Doctors, nurses turn family for elderly COVID patient who lived alone in Chennai

Doctors, nurses turn family for elderly COVID patient who lived alone in Chennai

The elderly man lived alone as all his relatives were abroad when he tested positive for the coronavirus, said RGGGH Dean Dr E Theranirajan.

Published: 07th February 2021 02:18 AM 

Isolation ward at RGGGH. 

By OMJASVIN M D

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Even as the number of Covid-19 cases reduces, heartwarming stories from hospitals remain aplenty. Doctors and nurses have been the sole caretakers of Covid-19 patients as visitors were not allowed in hospitals; but at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) here, they even served as family to a 70-year-old man who didn’t have anyone else to take care of him.

The elderly man lived alone as all his relatives were abroad when he tested positive for the coronavirus, said RGGGH Dean Dr E Theranirajan. “He had no caretaker when he developed symptoms. He informed his family abroad and they contacted the Health authorities here, who visited his house and brought him to the hospital,” Dr Theranirajan explained.

Since there was no attender, even the patient’s clothes could not be brought to the hospital. He had some lung complications, and was immediately admitted to the RGGGH, the dean added. The RGGGH staff ensured clothes were given to the patient from the ‘Wall of Kindness’, where people can donate clothes and essentials to needy patients at the hospital. “Our healthcare staff also ensured he ate properly. They offered him counselling and communicated with his family abroad,” said the dean.

Eventually, the patient’s wife returned to the country and wrote a check for Rs 1 lakh to the hospital for the treatment and care provided. “She was almost in tears when she came to the hospital. She gave us the cheque and said she would be ready to help the hospital in any way. It was heartwarming for us too,” Dr Theranirajan said, adding that the patient was discharged on January 23.

The RGGGH has handled more than 30,000 Covid-19 cases and saved many lives, including those of 30 patients above the age of 90 years. In the past, patients’ relatives have donated televisions, rice bags and cash, among other things, out of gratitude to the hospital.

Those above 50 will soon be able to self-register on CoWIN for jabs

Those above 50 will soon be able to self-register on CoWIN for jabs

Nisha.Nambiar@timesgroup.com

Pune:07.02.2021

The central health ministry will soon open up the CoWIN app for people aged 50 and above who wish to self-register for Covid vaccination.

On Friday, the ministry had said vaccinations for this category will start in March.

Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan told TOI on Saturday the government will make the app public within a month. “Currently, Co-WIN access is restricted and is not available to the public. But we have one month to work on it and release it for citizens,” he said.

Bhushan said work is on to make the app more citizenfriendly. “We will be slowly revealing new features that will make it easy for those above 50 to register.”

Ram Sewak Sharma, chairman of the Empowered Group on Technology and Data Management to combat Covid-19, had earlier told TOI that the citizen version of the app would incorporate the suggestions that were made for better, more user-friendly performance.

He said the app will include an “appointment” feature once it’s made public.

Suggestions have come in from states on how to improve the app’s user interface.

“Technology will not be an issue. The best citizencentric interface will be made available in the coming days whenever it goes public,” he said.

CoWIN — an extension of India’s existing vaccine intelligence system, eVIN (electronic vaccine intelligence network) — is an IT solution that helps plan, implement and monitor the ongoing Covid inoculation drive. Currently, access is limited to administrators and vaccinators at sites where jabs are being administered for those who are part of the first two priority groups — healthcare and frontline workers.

In its present form, the app packs certain key modules for administrators, beneficiary registration and status updation.

Frontline and healthcare workers need to be registered on CoWIN before they can receive their vaccines.

Four girl students jailed for ragging junior, abeting suicide

Four girl students jailed for ragging junior, abetting suicide

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bhopal:  07.02.2021 

A sessions court in Bhopal has convicted four students of RKDF Pharmacy College for ragging and abetment the suicide of a junior student and sentenced them to five years’ imprisonment.

The girls were accused of driving their junior, Anita Sharma, to kill herself.

The court of additional district & sessions judge, Amit Ranjan, pronounced the senior students guilty and awarded them jail terms of five years each.

