HC asks Centre to consider FCRA relief for Covid-19 aid

HC asks Centre to consider FCRA relief for Covid-19 aid

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:31.05.2021

Delhi High Court has asked the Centre to treat as a representation a PIL seeking to exempt foreign contributions or aid, such as oxygen concentrators and medicines received for Covid-19 management and treatment, from the ambit of Foreign Contribution (Regulations) Act (FCRA) 2010 during the pandemic.

If the representation is made, the government will take a decision in eight weeks, the court said. A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh directed the Centre to take a decision in accordance with the rules and the government policy applicable and as early as possible and practicable.

The court disposed of the plea by charitable organisation Shri Sai Kirpa Society, which manages a medical centre at Sai Akshardham in Greater Noida, with assistance from Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and National Heart Institute. In its petition, filed through advocate Gaurav Gupta, the society said a person of Indian origin in the US had wanted to send oxygen concentrators and life-saving drugs for Covid patients. But accepting it without any relief will violate FCRA, it added.

Meanwhile, a plea to give priority in Covid vaccination to NRIs and students who have to go for studies abroad has been moved in Delhi High Court and may be heard on Monday.

Move to extend doctors’ training not arbitrary: HC

Move to extend doctors’ training not arbitrary: HC

New Delhi:31.05.2021 

Delhi High Court has said that services of resident doctors are imperative for functioning of hospitals in the current Covid-19 pandemic situation and the authorities’ decision to extend their training beyond schedule cannot be ex facie arbitrary or unreasonable.

HC was hearing a plea by several doctors who are in DNB Super Speciality courses, challenging a May 4 notification by which the National Board of Examination had extended their training beyond the scheduled date of its completion.

The doctors said the DNB course is of three years and a mandatory extension of three months is permissible, which they have already served, and claimed that the authorities are not empowered to extend the course beyond this period.

“Having regard to the circumstances arising out of the pandemic and the need for continuation of residents as mentioned in the NMC advisory dated April 27, 2021, which has not been challenged in the writ petition, I am unable to accede to (advocate Sidharth) Yadav’s request for an interim order,” Justice Prateek Jalan said.

The court agreed with the submission of advocate T Singhdev for the NMC and advocate Kirtiman Singh for the NBE that the availability of resident doctors is imperative for the functioning of hospitals. “In the present situation, the decision of the respondents cannot be said to be ex facie arbitrary or unreasonable,” it said. PTI

Gold jewellery ‘stolen’ from Covid victim’s body

Gold jewellery ‘stolen’ from Covid victim’s body

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bhopal:31.05.2021 

Jewellery worth Rs 1.5 lakh went missing from a 55-year-old Covid-19 victim at a private hospital in Bhopal on April 22. A case has been registered at Kolar police station on Saturday after the son of deceased approached CM Helpline.

Sarthak, 25, who is a law student and a resident of Kamla Nagar locality, told TOI that on April 17, he admitted his mother Alpana, 55, to a private hospital in Kolar after she tested Covid positive. “My mother’s condition was stable when he admitted her, but with each passing day, her condition deteriorated. On the day of my birthday on April 22, I was informed that she has succumbed to Covid,” said Sarthak. When he went to the hospital, he was shocked to find that the gold and silver ornaments including, mangalsutra, bangles, earrings and nose ring were missing from her body.

He said that when he enquired about the jewellery from hospital management, they gave him “fake” ornaments wrapped in a plastic bag, adding that without raising any further questions he took her mother’s body for funeral ceremony. Hospital management refused to comment.

“After13 days, when he approached Kolar police station to lodge a complaint, they asked him to wait outside citing Covid protocol. He then, approached CM Helpline and got registered a complaint after 24 days” said Joshi adding that he was regretting his decision to admitting his mother at such a hospital.

Police said that a case of theft has been registered and investigations are underway.

Notably, it was the same private hospital that was in news for black marketing of Remdesivir and hospital staffers were booked by the police for Remdesivir injections and to administer only saline to Covid patients for whom the injection the brought for.

