Demand for pulse oximeters rises

Demand for pulse oximeters rises

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:18.06.2020

With experts advising individuals to buy pulse oximeters to measure level of oxygen in blood, demand for the device has shot up. Online stores have ran out of basic models and are selling available stock at higher prices now.

When checked at half-adozen shops in Madipakkam, Nanganallur and Velachery, average cost was ₹1,500-₹4,500 a piece.

Except for corporate-run pharmacies, which already sell devices like diabetic kits, most retail stores don’t encourage sales of oximeters because there was no service guarantee and there was no one to approach if customers came back with complaint, said KK Selvam, who owns four pharmacies in Chennai.

“Moreover, we can’t return such products to dealers if they remain unsold. In online platforms, some store away the product now and sell it in the gray market at double rate later,” he added.

“Given the increase in infection rate, it was important not to ignore any mild illness. A pulse oximeter comes in very handy to monitor oxygen saturation level and can pickup hypoxia very early,” said public health expert K Kolandaisamy Hypoxia is a term used for low-oxygen level in the blood. Since Covid-19 is a predominant infection of the respiratory system, it results in impaired oxygenation of the blood. Therefore patients end up in hypoxia for which the first symptom could be death in most cases, say doctors.

“Unfortunately not many know that they are at the risk of hypoxia because they have silent heart problems which they have inherited. Once patients notice a drop in oxygen saturation level in the device, they don’t know the risk and can’t do anything about it anyway at home,” said AB Gopalamurugan, Senior Interventional Cardiologist from Kauvery Hospital, Chennai.

Patients have to be cautious and not self-medicate with oxygen canisters as their usage in few patients, particularly smokers who have Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), without medical advice could cause death.

Once the heart stops, you only have four minutes and only very few are brought to us within this time. So the best thing is to get checked as sophisticated options like cardiac defibrillators were available to save their lives, he added.

PIL against lockdown junked, ₹50K cost imposed

PIL against lockdown junked, ₹50K cost imposed

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:18.06.2020

The Madras high court imposed an exemplary cost of ₹50,000 on a person after dismissing his public interest petition to declare lockdown announced by the Central and state governments as illegal.

“We are of the view that the imposition of lockdown or relaxing the lockdown is a matter to be decided by the instrumentalities of the government by taking various factors and the ground realities,” a division bench of Justice R Subbiah and Justice Krishnan Ramaswamy said on Wednesday.

“This court cannot, in exercise of its powers under the Constitution, interfere with the decision taken by the government to curb the pandemic. The contentions raised by the petitioner, therefore, deserve to be rejected as having no merits. The petitioner in our opinion has filed the petition not in any public interest but otherwise,” the bench said. The judges added, “We dismiss the plea with a cost of ₹50,000 payable by the petitioner to the Chief Justice Relief Fund.”

Petitioner M Immanvuel said the lockdown has no legal sanction and the government does not have power to implement such lockdowns.

City to turn fortress during 12-day curfew

City to turn fortress during 12-day curfew

Those Out On Roads Sans Reason To Be Penalised

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:

The government’s idea is to turn the area within Greater Chennai police limits into a virtual fortress, with strict curbs on movement of people and vehicles during the 12-day intense lockdown from June 19 to 30.

Autorickshaws and taxis will not be allowed to ply, except for medical emergencies and even then commuters will have to prove their need is genuine and carry multiple photocopies of all relevant documents.

You can buy vegetables and groceries only from shops within 2km of your home and you’ll have to walk. The shops will be open only from 6am to 2pm.

Restaurants can only operate takeaway services and that too only between 6am and 8pm and their staff should have proper ID cards.

Services for the aged and disabled, and old-age homes and orphanages can run. But voluntary organisations and others should get passes from tnepass.tnega.org. Both passes and identity cards should be photocopied in A5 size (148mmX210mm). Those who don’t wear masks will be fined.

The Greater Chennai traffic police have warned that those found moving out unnecessarily will be booked under CrPc 144. Their vehicles will also be impounded.

Those who possess necessary passes should also ensure that they follow social distancing while travelling in vehicles.

On the two Sundays, June 21 and 28, there will be a complete lockdown without any relaxation. On these two days, except milk supply, hospitals, pharmacies, ambulance services, emergency and funeral hearse vans, no other activities will be permitted. Barricades would be put up in critical locations and public address systems used to ensure people obeyed the lockdown rules.

