Govt Caps RT-PCR Rate At ₹300, Home Collection At ₹500

 Govt Caps RT-PCR Rate At ₹300, Home Collection At ₹500

Testing At Govt Centres Stays Free

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Sidhartha.Roy@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:The Delhi government on Thursday slashed the maximum price of RT-PCR tests at private laboratories from Rs 500 to Rs 300 and reduced the cap of Rs 700 for home collection and tests to Rs 500. The maximum rate for rapid antigen tests (RAT) at privateen fixed at Rs 100 instead of Rs 300. Tests conducted at government establishments remain free.

Government sources said the decision had been taken to help Delhiites and also increase the number of tests. A further reduction is possible soon, a source added. The order comes into effect immediately and all charges are inclusive of all taxes.

Private laboratories will also collect samples from testing sites as requisitioned by the chief district medical officer or a government hospital, states the order issued by the health department. In case the RT-PCR samples are collected by government teams and picked up from the collection sites by private laboratories as requisitioned by the district authorities, the charges will be Rs 200, and if samples are col- lected by private laboratory teams for government and processed at their labs, the maximum charge will be Rs 300.

The RT-PCR test at Genestrings Diagnostics, which operates the Covid testing labat the Delhi airport, will also cost Rs 300 following the order. “(There is) no (further) change in rapid RT-PCR test price since the re- cent reduction from Rs 3,500 to Rs 2,900,” Genestrings Diagnostics COO Chetan Kohli said.

The government order also states all laboratories will process the samples within 12 hours, with all positive results being updated on the portal of Indian Council of Medical Research within 30 minutes of samples being processed, followed by updation of all negative results within 24 hours of receiving the samples.

The order also directs all laboratories and hospitals to display the revised rates at a prominent place within 24 hours.

The government had capped the maximum price of RT-PCR at Rs 2,400 in June 2020, then slashed it to Rs 800 in November 2020 and further to Rs 500 last August.

Death certificate delayed, dy civil surgeon penalised

 Death certificate delayed, dy civil surgeon penalised

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TIMES NEWS NETWORK

21.01.2022

Chandigarh: The Haryana Right to Service Commission (HRTSC) has imposed a penalty of Rs 20,000 on Rohtak deputy civil surgeon Dr K L Malik for delaying a case of release of death certificate of a person who had passed away in 1994 claiming that proof of death was not available.

The hapless widow of the deceased had applied for grant of death certificate of her husband.

Sharing details, secretary to the commission Meenaxee Raj said a long pending issue of a harassed widow was finally resolved through the intervention of the panel.

Though the record pertaining to deaths was lost and destroyed in 1995, a fact which was also agreed by HRTSC chief commissioner, who incidentally was DC Bhiwani at that time.

An inquiry had been made into the death by Meham government hospital medical officer Dr Anand Pra-kash, who recommended the case for registration of death to Rohtak deputy civil surgeon.

The inquiry was based on statements of Aanganwadi workers who had made further inquiries with the villagers regarding the death of the deceased. Despite the reports, clear recommendation by Dr Prakash to register the death of the deceased person, the designated officer wrongfully rejected the case, claiming the lack of supporting documents to process the case.

Even during the hearing before the HRTSC chief commissioner, the respondent doctor kept harping upon absence of proof of death.

While interacting with media persons, HRTSC chief commissioner T C Gupta said this by far was the most painful case witnessed by him, where the system has turned so apathetic that a hapless poor widow, who has already lost her husband, was made to run from pillar to post to be able to get a death certificate.

 

FOCUS ON CONSISTENT ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

To get on board IIM-Trichy, watch your X, XII marks too

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Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

21.01.2022

Chennai: For the first time, Indian Institute of Management-Trichy (IIM-Trichy) has decided to give weightage to Class X and XII marks for admission to its postgraduate programme in management (PGPM) programme from the 2022-23 academic year.

The institute is also planning to increase its intake by 140 seats this year, and will admit 410 students from this academic year. “Earlier, we used to give 10% weightage in admission for UG scores. This year, the admission committee decided to break down the 10% to give 2% weightage to Class X marks, 3% for Class XII marks and 5% for graduation marks. Students with consistent academic performance will get preference in the new weightage system,” said professor Prashant Gupta, chairperson, admissions, IIM-Trichy.