A case was registered in this regard against the four girls under Section 306 of IPC on charges of abetment to suicide. The court, however, acquitted a teacher of the institute, who had been made a co-accused in the case. The accused — Nidhi Magre, Dipti Solanki, Divyanshi Sharma, and Kriti Gaur — have been convicted in the ragging case reported in 2013.

Anita Sharma, an 18-year old B Pharm second-year student at RKDF Institute of Pharmacy, had committed suicide by hanging at her residence in 2013.

In her suicide note, she had accused the girls in question of subjecting her to torture in the name of ragging ever since she joined the college, so much so that she was even ‘forced her to write their mid-semester copies.’ She claimed that when she tried to inform the authorities about the ragging, she was advised to ‘obey her seniors and live with it’.In her suicide note, she wrote, “Only I know how I have suffered the ragging of these four girls.”

It’s mandatory for students to give an undertaking against ragging at the time of admission.

Anita Sharma, an 18-year old B Pharm student, had committed suicide by hanging at her residence in 2013. In her suicide note, she had mentioned the ragging she suffered

Covaxin trials for kids likely soon in Nagpur

Covaxin trials for kids likely soon in Nagpur

Chaitanya.Deshpande@timesgroup.com

Nagpur:07.02.2021

For parents concerned about sending their children, especially primary students, to school due to the Covid-19 pandemic and waiting for vaccine approval for those below 18 years, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Bharat Biotech, makers of indigenous Covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin, are expected to start vaccine trials for the paediatric population by February-end or early March this year. Sources confirmed that a leading children’s hospital in the city has been selected as one of the sites for trials on children. The trials will start as soon as Bharat Biotech, a company from Hyderabad, gets formal go-ahead from the government of India. In January, Bharat Biotech MD Krishna Ella had said that the vaccine for children will be ready in the next four months — by May 2021. “It will be the first such trial in the world in which paediatric population right from toddlers to teens will be tested for the Covid-19 vaccine,” Dr Ashish Tajne, coordinator for these trials, said. Dr Tajne further said Nagpur was one of the sites for Covaxin’s phase I, II, and III human trials.

“Trials for Covaxin through intradermal route are under way in the city. Soon, Covaxin trials through nasal route will also commence. However, the paediatric trial has a special importance,” he said. According to him, these trials will be conducted in age slabs like 2 to 5 years, 6 to 12 years, and 12 to 18 years. “Special protocol will be maintained. It will be the crucial trial in fight against Covid-19,” he said.

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‘Will be first such trial in the world’

In January, Bharat Biotech MD Krishna Ella had said that the vaccine for children will be ready in the next four months — by May 2021.

“It will be the first such trial in the world in which paediatric population right from toddlers to teens will be tested for the Covid-19 vaccine,” Dr Ashish Tajne, coordinator for these trials, said. Dr Tajne further said that Nagpur was one of the sites for Covaxin’s phase I, II, and III human trials.

“Trials for Covaxin through intradermal route are under way in the city. Soon, Covaxin trials through nasal route will also commence. However, the paediatric trial has a special importance,” he said.

According to him, these trials will be conducted in age slabs like 2-5 years, 6-12 years, and 12-18 years. “Special protocol will be maintained. It will be a crucial trial in the fight against Covid-19,” Tajne said.

As per international regulations, only vaccines based on inactivated virus can be administered to children under the age of 16 years. Hence, Covaxin is the only suitable option for children in India. Other made-in-India vaccines are based on mRNA and chimpanzee adenovirus vector platforms.

Earlier, in January, the Drug Controller General of India had given conditional approval for administering Covaxin to children above 12 years of age. But later in the month, the government disapproved this authorisation.

After this, Bharat Biotech declared that it will be submitting a proposal for Covaxin trials for children between 2-12 years. A senior paediatrician from the city, who is most likely to be the principle coordinator of these trials at Nagpur, said that formal announcement about the trials will be done only after receiving government’s final nod.

Google launches paid-for news platform in Australia

Google launches paid-for news platform in Australia

Canberra:  07.02.2021 

Google on Friday launched a platform in Australia offering news it has paid for, striking its own content deals with publishers in a drive to show legislation proposed by Canberra to enforce payments, a world first, is unnecessary.

