No empty beds, doctors treat inside ambulances in queue

No empty beds, doctors treat inside ambulances in queue

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Rajkot:10.04.2021

Nine ambulances had to wait outside the Covid ward of PDU hospital with patients on Friday, as all the beds in the government hospital were full. The civil hospital staff had to attend to some of the patients inside the ambulances itself.

After 590 Covid beds in the PDU hospital got filled up, the administration arranged more 200 more beds in the trauma and other departments by shifting some of the general patients to the railway hospital. Ambulances continued to bring in patients leading to a queue of nine ambulances outside the gates at one point tin time. Medical superintendent of PDU hospital, Radheshyam Trivedi said, “We have all the beds full and are admitting patient on bed basis. There was a queue of ambulances and a team of our doctors wearing PPE kit had to go inside the ambulances and treat the severe patients. They identified the severe patients and processed to admit them first.”

Covid patients wait for treatment outside civil hospital in Rajkot

Some will get Covid even after vaccination, and that’s normal

Some will get Covid even after vaccination, and that’s normal

No vaccine guarantees 100% immunity from the novel coronavirus, so a small percentage of people who have received a vaccination will still get sick, but experts say that their symptoms are likely to be mild

Abhilash.Gaur@timesgroup.com

10.04.2021

On March 18, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan took his first dose of a coronavirus vaccine made by the Chinese company Sinopharm. On the 20th, he tested positive for Covid. Vaccine-sceptics felt vindicated, China-bashers shouted ‘hurray’. Both were wrong. A vaccine is like a trainer. It needs several weeks to train your immune system to fight a germ. Khan’s first dose got hardly two days to work. In fact, Khan most probably had the virus for several days before he took his shot.

So, Imran Khan’s positive test does not mean his vaccine failed, but are there other cases where a coronavirus vaccine has ‘failed’ to do its job?

Is it possible for you to get Covid after vaccination?

Yes, a small percentage of properly vaccinated people are expected to get sick with the coronavirus. Now that many millions have been vaccinated around the world, such cases are becoming common. Why does this happen, and is it fair to describe it as a failure of the vaccine?

Breakthrough Cases

An infection that occurs after vaccination is called a ‘breakthrough case’. But there’s a condition: it should occur at least 14 days after you are “fully vaccinated”. In India, it would mean two weeks after your second dose of Covishield or Covaxin.

Amesh A. Adalja at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security tells Prevention magazine that this time-frame is necessary because “your body should have enough time to develop antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 (the coronavirus).”

In a Forbes column, scientist William A. Haseltine mentions Israeli research that found vaccinated and unvaccinated people were equally likely to get infected in the first 12 days after the first vaccine dose. Even after 17 days, 60-80% of vaccinated people could get infected.

The Atlantic’s science journalist Katherine J. Wu says breakthrough cases will now “continue to grow in number, everywhere… They are an entirely expected part of any vaccination process.” You might hear of them in your circle. But the important thing is to not get alarmed and start doubting vaccines.

No Vaccine Is Perfect

Actually, there was a vaccine that provided 100% immunity against the virus it was aimed at, says Bloomberg’s pharma industry analyst Sam Fazeli. It was so good that it totally wiped out the smallpox virus. But such ‘sterilising immunity’ – stopping not only sickness but also infection – is rare.

For the coronavirus, scientists last year set the bar low at 50% efficacy. Luckily, all of the approved vaccines turned out to be far better with efficacy rates as high as 95%. Yet, even the best vaccine can’t guarantee you won’t fall ill.

Again, Wu reminds you this is not a failure of vaccines because “the goal of vaccination isn’t eradication, but a détente in which humans and viruses coexist, with the risk of disease at a tolerable low.”

With vaccines, we are mainly trying to prevent severe disease and death, not the infection itself, and all of the approved vaccines seem to be excellent at that. For example, the singledose Johnson & Johnson vaccine showed only 72% efficacy in US trials, but nobody who took it needed hospitalisation or died.

As Fazeli says, “You will never know how bad your symptoms would have been if you had not been vaccinated.”