“The main objective of this lockdown is to restrict the movement of people within the area and outside to reduce the disease spread,” said chief secretary K Shanmugam who held a meeting with officials and shot off a five-page letter of instructions to civic and police officials in Chennai and the three adjoining districts of Kancheepuram, Chengalpet and Thiruvallur.

He suggested geo-fencing of home isolated patients and quarantined contacts to ensure they don’t move around and strict action against the violators. Outside the containment zones, fever camps would be organised for early detection and testing of suspected persons. Smooth supply of essentials in the quarantine houses and in the containment area would be ensured to make the lockdown a success.

“Ensure 100% identification of all home contacts and other contacts and quarantine them within 24 hours. Use Aarogya Setu or tele-consultation of police for tracking to ensure contact tracing is complete without omission,” the chief secretary said.

The teams should keep a close watch on the health of aged, comorbid cases. The waiting time in screening centres should be reduced and hassle-free allotment of hospital/health or Covid care centre and private hospital ensured. There should be better coordination for allotment of beds in private hospitals.

The Chennai police have said that in case of any doubts the public can contact 044-23452330 / 044-23452362 and 90031 30103.

Ordinance to allow Telangana defer govt salaries & pensions

Koride.Mahesh@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad  18.06.2020

: The Telangana government on Tuesday night hurriedly promulgated an ordinance which allowed it to defer salaries and pensions of its employees without getting into legal tangles.

The Telangana disaster and public health emergency (special provisions) ordinance, 2020, allowed the K Chandrasekhar Rao government to even defer payments to institutions in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the state’s reduced revenues.

Telangana high court had on Monday pulled up the state for deferring pensions after a number of employees challenged the decision to impose salary and pension cuts for the past three months. The judges said that even the Disaster Management Act did not give the government such powers.

Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan issued the ordinance through a gazette notification that came into effect from March 24, the day the national Covid-19 lockdown was imposed.

The ordinance reads “to make special provision for the deferment of any payment in party, due and payable to any person, institution and any pay, pension and remuneration in part, to any employees, any pensioner and any other person, in the event of disaster and public health emergency in the state and for the matters connected therewith of incidental thereto.”

In the ordinance, the government has even defined disaster, employee, pay, pension and public health emergency empowering the state government to defer payment in the event of any outbreak of any contagious disease. The gazette notification gives immunity from legal scrutiny.

The government has been imposing a cut in the salaries of all employees except some departments such as police, doctors and sanitation workers, public representatives and pensioners.

Full report on www.toi.in

Doctor

7.5% quota for govt. school students in MBBS intakeOrdinance to be promulgated

16/06/2020 

The State Cabinet on Monday approved an ordinance, envisaging 7.5% horizontal reservation in the State government's quota of MBBS/BDS seats, for students of government higher secondary schools.

The “quota within quota” covers government seats in private colleges too, said sources, adding that the proposed ordinance would be sent to Governor Banwarilal Purohit for assent.

The prerequisite for qualification is that students of government schools should have qualified in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).

‘Reasonable’ limit

Though the proposal was speculated to be for a 10% quota, the Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, kept it at 7.5%, as it felt that the quantum prescribed should be “reasonable”.

The Cabinet decision was based on a recommendation made by a panel, which was headed by former judge of the Madras High Court, P. Kalaiyarasan.

The panel’s report was submitted to the Chief Minister last week.

The panel had observed that there was a “cognitive gap” among students studying in government schools.

The committee suggested that students who had passed the higher secondary exam after having studied for seven consecutive years in government schools be provided the reservation.

Asked whether the government’s move would stand legal scrutiny, the sources replied in the affirmative.

They cited the case of Karnataka, where there is a scheme of horizontal reservation of 15% of State government seats for rural students in admission to professional courses.

