Kuwait bans flights to India among 31 ‘high risk’ nations

Kuwait bans flights to India among 31 ‘high risk’ nations

toi Vadodara

02.08.2020

New Delhi: Kuwait on Saturday banned commercial flights to 31 “high risk” countries — including India, Singapore, Italy, Spain, Hong Kong and China — till further notice to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Indian aviation authorities had on Friday said that recently a “transport bubble agreement had been signed with Kuwait to uplift stranded passenger both to/from India”. After the Kuwaiti move, officials said this special travel arrangement could now be affected. TNN

Disastrous start to MSU’s mock exam

Disastrous start to MSU’s mock exam

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Vadodara:  02.08.2020

M S University’s first attempt to conduct online examination turned into a mockery of sorts on Saturday.

The university had developed its own exam portal for holding the exams for which the first mock test was scheduled on Saturday morning. But as thousands of students tried to access the exam portal, they received message of ‘server error’, ‘service unavailable’ among others, as the portal crashed within minutes.

MSU was the first publicly funded university of Gujarat to make such an attempt.

Ahead of the mock test, getting user id and password had also become an ordeal for students, who had kept waiting for the details till last moment. On Saturday, when they tried to access the portal, most of them could simply not login. Those who logged in face hurdles of low speed and other technical errors.

Officials said that of the nearly 4,000 students who were supposed to appear for the exams, more than 3,000 students could not login.

The university officials termed it as a cyber attack by unidentified outside ‘agencies and hackers’.

“Since Friday evening, some professional agencies and hackers were trying to damage and hack our portal. There were many technical hitches that students faced today,” said K M Chudasama, officiating registrar of MSU, adding that the university will register a FIR with cyber crime.

“ We will make the server strong and secure after which the new dates of mock test and semester-end exams will be declared. Both exams are postponed till then,” he said.

While the mock tests were scheduled on Saturday and Sunday, the semester-end exams in which over 17,000 students were to be appear, were scheduled from August 5 onwards.

Student union leaders stage protest against the VC on Saturday

Wife, relatives murder man over sexual torture

Wife, relatives murder man over sexual torture

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Madurai:02.08.2020

Unable to tolerate sexual torture, a school teacher murdered her engineer husband with help from her relatives on Friday.

The deceased was identified as E Sundar alias Sudeer, 34, from Mayandi Street in Thirumangalam. He got married to S Arivuselvam, 31, a government teacher, eight years ago. The couple have a daughter.

Early on Friday morning, Arivulselvam rushed Sundar to a hospital, claiming that he became unconscious after falling off from a bed. Doctors declared him brought dead.

A police team from the Thirumangalam police station conducted an inquiry and noticed injuries on his private parts, raising suspicion. Arivuselvam was picked up by the police for an inquiry. During interrogation, she admitted that she along with her relative B Balamani, 43, and her son B Sumaiyar, 26, had murdered Suresh. In her statement, she stated that Sundar, an alcoholic, often forced himself upon her. When she denied sex, she was beaten up.

On Thursday night, she mixed sleeping pills in the milk he drank. After sometime when he fell asleep, she asked Balamani and Sumaiyar to come in and the trio suffocated him with a plastic bag.

When Sundar tried to get away, Sumaiyar attacked him and injured his private parts, resulting in his death.

Based on a complaint from Sundar’s uncle A Somasundaram, 63, a case was registered under the CrPc Section 174 (suspicious death) and a detailed inquiry was conducted.

MKU to start online classes for PG students

REGION DIGEST

02.08.2020

MKU to start online classes for PG students

Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) will start online classes for postgraduate (PG) students from Monday onwards, except for first year students that will be from August 24. The Choice-Based Credit System (CBCS) academic calendar for PG (odd semester) courses was released on Friday. As per the schedule, students will have six hours of online classes per day - three hours each in the morning and evening. The classes will either be live lectures or tutorial sessions using Google Meet. All the will also be made available through the MKU app.