Reducing Risk

So, the main reason for breakthrough cases is that vaccines are not perfect. Haseltine says, “we need to draw a distinction between infection and disease” while talking about coronavirus vaccines. As none of the present vaccines claims to protect you from infection, breakthrough cases aren’t surprising. But what makes some vaccinated people more susceptible to the virus than others? Wu says there could be many factors, from your immune system’s response to the virus variant you are exposed to. As the existing vaccines are based on last year’s coronavirus variant, they might be less effective against the newer variants.

Haseltine says a study from China found that “sera from those infected by the original Wuhan strain last year have little to no ability to protect against either the UK (B.1.1.7) or the South African (B.1.351) strains.” Also, your immune system could buckle under the force of a big virus dose, for example inside a room where many Covid patients are present. “Large doses of the virus can overwhelm the sturdiest of immune defences, if given the chance,” Wu says.

That’s why continuing to wear a mask even after you have been vaccinated can reduce the risk of breakthrough cases. Especially now, when coronavirus infections are sharply rising across India.

Rlys on migrants’ exodus: No plan to curtail train services

Rlys on migrants’ exodus: No plan to curtail train services

‘Nos. To Be Increased On Demand’

New Delhi:10.04.2021

The railways on Friday said there is no plan to curtail or stop train services and assured passengers that trains will be provided on demand amidst reports of migrant workers rushing to their home-towns, reminiscent of the days following the coronavirus-triggered lockdown.

A number of officials, including Railway Board chairman Suneet Sharma, general manager, Southern Railway John Thomas and the chief public relations officers (CPROs) of the Northern and Central Railways, reached out to the media to deny reports of an exodus of migrant workers to their hometowns via trains.

Sharma assured the passengers that there is no dearth of trains and the railways is ready to put them into service on a short notice.

“There is no plan to curtail or stop train services. We will run as many services as required. There is no cause for alarm. We can run trains immediately on demand if there is any rush. This rush is normal during the summer season and we have already announced trains to clear the rush,” he said.

With the number of Covid-19 cases on the rise, a sudden surge in passenger movement at railway stations was reported from across the country. Many travellers, speaking to the media, said the fear of an imminent lockdown was the reason behind their trips. The Railway Board chairman also ruled out the need for a Covid-negative certificate to travel by train. He said the railways has not received any communique yet from Maharashtra to stop or curtail the movement of trains.

Thomas appealed to the public not to believe in the rumours doing the rounds of social media regarding overcrowding at railway stations. He urged them to avoid sharing old videos and false reports on social media platforms. In Mumbai, the Central Railway CPRO took reporters on a live tour of the Mumbai area stations via livestreaming of visuals from platforms and circulating areas to highlight that “contrary to what has been reported by certain sections of the media, there is no rush at the stations in the Mumbai area”.

In Delhi, the Northern Railway CPRO gave the media a tour of the New Delhi railway station, again to show that there is no “rush”.

Currently, on an average, the railways is running a total of 1,402 special train services per day. A total of 5,381 suburban train services and 830 passenger train services are also operational. PTI

With the number of Covid cases on rise, a sudden surge in passenger movement at railway stations was reported from across the country

Courts not experts to decide if BE is similar to BSc: HC

Courts not experts to decide if BE is similar to BSc: HC

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:10.04.2021

Courts are not expert bodies to decide that a bachelor’s degree in engineering is equivalent to that of science. It is for bodies like the University Grant Commission to decide, the high court observed while allowing a writ appeal filed by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board.

The board had challenged the order passed by a single bench on September 3, 2020, directing it to treat a degree in engineering on par with that in science and consider the candidature of seven applicants (all BE degree holders) for the post of assistant/clerk.

However, quoting from the Supreme Court’s directive in the Zahoor Ahmed case, a division bench headed by Justice Satish Chandra Sharma noted that an employer is entitled to prescribe qualifications as a condition of eligibility and there is no role or function of judicial review to expand upon the ambit of prescribed qualifications.

Pointing out that the single bench had erred in law and facts in allowing the writ petition, the division bench said it is purely the employer’s domain to frame recruitment rules and the prescription of qualification for a post is a matter of recruitment policy.

The single bench had said since the word ‘science’ has not been defined anywhere, it cannot be limited to include only a bachelor’s degree in science. However, BWSSB said by no stretch of imagination can a degree in engineering be treated as a graduation in science since engineering and science are two different disciplines.

