PG medical fees in pvt colleges hiked 20-30%

SruthySusan.Ullas@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:1.5.2020

At a time when the Covid-19 pandemic has pushed many into a financial crisis, the state government has increased fees for postgraduate medical seats in private colleges by 20-30%. The new seat matrix was published on the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) website on Thursday.

The fees in government colleges have been untouched. The hike impacts both government and private quota students in private colleges. The new fees mentioned on the website include RGUHS admission fee, while last year’s fee cited in this report excludes that component.

A clinical seat in a government college will cost Rs 1.1 lakh, a government seat in a private college Rs 7.1 lakh and a private seat in a private college Rs 11.5 lakh a year. Last year, the figures were Rs 1 lakh, Rs 5.8 lakh and Rs 8.7 lakh, respectively.

The lowest fee is for anatomy, physiology and biochemistry: Rs 38,900 in a government college, Rs 1.02 lakh for a government seat in a private college and Rs 1.6 lakh for a private one in a private college. Subjects like pharmacology, pathology, microbiology, community medicine and forensic medicine cost Rs 63,900, Rs 1.9 lakh and Rs 2.9 lakh, respectively, in these quotas. Last year in private colleges, para-clinical courses under government quota cost Rs 1.5 lakh and private quota Rs 2.2 lakh. The fee was Rs 72,738 and Rs 1.09 lakh for pre-clinical courses.

‘Panel suggested 30-40% rise’

There was an increase of 15% in 2019-20 and 2018-19. “A committee headed by the additional chief secretary had recommended a rise of 30-40%. However, considering the current situation, it was decided that we keep the increase at 20%,” said PG Girish, director of medical education. There are 3,164 PG seats up for grabs.

According to the collegewise and course-wise fee structure uploaded on the KEA website, the highest fee in NRI quota is around Rs 1.3 crore for dermatology and radiodiagnosis at Sapthagiri Institute of Medical Sciences, Bengaluru. Paediatrics, general medicine, gynaecology and respiratory medicine courses in the college have a fee of Rs 1.26 crore each.

No cut in salary, pension of govt employees: Nitin Patel

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Gandhinagar:1.5.2020

Deputy chief minister Nitin Patel said on Thursday that despite a major fall in the state government’s income from VAT, GST and other taxes, the government will not deduct any amount from the salaries and pensions of government employees.

Patel in a statement said that industrial and commercial activity has come to a standstill because of the lockdown and this has badly impacted government income from GST, VAT and other sources. “Despite this constraint, the government has planned to pay salary and pension to all government employees according to the monthly salary schedule. A total of 5.38 lakh employees will get around Rs 2,600 crore in the form of salary while 4.57 lakh pensioners will get Rs 1,400 crore as pension. A sum of Rs 4,000 crore will be paid in a week,” Patel said.

Although the state government has cancelled all events to mark the Gujarat Foundation Day, chief minister Vijay Rupani wished all citizens on the 60th Foundation Day.

Guj crosses 200 Covid-19 deaths, mortality rate higher than Maha

Nearly 70% Deaths Recorded In A’bad, Cases Tally 4,395

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:1.5.2020

In Gujarat, the Covid-19 death toll reached 214 as 17 more deaths were recorded in 24 hours on Thursday. While it took 39 days for the state to record over 200 deaths, the 100 deaths were recorded in a matter of just one week.

Except April 25 when the state recorded six deaths in 24 hours, Gujarat has recorded over 14 deaths daily in past one week. Of the 214 deaths, majority 149 or 70% deaths were recorded in Covid-19 hostpot Ahmedabad.

Three states – Maharashtra (432), Gujarat (214) and Madhya Pradesh (130) — have recorded more than 100 deaths of Covid-19 patients. Analysis of the death rate reveals that MP has a rate of 4.95% compared to Gujarat’s 4.87% and Maharashtra’s 4.35%.

Patient who fled hospital found dead

A 50-year-old Covid-19 positive patient, who mysteriously vanished from New Civil Hospital in Surat on April 28, was found dead on the campus of the hospital on Thursday. TNN

42% of Covid deaths among patients aged 60-75

More than half of the total Covid-19 deaths in India are among those aged above 60 years, while those between 60-75 years of age are most vulnerable, accounting for 42% of total fatalities, the latest data from the health ministry showed. Though less at risk, those between 45 and 60 years accounted for 34% deaths due to the disease. The death rate was even higher among people with co-morbidities like diabetes, heart disorders and chronic kidney ailments and patients with such conditions accounted for 78% of total deaths.

313 cases in state in 24 hours

Jayanti Ravi, principal secretary (health & family welfare), on Thursday said that Gujarat recorded 313 Covid-19 cases in past 24 hours, taking state’s total tally to 4,395. “The cases included 249 from Ahmedabad, 19 from Vadodara, 13 from Surat and 10 each from Gandhinagar and Panchmahal,” she said. With the new cases, Ahmedabad district crossed 3,000 cases-mark with 3026 and now consists of 68.8%.

“The deaths were recorded from Ahmedabad (12), Surat (3), Anand (1) and Vadodara (1),” said Ravi.

Maha’s 1st plasma recipient dies in city, but govt to continue trials

Sumitra.DebRoy@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:1.5.2020

The first patient in the state to be treated with the plasma therapy to beat Covid-19 succumbed late on Wednesday at Bandra’s Lilavati Hospital, where he was on ventilator for 10 days. Doctors said the 53-year-old didn’t test negative for the infection or show any improvement since the therapy was administered four days ago. The state, however, said the setback wouldn’t change its decision to allow more hospitals to carry out plasma therapy trials.

