Docs & paramedics put out of action, experts fear pressure on health infra

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TIMES NEWS NETWORK

05.01.2022

New Delhi: As India witnesses the third wave of Covid-19 led by Omicron variant, a large number of frontline workers, including doctors, paramedics, police and health department officials, in several cities across the country are turning out to be Covid positive. Experts have voiced concern that this might put pressure on the healthcare infrastructure.

In Delhi, 68 healthcare workers, including 15 doctors, at AIIMS and 49 health staff at Safdarjung reported positive. Lady Hardinge Medical College, Ram Manohar Lohia, Hindu Rao, Lok Nayak and Ambedkar hospitals have also reported multiple cases among their staff members. At Lucknow’s Medanta Hospital, 33 health workers, including one emergency medical officer (EMO), turned out to be Covid positive. Director Dr Rakesh Kapoor said, “Except for the EMO, all the others were nurses or nursing assistants. They all were asymptomatic at the time of testing. No patient or attendant has been affected because of them. ”

In Patiala’s Government Medical College and Hospital, the authorities made students vacate hostels after over105 faculty members and students, including 18 senior doctors and 48 junior residents, tested positive.

In Gaya, altogether 102 med- icos at Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College and Hospital (ANMMCH) tested positive on Tuesday. ANMMCH principal Arjun Chaudhary said offline classes have been suspended and the library has also been closed. “All the medicos, who have tested positive, are in isolation,” he said. spared other frontline workers, including policemen and bureaucrats. Around a dozen police personnel, including additional director generals and inspector generals, have tested positive in Jharkahnd.

Four IAS officers of Gujarat cadre, including two health & family welfare department officials, also tested positive.

In Chhattisgarh, IG Sanjeev Shukla and DIGs Vineet Khanna and Rajesh Agrawal tested positive. The authorities fear a spurt of Corona cases in the police HQ. In Maoist-hit Kanker district of Chhattisgarh, five SSB personnel were found infected in Kanhargaon on Tuesday, to add to the 38 CoBRA commandos who tested positive in Sukma on Monday.

 

‘Omicron variant has significant growth advantage over Delta’

05.01.2022

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“All pandemic indices have raised a red flag. The infection willnow continueto increase. We still have lots of unvaccinated people among the elderly. Worse, we continue to see people recklessly violating pan- demic norms. We can’t give up on masks and social distancing norms now,” said National Instituteof Epidemiology deputy director Dr Prabhdeep Kaur.

On Tuesday, Tamil Nadu reported 2,731 fresh Covid-19 infections, a 58% jump from the 1,728 it logged on Monday. Hotspot Monday.

“Omicron has a significant growthadvantage over Delta, spreading fast through communities with a doubling time of just two days,” health secretary J Radhakrishnan said on Tuesday.

The risk of transmission among close contacts, including family members, is muchhigher compared to all other variants.

“The overall risk related to the new variant is very high. Hospitalisationof the vaccinated is close to 1%, while it is 10% among those who are unvaccinated,” he said.

Private laboratories must inform health officials of positive cases’

Private laboratories must inform health officials of positive cases’

05/01/2022

Special Correspondent CHENNAI

All private laboratories approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) have been asked to immediately notify local health officials of all COVID-19 positive cases so that containment measures can be taken, according to the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.

Director of Public Health T.S. Selvavinayagam on Tuesday conducted a review of the performance of these laboratories through video-conference. They were told to collect only the prescribed fees, avoid pooling of samples and update all data on the ICMR portal.

He said healthcare workers should be protected because of the high rate of transmissibility of the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus. Surprise checks with an inventory audit would be done, if needed. All standard operating procedures should be followed to ensure the quality of investigations and more human resources should be engaged to avoid any backlog when the number of tests increased, he said.

HC order on plea against Air India sale tomorrow

HC order on plea against Air India sale tomorrow

Disinvestment process was challenged

05/01/2022

Soibam Rocky Singh New Delhi

The Delhi High Court will pronounce on Thursday its decision on a plea by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy challenging the Air India disinvestment process in which the Tatas emerged as the highest bidder at ₹18,000 crore.

A Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh said, “We will pass orders the day after,” while asking the parties involved in the case to submit their written responses by Wednesday.

Mr. Swamy, who appeared in person, sought a direction to the government to quash the present Air India disinvestment process, terming it “arbitrary, unconstitutional, unfair” and “rigged in favour of the Tatas”. He said the only other bidder in the process was a consortium led by the owner of SpiceJet, which was facing insolvency proceedings in the Madras High Court and thus could not have bid.

Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta contested the petition, saying disinvestment was a policy decision that could not be contested in courts. He argued that though SpiceJet was facing insolvency proceedings, it was never part of the consortium that bid for Air India. “It was led by its owner Ajay Singh,” he added.

Mr. Swamy in his petition argued that the disinvestment of Air India by way of transfer of management control and sale of 100% of its equity shares held by Government of India to Talace Private Ltd. was against the interests of national integrity and security. “The Tatas are very much a part of Air Asia,” he said.

Mr. Mehta said that Talace, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons Private Ltd., which won the Air India bid, had nothing to do with Air Asia.

He said any case Air Asia faced in the past was irrelevant here.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, representing the Tatas, said the successful bidder here was a 100% Indian company owned 100% by an Indian.

Denial of FCRA to MoC challenged

Denial of FCRA to MoC challenged

05/01/2022

Legal Correspondent NEW DELHI

A U.S.-incorporated organisation, Global Peace Initiative, and its founder, evangelist K.A. Paul, have approached the Supreme Court challenging the refusal of the government to renew the registration of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).

The registration was not renewed purportedly on the basis of some “adverse inputs”, the writ petition said. “The cancellation of the license of a renowned charitable organisation like the Missionaries of Charity on vague grounds such as 'adverse inputs' will have a chilling effect on all other Non- Governmental Organisations,” it said.

The plea has also urged the court to quash the government's direction to not renew the registration of “close to 6,000 NGOs”.

Permission denied for Karunanidhi’s statue, Tiruppur Collector tells HC

Permission denied for Karunanidhi’s statue, Tiruppur Collector tells HC

05/01/2022

Legal Correspondent CHENNAI

Tiruppur Collector on Tuesday informed the Madras High Court that he has rejected an application made by a legislator representing Tiruppur South Assembly constituency seeking permission to install a statue of former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi near the railway station bus stop in the city. The Collector said the decision was taken in view of a 2013 Supreme Court order against erection of statues on busy road junctions.

Justice S.M. Subramaniam recorded the submission made by Additional Government Pleader M. Rajendiran on behalf of the Collector and closed all further proceedings on the issue. The judge had called for an explanation from the official after Atchaya Thirumuruga Dinesh, who claimed to be the State president of Shivsena, wrote a letter to the judge complaining about the plan to install the former Chief Minister’s statue at a place prone to road accidents.

The author of the letter had requested the judge to initiate suo motu contempt of court proceedings since he had in October 2021 ordered creation of leaders’ parks across the State to shift over there all the statues that pose a threat to road safety. However, the Collector told the court that the MLA had filed the application on August 24, 2021 and it was rejected on September 15, much before the judge passed orders with respect to shifting of statues on October 7.

Six medicos suspended in ragging case

Six medicos suspended in ragging case

05/01/2022

Staff Reporter HYDERABAD

A day after a committee was formed to inquire into allegations of ragging at Government Medical College, Suryapet in Telangana, six second year MBBS students were suspended for a year and permanently barred from hostel. Orders to this effect were issued by principal of the Medical College C.V. Sarada on Tuesday based on the directions issued by the Director of Medical Education (DME).

Currently, there are only two batches of the MBBS students at the newly established medical college. A first-year MBBS student has lodged a complaint with the college authorities stating that senior students made him to kneel and spoken rudely to him, on January 1.

The police said that they too have launched investigation into the complaint.