As per the admission policy for PGPM 2022-24 batch, 50%  weightage will be given for CAT scores, 25% weightage for personal interview, 3% weightage for verbal comprehension, 5% weightage for work experience, 10% weightage for academic performance, 2% weightage for professional qualification and 5% weightage for female candidates.

Last year, IIM-Trichy had an intake of 240 seats in its PGPM course and 30 seats in PGPMHR programme. “We are planning to increase the intake in PGPM to 360 and to 50 in PGPMHR. The institute is growing and we have decided to increase our intake,” Gupta said.

IIM-Trichy will conduct the common admission process 2022 (CAP 2022) on behalf of nine IIMs in Bodh Gaya, Jammu, Kashipur, Raipur, Udaipur, Ranchi, Sambalpur, Sirmaur and Trichy. Overall, the number of seats available for common admission process 2022 is likely to increase by around 200 this year. “We expect approximately 2,600 seats will be available for the admission process,” he added.

The institute said the nine IIMs have decided to exclude the written ability test (WAT) like last year and conduct personal interview online due to the pandemic. “IIM-Trichy used to give 10% weightage to WAT. Now that weightage for personal interview has increased from 18% to 25% and remaining 3% weightage will be given to verbal comprehension, which will be taken from the candidates’ CAT score,” officials said.

(With inputs from Vincent

Arockiaraj in Trichy)

SC upholds OBC reservation in NEET all-India quota seats High Mark Is Not Merit; Quota Brings Equality, It Says

 SC upholds OBC reservation in NEET all-India quota seats

High Mark Is Not Merit; Quota Brings Equality, It Says

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Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com

21,01,2022

New Delhi: Settling the perennial merit vs quota debate while upholding reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the intensely competitive all-India quota (AIQ) medical seats, the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that scores in entrance tests do not reflect the social, economic and cultural advantage that accrues to certain classes and contributes to their success in such examinations.

Rejecting the challenge to the constitutional validity of 27% OBC quota in the highly sought-after AIQ seats in  MBBS and MD courses, a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and A S Bopanna said, “Merit cannot be reduced to narrow definitions of performance in an open competitive examination which only provides formal equality of opportunity. ” “High scores in an examination are not a proxy for merit. Merit should be socially contextualised and reconceptualised as an instrument that advances social goods like equality that we as a society value. In such a context, reservation is not at odds with merit but furthers its distributive consequences,” the bench said.

Writing the judgment, Justice Chandrachud said, “Competitive examinations assess basic current competency to allocate educational resources but are not reflective of excellence, capabilities and potential of an individual which are also shaped by lived experiences, subsequent training and individual character. Crucially, open competitive examinations do not reflect the social, economic and cultural advantage that accrues to certain classes and contributes to their success in such examinations. ”

The bench said the 10% EWS quota for undergraduate and post-graduate medical courses would also continue for the 2021-22 academic year, as judicial propriety would not permit the SC to pass an interim order staying the criteria for determination of the EWS (Economically Weaker Sections) category. “It is a settled principle of law that in matters involving challenge to the constitutionality of a legislation or a rule, the court must be wary to pass an interim order, unless the court is convinced that the rules are prima facie arbitrary,” the bench said while scheduling the exercise for detailed scrutiny of the constitutional validity of EWS quota to the third week of March.

Returning to the burning debate over merit vs quota, the bench rejected the argument that once an OBC candidate secures an undergraduate AIQ medical seat, he/ she should not be entitled to again fall back on his backwardness to secure seat in the AIQ post-graduate medical seat, where merit alone should be the criteria.

Many med PG aspirants want NEET deferred

 Many med PG aspirants want NEET deferred

Cite Clash With Dates Of Counselling

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SruthySusan.Ullas@timesgroup.com

21.01.2022

Bengaluru: A section of medical PG aspirants is caught in a dilemma: While PG NEET counselling for the 2021 batch is under way, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for 2022 is scheduled for March 12. Seeking a gap between the two, many want the exam to be postponed.

Students from several other states can’t even appear for NEET 2022 as it is mandated that aspirants complete in Students from Karnataka do not have this problem as they would complete internships by March.

