Junior docs to go off OPD on Mon

Junior docs to go off OPD on Mon

New Delhi:  05.12.2021

Resident doctors of Maulana Azad Medical College and associated hospitals have threatened to strike on Monday to protest delay in counselling and admission through NEET.

In a letter to the director of Lok Nayak hospital, the resident doctors have stated that they will boycott OPD and elective surgeries if their demands aren’t met. Emergency and ICU services will not be affected by their protest, doctors said. Resident doctors of several other hospitals across the country, including Safdarjung, have also threatened to strike on Monday.

According to the Federation of Resident Doctors Association, the delay in admission to PG NEET was impacting the morale and performance of residents. TNN

Newark-bound Air India flight returns to IGI after 3 hours as passenger dies on board

Newark-bound Air India flight returns to IGI after 3 hours as passenger dies on board

New Delhi:  05.12.2021

An Air India flight to Newark in the USA returned to Delhi airport after three hours of departing due to the death of a passenger on board.

“Air India Delhi-Newark (US) flight returned to Delhi after more than three hours of flight, due to a medical emergency on board,” an Air India official told ANI.

A team of airport doctors arrived on the plane and declared him dead after a thorough check of the passenger. The passenger was a US national and was travelling with his wife.

“On December 4, flight number AI-105 returned to IGI airport, due to the death of a US citizen who was travelling with his wife to Newark,” the official said.

The flight landed safely at Delhi airport, and as per the flight time duty limitation norms, another batch of the crew will be arranged for flight operations.

“The same aircraft with new crew members are expected to take off around 1600 hrs,” the official added. The matter was reported to the airport police for legal formalities. ANI

US-bound AI flight returns after death

US-bound AI flight returns after death

05.12.2021

An AI flight to Newark returned to IGI airport after three hours of departing due to the death of a flyer. A team of airport doctors arrived on the plane and after checking the passenger declared him dead. The flyer was a US national & was travelling with his wife.

When students wept for teacher who took a transfer

When students wept for teacher who took a transfer

S Bhuvaneshwari TNN

Bengaluru:  05.12.2021

Emotions ran high at government higher primary school in Lakkuru of Nelamangala taluk in Bengaluru Rural on Friday as tearyeyed kids pleaded with their teacher, who took a transfer to another institution, to stay back. The teacher, though overwhelmed, expressed helplessness as he had to live close to his aged parents.

With a heavy heart, the children bid adieu to their beloved tutor Gangamallaiah C. He had applied for transfer to a school near his native village and his request was approved.

Gangamallaiah had been working at the Lakkuru school, which has a strength of 124, since 2014 and taught Kannada and social science to students of classes 1-8.

School headmaster Venkatesh N said: “Gangamallaiah used to take care of his students at an individual level. He used to come to school on his two-wheeler and pick up kids on the way if they were unable to reach the institution for some reason.”

He added: “If he was on leave, he used to tell me to pick up the students from Madenahalli near Dobbaspete and would call to remind me so that they don’t miss classes.”

The children too were attached to him. Venkatesh said: “Without telling the students, we (staff members) gave Gangamallaiah a farewell last Wednesday. After the students learnt he was transferred to another school, they requested me to call him and tell him to meet them on Friday.”

When Gangamallaiah came visiting, the kids cried and requested him not to leave them. Class 7 student Harshitha N told STOI: “If we didn’t come to school, he would call our parents to know the reason. We liked his teaching and moral stories.” Class 8 student Sumayya chipped in: “He never allowed our parents to scold or beat us. In fact, he would even guide them if they had any problem.”

The students said they’ll miss Gangamallaiah as he took care of them even more than their parents.

Gangamallaiah said: “After witnessing the love and affection of my students, I’m happy that I became a teacher. Due to poverty, some brilliant kids used to work with their parents to support them financially. I used to go to their houses and convince such parents to send their children to school.”

TEARFUL ADIEU: Students of the government higher primary school in Lakkuru of Nelamangala bid farewell to their teacher

Save your bus ticket next time, you may get back lost items

Save your bus ticket next time, you may get back lost items

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:  05.12.2021

Most BMTC passengers don’t keep their tickets with them after the journey; some even tear them while on board. But Whitefield resident Anjali S found out the benefits of retaining the ticket after she left a box of plants in the bus.

“I recently travelled by a Vayu Vajra bus from the airport. But I left the box of plants in the bus and realised only after I got down at Marathahalli. But I had the ticket with me which had the bus and depot numbers,” she said. “I connected with depot manager Wilson and sent him my ticket on WhatsApp. I got my box back the next morning.”

A senior BMTC official said if any passenger leaves anything in a bus and has the ticket, it will be easier for the authorities to track the vehicle and find the lost item.

This is not the first instance of BMTC passengers getting back items left behind. M Madhusudhan, a resident of Vidyaranyapura, said on November 22, his wife left her bag at the Esteem Mall bus stop. “BMTC recovered and returned jewellery and cash worth Rs 6.3 lakh. We were grateful to BMTC traffic controllers Prakash and Shamisab for this,” he said.

Woman thanks BMTC crew for safe ride at night

BMTC staff have been drawing praise from some passengers. Yogada Joshi, who travelled in a Vayu Vajra bus at night last month, recently took to LinkedIn to thank the bus crew for the safe journey.