The man was transfused with one dose (200ml) of plasma from a recovered patient on compassionate grounds on Saturday with the belief that the antibodies in the blood component would help him fight the infection. Sources said while his oxygen levels got marginally better over the next few hours, he again became critical within 24 hours. The patient tested positive for the infection thrice in the last 10 days.

Dr V Ravishankar, COO of the hospital, said the patient had developed acute respiratory distress syndrome and ultimately died of septicaemia around 11.30pm. Medical records showed that the patient had developed sore throat and fever around April 8-9, but didn’t seek treatment or testing for at least 10 days. Dr Ravishankar said, “We had to put him on ventilator the same day he got admitted to the hospital (April 20). We tried treating him with the anti-inflammatory drug tocilizumab and also prone positioning (placing him face down), but nothing worked.” The patient didn’t have any underlying conditions.

Dr Om Srivastava, principal investigator of the plasma trial at Kasturba Hospital, declined to comment on the development. A civic official said a second recipient was being prepped, but the transfusion didn’t go through. “We are lining up more recipients,” he added. Dr Anupkumar Yadav of Directorate of Health Services said plasma trials would continue in the state with appropriate selection of patients as it’s an emerging treatment.

Faster Exit Needed

Restoration of transport and fiscal package to kickstart the economy are essential

1.5.2020

The initial 21-day lockdown was extended by another 19 days, and major relief was expected by May 3. Government has now promised some guidelines to dilute the current lockdown architecture. In this context, it would be wise to heed the observation of technology entrepreneur NR Narayana Murthy, that India could see more deaths due to hunger than to the pandemic if it persists with the lockdown. It’s time to accept the virus as the new normal, while realising that the Covid situation confronting India has two legs: a health crisis and an economic crisis. Dealing with the former alone is not enough.

The need of the hour is to move on from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s older “lakshman rekha” exhortation to his more recent one of “do gaj doori hai bahut zaroori”. Thus, it’s necessary to deal with overreactions by states and the executive in their containment strategy. States sometimes barricade themselves through the construction of walls and arbitrary blocks to interstate movement, including of essential services personnel. Their approach has to change to facilitate economic activity. Cities and states must begin to restore public transport. Trains and flights must start up. Economic activity cannot revive without mobility.

The lockdown began with a fiscal package to cushion the immediate fallout on vulnerable sections. But the cost of one of the most stringent lockdowns anywhere has encompassed every section. It is precisely this aspect which catalysed a call from the government to private firms to avoid job cuts or salary reductions. If firms have to actualise the government’s wish, they need fiscal support. The support so far has come through monetary packages. But that has barely moved the needle because of the inherent limitations of that tool. India needs a large fiscal package to supplement the monetary measures.

Banks are frozen as they don’t have a clear idea when activity will resume. The longer the restrictions on activity, the greater the adverse impact on economic growth. UBS forecast that output will shrink by 3.1% this year if mobility restrictions stay till end-June. This will be catastrophic as it will push back millions of Indians below the poverty line and also prevent firms from taking advantage of the changes in global supply chains anticipated by government. The need now is for a clear and comprehensive road map for easing of restrictions accompanied by a big fiscal package.

SpiceJet flight brings over 14 tonnes med supplies from China

New Delhi:1.5.2020

SpiceJet said on Thursday that it has brought 14 tonnes of medical supplies here from China.

The airline said it operated its maiden freighter flight carrying medical supplies from Guangzhou in China to Delhi on Wednesday.

The cargo plane had left Kolkata at 10:30 am on Wednesday for Guangzhou. After loading all the items, the plane came back to Kolkata at 8:20 pm, the airline said in a release. The B737 plane then left Kolkata at 9 pm and came to Delhi at 11:15 pm on Wednesday, it said.

The airline said the plane brought 14 tonnes of medical supplies including medicines and protective gear. India has been under lockdown since March 24 midnight to curb the spread of COVID-19, which has infected more than 33,000 people and killed around 1,070 people in the country till now.

All commercial passenger flights have been suspended for the lockdown period. SpiceJet has till date transported over 4,750 tons of cargo on more than 651 flights since the nation-wide lockdown began. Of these, 233 were international cargo flights. PTI

There’s no confirmed treatment for Covid yet: Health ministry

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:1.5.2020

The health ministry on Thursday said there was, so far, no confirmed treatment protocol for Covid-19 and nothing conclusive had come up as far as vaccines were concerned.

“Multiple organisations in the government are engaged in multiple vaccine trials for Covid-19. Besides, we are also part of solidarity trials with the WHO. Some candidate vaccines have been identified. But, nothing conclusive has come up,” said the health ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal.

Briefing the media on the current Covid-19 situation in the country, he said, “Multiple stages have to be passed to conclude safe and efficacious use of a vaccine by human beings. As far as India is concerned, we have identified Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to begin with as a prophylaxis (preventive treatment).”

The ministry had in March issued a detailed advisory on the use of HCQ as prophylaxis for SARSCoV-2 infection.

Responding to a question on US study on Remdesivir antiviral, Agarwal said, “As of now, there is no confirmed treatment protocol for Covid-19. Remdesivir is one protocol which is being examined world over. Even the study on Remdesivir by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has not conclusively proved its effectiveness. We are waiting for larger evidence to be generated for us to take meaningful action at the field level.”