Their concern, instead, is the clash of counselling dates and the next exam schedule, which is robbing them of precious time they could have used in preparation. Karnataka Examinations Authority has started the document-verification process. While it was offline until recently, on January19 KEA provided the option to upload documents online so as to help students testing positive for Covid-19 or those facing travel difficulties. “I am from Chintamani. While KEA took the document-verification process online a couple of days ago, my turn was before that and I had to travel all the way to Bengaluru. I lost two days in travel and the process,” said Dr M Reddy, an aspirant.

“Last year, when a similar problem had occurred, they had postponed the exam. We hope they do it now as well. We are spending a lot of time on the counselling process, including document verification, option entry, looking at college profiles among others. There is so much pressure,” said Dr Sarath from Dharwad.

The dilemma is bigger for students in borderline ranks. “Students ranking between 15,000 and 20,000 are facing a bigger problem. The mop-up round when some seats will be available will be around midMarch. Do we wait for the counselling or prepare for the exam? Had there been a gap af- ter the counselling, we would have been in a better position,” said Dr Satyajeet Das, who studied in Bengaluru. Process time-consuming The Karnataka Association of Resident Doctors joined the chorus from across the nation to say that exam postponement will be helpful for students. “We want it to be deferred by at least two months because students will be confused over whether to give the exam or attend counselling rounds. The counselling process takes a lot of time. It’s a bigger concern for students in borderline ranks,” said Dr Tejas J, president of the association.

Govt slashes sick leave period to tide over staff crunch

 Govt slashes sick leave period to tide over staff crunch

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Sandeep.Moudgal@timesgroup.com

21.01.2022

Bengaluru: With a huge spike in Covid-19 cases, the Karnataka government has decided to “rationalise” sick leaves of government officials by reducing recovery days to anywhere between three and seven days.

As the Omicron strain of Covid-19 spreads quickly, the government is facing a serious manpower crisis with officials forced to take sick leave after testing positive.

It is being said that at least one in three government officials is testing positive, and, in several cases, the situation is being “misused” to work from home or skip assignments. Making excuses “We have been seeing a lot of our officials using Covid-19 as an excuse, even if they are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms, to extend sick leave. As a result, departments have been initiating action to bring them back to work immediately after seven days of quarantine,” said one government official.

In the education department alone, as many as four deputy directors of public instruction (DDPI) have tested positive on a single test, along with scores of their subordinates testing positive as primary contacts. “With this being the case, we are facing a shortage of manpower and have instructed those who have tested positive to return to work on the 8th day of recovery. We can no more afford long recovery periods,” said DPI commissioner R Vishal. Health workers testing +ve The bigger concern, however, is healthcare workers — government doctors, nurses and paramedical personnel — who are getting infected on a regu-lar basis, leaving the healthcare system overstretched.

According to health secretary TK Anil Kumar, the government has issued a circular stating that all healthcare workers who are primary contacts of a Covid-positive patient can return to work after three days if no symptoms are present.

“Our healthcare workers turn primary contacts every other day. We cannot afford to have them out of action for long. As a result, we have issued a circular saying they can return to work after three days,” said Kumar.

A similar order has been issued in the revenue department, which has one of the highest number of government employees after education and health. Department principal secretary Tushar Giri Nath said that as per the Government of India protocol, a seven-day mandatory period has been issued. “So, we are trying to maintain the same protocol even now,” said Nath.

Health secretary Kumar said the world over, recovery period has been reduced to anywhere between five to seven days andthe same norm is being followed in India.

Choice filling for PG medical courses till January 24

 Choice filling for PG medical courses till January 24

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TIMES NEWS NETWORK

21.01.2022

Ahmedabad: The choicefilling exercise for admission to PG medical courses, including MD, MS anddiploma courses, will be held till January 24, said sources inthe admission committee.

Based on their choice filling, seats and colleges will beallotted at11am on

Ja-nuary 27 to the selected candidates. Students will have to pay online fees between  January 27 and February  21.

Presently, there are 1,970 seats  for the masters’ degree  and 32 seats for PG diploma courses. The Admission Committee for Professional Postgraduate Medical Edu- cational Courses (ACPPGMEC) has undertaken admission for 1,457 seats, excluding the All-India Quota (AIQ) seats.

This year, 91 seats have been added. The highest number, as many as 55 seats, are added at Parul Institute of Medical Science & Research, Vadodara.

Of the total of 1,970seats, 1,232 are of government quota, 529 of All India Quota, 89 of management quota and 120 of NRI quota.