Only rolled out previously in Brazil and Germany, the News Showcase platform was originally slated for launch last June. But Alphabet-owned Google delayed plans when Canberra moved to make it a legal requirement for Google and Facebook to pay Australian media firms for content, unprecedented anywhere else in the world.

The tech firm, still lobbying the Australian government in private meetings, has previously said was the legislation was “unworkable” and would force it to pull out of the country altogether if implemented. With the legislation now before a parliamentary inquiry, Friday’s launch of News Showcase in Australia will see it pay seven domestic outlets to use their content.

Financial details of the content deals weren’t disclosed.

Google said on Friday it looked forward to striking deals with more Australian publishers, whose position has been bolstered by Canberra’s aggressive push back against Facebook and Google. Google declined to add further comment.

“This provides an alternative to model put forward by the Australian government,” said Derek Wilding, a professor at the University of Technology Sydney’s Centre for Media Transition. “What remains to be seen is if larger publishers sign on to the product,” he said.

Under Canberra’s proposed legislation, Google and Facebook would have to pay Australian publishers and broadcasters for content.While Google’s public stance on potentially leaving the country remains firm, Australia’s treasurer Josh Frydenberg said Google’s approach had been “constructive” in recent days during private meetings. “The PM (Scott Morrison) and myself... had a very constructive discussion with the head of Google just yesterday.... they re-committed to Australia, we re-committed (to the legislation).” REUTERS

‘25 nations in queue for Indian vaccine’

‘25 nations in queue for Indian vaccine’

Amaravati: 07.02.2021 

India has so far supplied COVID-19 vaccine to 15 countries and another 25 nations are in the queue at different levels for the jab, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said here on Saturday.

He said there are three categories of countries which are keen to get the vaccine from India- poor, price sensitive nations and other countries which directly deal with pharmaceutical companies that make the antidote.

"I think right now we have already supplied to about 15 countries (as per my recollection).

I would say there would be another about 25 countries which are at different stages in the pipeline. But what it has done is today it has put India on the map of the world," Jaishankar told reporters in a press conference.

The minister said some poor countries are being supplied the vaccine on a grant basis while some nations wanted it on par with the price that the Indian Government pays to the vaccine makers.

Some countries have direct contracts with the Indian vaccine producing companies and have negotiated commercially, he said.

The Centre has already given the nod for two COVID-19 vaccines-- Covaxin of city-based Bharat Biotech and Covishield of Oxford, being manufactured by Serum Institute of India in Pune, which are being administered to frontline workers from January 16, under Emergency Use Authorisation. PTI

WHO hails India’s Covid measures

Acclaiming public health measures taken by India and its significant progress in combating the Covid-19 pandemic, director-general of WHO Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has suggested that other countries could adopt similar methods to tackle the disease. Tedros said: “This shows us that if we can do these simple public health solutions, we can beat the virus...With vaccines being added, we would even expect better outcomes.” TNN

She ditched medical for agri, bags 12 gold medals!

AAU CONVOCATION

She ditched medical for agri, bags 12 gold medals!

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Vadodara/Anand:  07.02.2021 

Clinching the highest number of 12 gold medals at Anand Agricultural University’s 17th annual convocation, this student showcased why she preferred a not-so popular course for farmers’ prosperity, when she could have easily got into any of the choicest medical colleges after Class XII.

Meet Radhika Ghetiya, a native of Rajkot, whose cap of feathers is shini ng bright from her brilliant performance on Thursday. Currently, she is studying agricultural statistics at AAU. “I could have become a doctor but chose agricultural sciences as I want to pursue further research in the field and use it for the benefits of farmers,” said Ghetiya. Forty other students of AAU too received gold medals and cash prizes. In all 686 students received their graduation, post-graduation and doctorates degree at the convocation.

“As the environment is fast changing, the young minds should conduct more research for its protection,” said Acharya Devvrat, Gujarat governor and chancellor of the university, in his convocational address.

He also added that traditional Indian methods of agricultural methods should be used for farming to bring the change.

“The young generation should come forward and strengthen agri supply chains to overcome changes and problems in the sector,” said R S Sodhi, managing director of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) who was the chief guest.

Radhika Ghetiya