DMK to oppose new edu policy: The DMK will consult political parties across the country on the new education policy introduced by the Centre a few days ago and put forward points that it is opposed to. Political parties should do everything to protect Indian students’ future, said DMK president M K Stalin in a letter to party cadres on Saturday. The DMK is opposed to the threelanguage formula. Through the policy, the Centre aims at usurping powers of states on matters concerning education, from school to university level, he said.

Man held for molesting 10-yr-old girl: A 39-year-old man was arrested on Friday for molesting a 10-year-old girl in Tirupur city. Police identified the accused as K Abdul Rasheed. On Thursday evening, Rasheed lured the girl into his house by promising to get her a laptop to play games and molested her. The girl managed to escape and told her mother, who lodged a complaint with police on Friday. Police registered a case under sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and arrested Rasheed on Friday night.

Hospitals get showcause notices for failing to report Covid deaths Can Lead To Licence Cancellation

FIGHTING COVID-19

Hospitals get showcause notices for failing to report Covid deaths

Can Lead To Licence Cancellation

Pushpa.Narayan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:02.08.2020

Chennai-based hospitals that failed to inform Covid-19 deaths have been sent showcause notices asking them why action should not be initiated against them for violations under the Clinical Establishments Act. The directorate of medical services (DMS) has also issued notices to hospitals in Madurai for not sending adequate details or not using the standard RT-PCR test for diagnosis. Failure to submit valid reasons will lead to action including cancellation of registration that can lead to closure of the hospitals, the notice said.

The notices were sent to the city hospitals as part of the weekly reconciliation exercise for Covid-19 deaths. On July 23, when the state added 444 additional Covid deaths between March and July to the Chennai toll, state health secretary J Radhakrishnan announced that a reconciliation committee will verify data based on information from labs, hospitals and burial or cremation grounds every week. All hospitals treating Covid 19 patients must send scanned clinical documents regarding deaths within 24 hours (8am to 8am) to the directorate of medical services.

“We have sent notices to 10 hospitals including some of them in the city, for not reporting deaths or not following protocols,” said director of medical services S Gurunathan. The death of a 54-year-old man at a private hospital in Arumbakkam on July 9 came to the Greater Chennai Corporation’s notice on July 29 when they were collating information from the crematoriums. The same day the civic agency got reports about deaths in two other private hospitals -- on OMR and Nanganallur -- on July 26 and July 19. At the hospital in OMR, a 63-year-old woman was admitted for more than a month and at the Nangallur hospital, an 89-year-old man died on the same day of admission.

In June, when the directorate of public health found that 256 deaths from March to June 10 were added to the state toll, it formed a committee to streamline Covid deaths. In the second week of July, the reconciliation committee added 186 more deaths taking the total number of unreported deaths to 444. When these deaths were added to the toll on July 23, the state put in place a committee for weekly review.

Notices were also sent to two private hospitals in Madurai. One medical college hospital was pulled up for not sending adequate details including the name, address and contact details of the diseases or the name of the laboratory that confirmed Covid-19 infection for three patients admitted to the hospital. Another private hospital has been pulled up for using antibody tests instead of the prescribed RT-PCR for confirming Covid-19.

Just 14 graft cases booked in TN since March: DVAC data

Just 14 graft cases booked in TN since March: DVAC data

Govt Offices Shut, Staff Focused On Covid Work

Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com

Chennai: 02.08.2020

The still raging Covid-19 pandemic seems to have slowed down corruption across Tamil Nadu including Chennai, Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption data suggests.

Since March 24, when the lockdown began, the DVAC registered only 14 cases across the state and uploaded details of the FIRs registered on its website. The DVAC usually registers 20-25 cases every month.

The DVAC, whose investigative units are divided into central, western and southern ranges and the special cell, now has 50% of its staff working on a rotation basis as per government rules, sources said.