AIADMK workers maintain low profile

AIADMK workers maintain low profile

Julie.Mariappan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:10.04.2021

AIADMK partymen have been maintaining a low profile, resigned to the long wait for the assembly election results. In the last three days, chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami chose to remain mostly indoors in Salem, meeting only a few ministers andcandidates, sources said, adding he was down with acute laryngitis. In an unprecedented move, the party took on the bureaucracy, urging the election commission on Thursday to transfer four senior police officers from the western region, alleging they sided with the opposition DMK during the election.

“The CM is disappointed that grassroot workers did not work as hard as expected in the run-up to the polls. Many functionaries did not campaign like they used to when Amma (J Jayalalithaa) was there. Her presence intimidated many,” said a senior leader. Palaniswami is scheduled to return to Chennai on Saturday evening, after his visit to Theni to condole the death of deputy CM O Panneerselvam’s mother-in-law. Leaders are expected to visit the CM at his Greenways Road residence. Meanwhile, Palaniswami took his second dose of Covid vaccination at the Salem government hospital and urged people to follow Covid norms and the standard operating procedures.

Revenue minister R B Udhayakumar said AIADMK cadres were in an upbeat mood, confident that the party would form a government for the third consecutive term. “It is history repeating itself. In 1977, the DMK went about organising a victory function. But MGR (AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran) won the assembly election that year,” said the minister.

A section in the AIADMK, however, say that the DMK’s anti-BJP narrative in the final stages of the campaign may have influenced the “swinging voters” and the AIADMK leadership failed to counter it effectively.

(With inputs from Padmini Sivarajah)

HC stays ex-chief secy’s appointment as NGT member

HC stays ex-chief secy’s appointment as NGT member

Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com

Chennai:10.04.2021

Expressing unhappiness over the appointment of former Tamil Nadu chief secretary Girija Vaidyanathan as an expert member of the National Green Tribunal, the Madras high court on Friday stayed the appointment.

“We are not happy with the qualifications of the person who has been appointed as an expert member of the tribunal,” the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said.

When the court was informed that she was due to assume charge on April 19, the court said there would be a stay of the appointment till disposal of the case.

“It is possible that the former chief secretary may have dealt with environmental matters in course of the various departments that she headed during her tenure, but it is both necessary for her to indicate the same for the court to be satisfied that the statutory eligibility criteria in such regard is met by her,” the court said.

The bench was passing orders on a public interest writ petition filed by environment conservation NGO Poovulagin Nanbargal, challenging Girija Vaidyanathan’s appointment.

There may be an element of discussion on what may amount to dealing with environmental matters, but the selection committee would not have exercised any discretion to relax the eligibility criterion in derogation of the statutory requirement, the bench said.

According to the petitioner-organisation, the NGT Act prescribes a minimum of administrative experience of 15 years, including five years in dealing with environmental matters in the central or a state government. But in violation of the provision, Girija Vaidyanathan who does not possess five-year experience in handling environmental matters has been appointed to the post, the NGO alleged.

“Section 5 (2) (b) of the NGT Act says that a person shall not be qualified for appointment as an expert member unless they have administrative experience of 15 years, including experience of five years in dealing with environmental matters in central or a state government or in a reputed national or state level institution,” the petitioner said. However, Girija who has been selected for appointment to the post has not possessed an experience of five years in dealing with environmental matters as could be seen from her complete bio data found in the official website of the union ministry of personnel, the NGO added. Therefore, it wanted the court to call for the records pertaining to her appointment dated December 12 issued by the union government and quash the same.

Docs’ forum opposes higher tuition fee in med college

Docs’ forum opposes higher tuition fee in med college

Chennai:10.04.2021

A doctors’ association for social equality has moved the Madras high court against conducting exams to students of Rajah Muthiah Medical College and Hospital (now Government Medical College and Hospital, Cuddalore) through the Annamalai University despite declaring it as a government medical college.

Admitting the plea, the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy directed the Tamil Nadu government to file its response. According to Doctors Association for Social Equality, the college which was functioning under Annamalai university was brought under the state government through the Annamalai University Act, 2013. On January 27 a GO declared the college as a government medical college. While so, the state has now proposed to conduct examinations to the students of the college under the university which is contrary to the January 27 GO, the petitioner said. TNN