.

Precautions taken

Salesmen at a shop in Madurai said, “We were asked to check the dates on beer and wine bottles that came in. Before that, we were asked to wear gloves and masks. We have been told to give hand sanitisers to those walking into outlets. We have been instructed to keep two drums of water for people to wash their hands and legs,” he added.

Tasmac has told district managers that a token system must be followed. “Printed tokens will be given with date and time so that people don’t crowd near the shops. Tokens will not be given beyond 4 p.m.,” said a Tasmac district manager. He added, “Permission has also been given to temporarily hire additional staff to manage the crowd.”

By Wednesday, shops disinfected their premises and barricading was done with wooden sticks. Circles were drawn with a distance of six feet between each.

Only one bottle per person, says High Court

07/05/2020, MOHAMED IMRANULLAH S., CHENNAI

The Madras High Court on Wednesday refused to stay the State government’s decision to re-open liquor shops in the State from Thursday. It, however, ordered that only one bottle (750 ml) of any kind of liquor should be sold to a purchaser and that no customer should be permitted to purchase more than twice in a week with a minimum gap of three days.

Justices Vineet Kothari and Pushpa Sathyanarayana directed the government to encourage online booking of tokens (to be issued depending upon age group for collecting liquor from retail shops at different hours of the day) after making payments through digital mode and ordered that the online consumers alone could be allowed to purchase two bottles at a time.

They also directed Tasmac to discourage payment of cash for purchase of liquor since it leads to complaints of overpricing and use e-wallet payment system at the retail shops as far as possible. It was also made clear that sales bills should be issued to every customer with his/her name, address and Aadhaar number.

If any of the shops fails to issue bills, it shall be closed forthwith and not allowed to be open without further orders from the court, the judges said. They said that steps such as barricading and insisting upon masks.

The interim orders were passed on a batch of public interest litigation petitions filed against the government’s move to reopen the liquor shops despite the lockdown to fight COVID-19.

Private hospitals fix ‘high’ rates for treatment

Patients at the facilities are being charged as much as ₹70,000 a day for an isolation room

07/05/2020, SERENA JOSEPHINE M.,CHENNAI

The government must rein in private hospitals and fix the treatment cost for COVID-19, said an expert. PTI

With no cap on the cost of treatment, a few private hospitals in the city, designated as COVID-19 treatment facilities, have fixed ‘high’ rates for patients. One such hospital is charging patients ₹70,000 a day for an isolation room, while another is requiring them to pay for personal protective equipment (PPE) used by doctors and other staff every day.

Inquiries with a number of private hospitals in the city found that each of them were following their own pattern of charging patients under various heads. Most hospitals did not offer outpatient services for persons with symptoms of COVID-19, and were admitting patients for screening and testing.

At one such hospital in the heart of the city, patients are admitted to isolation rooms and their samples sent for testing. The cost per day is ₹70,000, and patients need to be admitted for a minimum of two days, until results of laboratory tests arrive, said the hospital staff.

The staff at another hospital in the southern part of the city said patients were being admitted based on their health condition. “If the patient needs to be admitted to the isolation Intensive Care Unit, the room charge per day is ₹10,000. The cost of COVID-19 testing is ₹6,000. The other heads are doctors’ fees and nursing charges. The patient has to pay for the PPE used by doctors every day — one set costs ₹4,000 to ₹5,000. So, till the laboratory test result arrives, a minimum of ₹60,000 will be charged a day,” a staff member said.

At a leading hospital, patients are being charged ₹70,000 on the first day of treatment, as they have to undergo screening, including a CT scan and a COVID-19 test. “The charges depend on the condition of the patient. The bill could be around ₹3 lakh-₹4 lakh or ₹12 lakh-₹14 lakh, or more, depending on their condition,” a hospital staff member said.

C.S. Rex Sargunam, president, Tamil Nadu Health Development Association, said, “The government should rein in private hospitals and fix the treatment cost for COVID-19. It is the duty of the government to intervene, and also take steps to reimburse patients.”

An office-bearer of the Indian Medical Association-Tamil Nadu said the body had requested the government to provide coverage under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme to poor people visiting the designated fever clinics in private hospitals.

UGC

```RGUHS gears up to establish its regional centre in Mangaluru

Jaideep Shenoy | TNN | Jan 15 , 2020, 14:27 IST

 

MANGALURU:

 Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) is all geared up to establish its regional centre in this coastal city. With the university acquiring 2-acres of land for this near Mary Hill here, the Bengaluru based health university plans to use it for academic and sports purposes. It will double up as a digital evaluation centre, a training centre for UG/PG students of medicines and teachers as well as a hub for cultural activities.

Dr S Sacchidanand, vice-chancellor, RGUHS said the regional centre in Mangaluru is in line with the university's vision to have such facilities in all revenue regions of the state. While the regional centre at Kalaburagi will be dedicated for public use in next two-months, the university has floated tender for its proposed regional centre in Davangere and will be finalised once certain technical issues pertaining to it are addressed, Dr Sacchidanand said.

The university is not happy with the land identified for its regional centre in Belagavi and is scouting for a land closer to Suvarna Vidhan Soudha there, he said. Each of the proposed regional centres will be headed by a senior officer at the rank of deputy registrar and assisted by assistant registrar, he said, adding these offices will help decentralise various functions pertaining to the university and expedite decision making process.

 The regional centres will become hub for digital evaluation that the university has ushered in, he said adding it will also act as training centre for teachers as well as under-graduate and post-graduate students of medicine. These centres can be utilised to hold continuing medical education  programmes as well as conferences that are vital to ensure continuous updation of knowledge as well as a centre for medical colleges to host cultural events.

For Mangaluru regional centre, Dr Sacchidanand said there is demand from the Syndicate and Senate members to set up a sports complex as part of the centre. This suggestion will be incorporated while planning the centre, he said, adding such a complex will be a value addition to the region that is home to several medical colleges. The 2-acre land that the revenue department has identified is close to Abhakari Bhavan, he noted.```