The units posted in Chennai, under the central range, have not registered a single case since March 16, according to the website. In the western range, which comprises 14 units, the Erode unit registered a case on June 5, Vellore on June 26 and July 11, Tirupur on July 13, Coimbatore on March 26, while the unit in Perambalur conducted 2 traps in June.

The southern range includes 15 units and the Trichy unit registered FIRs on June 1 and 19, Dindigul on May 19 and June 8, Tirunelveli on July 15, Kanyakumari on July 9 and Karur on July 9.

One reason, say DVAC sources, is that government offices across Chennai and Tamil Nadu were completely shut in April and May. There was no movement of people and the circumstances for corruption at government offices may not have arisen, they say.

Secondly, the near complete focus on battling Covid may have affected movement of files. The 2017 amendment to the Prevention of Corruption Act has mandated the DVAC to take permission of the vigilance commissioner before filing an FIR against any government employee. In Tamil Nadu, the vigilance commissioner is the chief secretary who is involved in Covid-19 prevention. “So, even if DVAC may have processed files, they may be stuck with the secretariat,” sources said. However, traps have been laid and people arrested based of the complaints received. “But for arrest, we have to maintain a proper safety protocol, to avoid spread of COVID19,” an official said. Paperwork on older cases is being systematically processed, sources added.

Jayaram Venkatesan, convenor of Arappor Iyakkam, an NGO working towards eradicating corruption, said it the reduction in the number of cases was inevitable due to the lockdown. “However, registration department’s offices have started functioning. DVAC should give information on how many surprise checks were conducted.” In February, Jayaram recalled, a complainant had approached the DVAC officials concerned, seeking to trap an official demanding a bribe for issuing a legal heir certificate. No action was take, Jayaram said. “DVAC has not converted many pending complaints, where it could have collected evidence and converted it into FIRs during the lockdown period,” he said.

Drop in cases inevitable during lockdown, says Arappor Iyakkam, an NGO. Wants info on checks conducted at registration department offices across TN during this period

TN people most keen to skip hosp, meet docs online

TN people most keen to skip hosp, meet docs online

U.Tejonmayam@timesgroup.com

Chennai: 02.08.2020

As hospitals fight Covid, many people in Tamil Nadu are now getting their health status checked in less than six minutes at a click of a button. With 22,502 consultations, the state ranks number one in utilising the national free teleconsultation service esanjeevaniOPD, by the ministry of health and family welfare.

For patients, this service has come as an alternative to hospital visits at a time when there is a fear of Covid spread. For doctors and government authorities, it is the best way to avoid crowds in hospitals busy treating Covid patients. The service is active in 15 other states.

“We get not less than 1,200 calls a day. We have doctors in the state and district control rooms and we work along with 102 and 104 helplines,” said Dr T S Selvavinayagam, director of public health. “This service is for the common man when there is a difficulty in accessing their regular doctors. Minor ailments are handled and if need be, they are referred to a hospital. Though PHCs, medical colleges are working, this additional facility has become very useful during this lockdown,” he added.

The portal works similar to a hospital/ clinic visit, except that the wait time to meet a doctor is less online. People from any corner of the state could log on to the portal. At a time, nearly 25 to 50 doctors attend patients’ calls.

“I had skin allergy for the past three months and I was scared to go to a hospital. So, I used this service and a doctor from Nagapattinam attended. Within the next five minutes, she sent an e-prescription,” said Sundar R of Anna Nagar, Chennai.

More than cities, the portal seems to have benefitted more people in the districts and rural areas. Tiruppur district was the first in the state to reach 1,000 consultations and has 2,293 consultations to date.

“We aggressively took this up since its inception a couple of months ago. We wanted to avoid crowds in GH and other PHCs. So we have arranged computer systems in block hospitals so people from towns like Mulanur or Udumalpet need not come to the district hospital in Tiruppur,” said Dr K Vijayakarthikeyan, Tiruppur district collector. “We have suggested that prescriptions be forwarded to vendors and medicines be home-delivered to patients,” he added.