Wait 6 wks for surgery after Covid, says ICMR

Wait 6 wks for surgery after Covid, says ICMR

Umesh.Isalkar@timesgroup.com

Pune:  31.05.2021 

Recovered Covid patients opting for non-urgent or elective surgeries are being asked by surgeons to go for repeat RT-PCR/antigen tests as part of pre-operative protocols. However, experts from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the national task force for Covid-19 have advised against repeating Covid tests within 102 days of recovery, citing presence of “non-viable dead-virus particles” that stay in the body for a while.

These virus remnants cannot transmit the illness but can cause a false positive test result. The experts said surgeons should consider performing a non-urgent surgery on a Covid-recovered patient only after six weeks of recovery to ensure faster healing and convalescence post-surgery.

Govt offices to function with 100% officers from June 1

Govt offices to function with 100% officers from June 1

Bhopal:31.05.2021 

The Madhya Pradesh government under its plan for graded or phase-wise unlocking of the 'Corona Curfew' restrictions, has announced offices to function with made 100% officers and 50% employees from June1.

After the surge in Covid-19 cases in April, the state had restricted the presence of employees in government offices to 10%. According to state government release the new order will be in force till June 15. All officials and employees must follow the Covid-19 guidelines, the release said on Sunday. “The government offices, except those engaged in essential services, will be opened and operated with all100% officers and 50% (other) employees from June 1,” the order said. TNN

Rise in post-Covid stroke & heart attack cases: Docs

Rise in post-Covid stroke & heart attack cases: Docs

Sumitra.DebRoy@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:31.05.2021 

A mild bout of Covid-19 took a drastic turn for a 36-year-old Kamothe resident who suffered from a brain stroke and is now battling paralysis. Chandrashekar Reddy, father of two and the family’s main breadwinner, is barely able to sit up now after over a month. Doctors say a complete recovery could take more than six months, a second brain surgery and intensive physiotherapy.

Reddy’s case, however, is not rare. Doctors have increasingly been seeing cases of stroke and heart attacks in patients who are recuperating or have recovered from Covid. In the second wave, doctors are particularly seeing a delayed presentation of these complications — sometimes up to 2 months after the patient has been discharged from hospital. Worryingly, neurologists say the high incidence of stroke is also seen in patients battling mucormycosis, the invasive fungal disease.

The state Covid taskforce has also asked doctors to focus on post-Covid cerebrovascular complications.

Dr Viswanathan Iyer, a brain and spine surgeon who operated on Reddy, said it was his fourth such surgery since the end of April. In Reddy’s case, he had to perform a decompression surgery since there was a large clot on the right side of the brain. The surgery is done to remove the bone and give space to accommodate brain swelling. “The systemic inflammation sends the body in some kind of hypercoagulable state, where the blood thickens, making the patient prone to suffer from a stroke,” he said.

At KEM Hospital, neurologist Dr Nitin Dange said they have seen over 20 cases of strokes, heart attacks and aggravation of deep vein thrombosis in patients who have recovered from Covid.

In the second wave, doctors are seeing a delayed presentation of complications — sometimes up to 2 months after the patient has been discharged from hospital

Gold recovered from burglar’s stomach

Gold recovered from burglar’s stomach

Mangaluru:31.05.2021 

Dakshina Kannada district police have arrested two burglars and seized 182 grams of gold, including 35 grams of jewellery which was swallowed by one of them.

Tangacha, 50, resident of Kannur district in, Kerala and Shibu, from Thrissur had broken into Mohan Jewellery, in Sullia, on April 1 and decamped with 180 grams of gold valued at Rs 7.5 lakh and Rs 50,000.

The duo was arrested on Saturday and gold worth Rs 6.6 lakh was seized. Tangacha was sent to judicial custody. Hours after the arrest, Shibu complained of abdominal pain. A radiography report revealed jewellery in his intestine. On Sunday morning, 35 grams of gold was recovered from him. Shibu told police that he swallowed the jewellery with ice cream. TNN