Amidst opposition from activists, MCC justifies felling of trees for road work

Bengaluru, Jun 30: Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday demanded setting up of an all-party committee to monitor treatment-related issues in hospitals and said there are allegations of "corruption and nepotism" in the management of COVID-19 treatment.

Siddaramaiah said in a tweet that Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa should immediately form all-party monitoring committee.

"This is very much needed to increase public confidence in the backdrop of several complaints," he said.
"There are allegations of corruption and nepotism in the management of COVID-19 treatment. It is need of the hour to manage this unprecedented health crisis with public safety as the only objective," he said in another tweet.

He urged the Chief Minister to make the treatment protocol clear to the patients and instil hope. "Do not keep them in dark," he said.

The senior Congress leader also urged the Chief Minister to extend insurance and other benefits to private hospital doctors, nurses and support staff.
Karnataka has reported a total of 14,295 COVID-19 cases.

Bengaluru, Jul 24: A government doctor who was turned away by three private hospitals because he could not produce a coronavirus test result passed away today in Bengaluru. Dr Manjunath, who was a frontline COVID-19 doctor, was allegedly turned away by hospitals when he was extremely ill and struggling to breathe.

Dr Manjunath worked in the state Health and Family Welfare department and was based in Ramanagara district, around 50 km from Bengaluru.

D Randeep, a Special Officer with the Bengaluru municipal body BBMP, said that the hospitals that had refused to admit Dr Manjunath would be reported to the health department.

In June-end, Dr Manjunath went to Rajashekhar Hospital in JP Nagar, BGS Global Hospital in Kengeri and Sagar hospital in Kumaraswamy Layout. All three demanded to see his COVID-19 test result but those were still not in at the time, according to his family. His brother-in-law Nagendra is also a doctor with BBMP and in charge of allotting hospital beds, yet he was completely helpless when it came to his own relative.

He was finally admitted to Sagar hospital on June 25 when his family sat in protest on the footpath outside the Dayananda Sagar campus. He was placed on ventilator and later shifted to the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, where he died earlier today. The hospital says Dr Manjunath was discharged on July 9 because he wanted plasma therapy.

Six members of his family, including a 14-year-old, tested COVID-19 positive. Most of them have recovered.

Bengaluru has seen several cases of patients being turned away from hospitals in the city. Hospitals say they need Covid test results to know whether to admit patients in the coronavirus ICU or in the general section and to understand treatment protocol.

Mr Randeep said hospitals have been instructed to admit patients even without such a certificate. Notices have been sent to hospitals that fail to comply. The OPD of two private hospitals was sealed for 48 hours when they refused to admit a patient.

Bengaluru, Feb 5: The Karnataka government on Tuesday launched the Janasevaka scheme in a few municipal corporation wards to ensure home delivery of various services like ration cards, senior citizen identity and health cards.

The scheme, which was launched by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, will pertain to 53 services involving 11 departments.

"Janasevaka under the Sakala scheme is a programme to avail the benefits of government schemes at the doorstep. Our objective is to make the lives of the citizens of Karnataka easy by launching this scheme," the Chief Minister said. Sakala aims to ensure in-time delivery of government services to citizens by practising innovative and efficient management systems through capacity building in government and empowering citizens to exercise their right to service.

Minister for Sakala and Primary and Secondary Education S Suresh Kumar said: "The scheme that was implemented in Dasarahalli area on a pilot basis will now be extended to Mahadevapura, Bommanahalli and Rajajinagar areas."

He added that it will benefit the senior citizens of the city.

If the scheme works well, it will be implemented across Bengaluru in all the 27 assembly segments, Kumar said, adding that based on the experiment in Bengaluru, it will be extended to Mysuru, Mangaluru and Hubballi-Dharwad.

Under the scheme, there will be one volunteer in each ward. These volunteers have been outsourced. A toll-free helpline has been set up for this scheme which will work from 8 am to 8 pm.

A sum of Rs 115 will be charged to provide the home delivery services.

In addition to it, the Karnataka government has also decided to seek information under the RTI Act easy by making it online.

People can apply from home by paying the fee online. This will make the process hassle-free, the Chief Minister said.