“I was the only woman in the bus which had five other male passengers, the driver and conductor. Women usually feel unsafe in public transport but I took the bus because I thought it was much safer for odd-hour travel, thanks to rogue cabbie incidents reported every now and then along the KIA-city route… Throughout the journey, I sat happily. Finally, the bus arrived at my destination and here comes an experience showing care and concern: The conductor and driver peeped outside and saw that nobody was there yet to pick me up at midnight. They insisted upon waiting till my father came. I was touched. Appa arrived shortly and the bus left. I want to thank BMTC and Bengaluru city for making me feel happy and safe,” Yogada wrote.

Following this, BMTC honoured Parth Shetty, the bus conductor, and Ramachandra, the driver.

BMTC staff have been drawing praise from several passengers of late

A BMTC official said it will be easier for the authorities to track the vehicle and find the lost item if the passenger has bus ticket details

Pvt labs try to procure RT-PCR kits which can spot Omicron variant

Pvt labs try to procure RT-PCR kits which can spot Omicron variant

Sunitha.Rao@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:05.12.2021

Private labs in the city have been trying to procure RT-PCR test kits targeting the S gene, following concerns over the Omicron variant.

Currently available RTPCR kits can detect Covid-19 positivity in a person, but can’t specifically say if it is Omicron or some other variant, say experts.

Testing kits look for specific genes to confirm the presence of SARS-Co-V2 in a sample. While N gene points to the presence or absence of the nucleocapsid protein of SARS-Co-V2 in a given swab sample, the ORF1 gene searches for the polyprotein. Mutations in the latest variant — B.1.1529 — have occurred in the S gene that encodes the spike glycoprotein. If a sample is negative for S gene, then it is an indicative marker of the presence of Omicron variant, which needs to be further confirmed through genomic sequencing.

Dr Sujay Prasad, medical director, Neuberg Diagnostics, said conventional Covid RT-PCR test kits in use at present have reagents that detect the presence of N and ORF1 genes, but not the S gene.

“It is now established that the Omicron variant escapes the S gene. But RT-PCR testing kits that we have now don’t contain the reagent for S gene. If the test shows negative for the presence of S gene in a given sample, it is an indicator that the person may have been infected by the Omicron variant,” said Dr Prasad.

“We need to find out if a given sample shows negative or positive for S gene. If negative, such samples must be immediately sent for genomic sequencing,” said Prasad.

Dr HM Venkatappa, chairman of Bangalore Diagnostics Centres’ Association, said labs will now have to procure test kits with S gene. “We are in the process of finding out test kits that help us in early identification of the Omicron variant. But if we use the new kits, the government’s price cap of Rs 800 at private labs and hospitals can’t be adhered to...,” he said.

‘Genomic sequencing can point to specific strain’

Dr CN Manjunath, nodal officer for Covid testing, said the currently available kits are good enough to detect viral positivity in a patient and it is genomic sequencing that can point to the specific variant.

Only one testing kit produced by Thermo Fisher has a Covid-19 diagnostic product with S gene detection, which is being highly sought after by private laboratories now.

Some of the government laboratories in Karnataka are using the kit, where swab samples of vulnerable persons from clusters and those of international passengers are being tested.

CURBING SPREAD: A BBMP worker collects a swab sample at Bengaluru’s KSR railway station

A marketing gimmick: Virologist

Dr V Ravi, virologist and member, Technical Advisory Committee, said all RT-PCR test kits are spike-gene independent and variantproof. “We have been detecting Delta, which has so many mutations in the spike protein. Nobody raised these issues then. It’s more of a marketing gimmick. Indian kits are not missing Omicron. However, if any cluster shows the variant, we should think of replacing the testing kits. Ultimate proof will come from genomic sequencing,” he said.

HC says no student, staff can be allowed entry without vax dose

HC says no student, staff can be allowed entry without vax dose

Bengaluru: 05.12.2021

No students, teachers or staff will be permitted to attend school or college without being vaccinated, the high court said on Saturday, dismissing the PIL that challenged the government order in this regard.

“We are of the considered view that no students, teachers or staff who have not received vaccines shall be permitted to attend school or college where students gather in large numbers. As such no directions can be issued to permit teachers, students or staff who have not received at least one dose to attend colleges in terms of the government order dated July 16, 2021,” a division bench headed by chief justice Ritu Raj Awasthi said.

Dr Srinivasa B Kakkilaya, a medical practitioner from Mangaluru, a couple of professors teaching in Ayurveda colleges and a student had challenged the circular/GO seeking directions for modification.

The petitioners had claimed the circular makes the Covid-19 vaccination process mandatory in nature and further discriminates on the basis of status of vaccination of a person, thus violating the fundamental rights of citizens.

Contending that the circular is coercive in nature, they pointed out even the World Health Organisation (WHO) has held that vaccines do not prevent spread of the disease from person to person and thus had little potential of stopping the pandemic or preservation of the public health. The circular violates the dictum of the Supreme Court in Common Cause Vs Union of India (2018) case which recognised the right, choice and liberty of an individual to prefer the medicine of his/her choice, it was argued. TNN