சென்னை சிறப்பு விமானம் இலங்கை அனுமதி மறுப்பு

சென்னை சிறப்பு விமானம் இலங்கை அனுமதி மறுப்பு

2020-06-16@ 08:03:41

சென்னை: சென்னை விமான நிலையத்திலிருந்து நேற்று முன்தினம் இரவு 9.30 மணிக்கு இலங்கைக்கு சிறப்பு விமானம் செல்ல இருந்தது. அதில் பயணம் செய்ய 118 பயணிகள் சென்னை சர்வதேச விமான நிலையம் வந்தனர். அவர்கள் அனைவரும் தனியார் கப்பல் நிறுவனத்தில் பணியாற்றும் இந்தியர்கள். மத்திய அரசிடம் சிறப்பு அனுமதிபெற்று பணிக்கு செல்வதற்காக இந்த தனி விமானத்தை ஏற்பாடு செய்திருந்தனர். விமானத்தில் பயணிகளை ஏற்றுவதற்கு முன்பு அந்த விமானம் தரையிறங்கப்போகும் விமான நிலையத்தின் அனுமதி பெறவேண்டும்.

அதைப்போல் சென்னை விமானநிலைய கட்டுப்பாட்டு அறையிலிருந்து, கொழும்பு விமானநிலைய கட்டுப்பாட்டு அறையோடு தொடர்பு கொண்டனர். ஆனால் கொழும்பு விமானநிலைய அதிகாரிகள் இந்த விமானம் அங்கு தரையிறங்க அனுமதி தரவில்லை. விமானத்தில் வரும் பயணிகளுக்கு கொரோனா மருத்துவ பரிசோதணை செய்ய அங்கு போதிய வசதியில்லை என்று தெரிவித்ததாக கூறப்படுகிறது.

இதையடுத்து இலங்கை செல்ல இருந்த தனியார் சிறப்பு தனி விமானம் ரத்து செய்யப்பட்டது.

ஊழல் குற்றச்சாட்டில் உள்ளவர்களுக்கும் ஓய்வுபெறும் வயதை நீட்டிப்பதா?: அரசு அறிக்கை தர ஐகோர்ட் உத்தரவு

ஊழல் குற்றச்சாட்டில் உள்ளவர்களுக்கும் ஓய்வுபெறும் வயதை நீட்டிப்பதா?: அரசு அறிக்கை தர ஐகோர்ட் உத்தரவு

2020-06-16@ 09:47:05

சென்னை: ஊழல் குற்றச்சாட்டு நிலுவையில் உள்ள அரசு ஊழியர்களுக்கும் ஓய்வு பெறும் வயதை உயர்த்தியதை எதிர்த்து தொடரப்பட்ட வழக்கில் தமிழக அரசு அறிக்கை அளிக்கும்படி சென்னை உயர் நீதிமன்றம் உத்தரவிட்டுள்ளது. சென்னை உயர் நீதிமன்ற வக்கீல் கற்பகம் என்பவர் தாக்கல் செய்த பொதுநல வழக்கில், தமிழக அரசு சமீபத்தில் அரசு ஊழியர்கள் ஓய்வு பெறும் வயதை 58லிருந்து 59 ஆக உயர்த்தியுள்ளது.நேர்மையாக, நியாயமாக பணிபுரிந்த அரசு ஊழியர்கள் ஓய்வு பெறும் வயதை ஒரு ஆண்டு நீட்டிப்பதில் எந்த தவறும் இல்லை. ஆனால், ஊழல் குற்றச்சாட்டுகளுக்கு ஆளாகி, ஒழுங்கு நடவடிக்கை விசாரணை நிலுவையில் உள்ளவர்களுக்கும் ஓய்வு பெறும் வயது நீடிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. இதனால் ஊழல் குற்றச்சாட்டில் இருப்பவர்கள் தொடர்ந்த அதே ஊழலில் ஈடுபட வாய்ப்பு உள்ளது.

எனவே, ஊழல் குற்றச்சாட்டுக்கு உள்ளவர்களுக்கான ஓய்வு பெறும் வரை நீட்டித்தது செல்லாது என்று அறிவிக்க வேண்டும் என்றும் இது தொடர்பாக அரசு உரிய அறிவிப்பை வெளியிடுமாறும் உத்தரவிட வேண்டும் என்று கூறப்பட்டிருந்தது. இந்த வழக்கு நீதிபதிகள் சுப்பையா, கிருஷ்ணன் ராமசாமி ஆகியோர் அடங்கிய அமர்வில் நேற்று விசாரணைக்கு வந்தது. வழக்கை விசாரித்த நீதிபதிகள், மனு குறித்து 2 வாரத்திற்குள் தமிழக அரசு அறிக்கை அளிக்குமாறு உத்தரவிட்டனர்.