Produce 10 kids before provoking Hindus: Kejriwal tells Mohan Bhagwat

Mangaluru, Jan 18: The Muslim Central Committee of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi has claimed that around 3 lakh people had gathered at Shah Gardan, Adyar-Kannur in Mangaluru on January 15, even though their expectation was just 1 lakh people.

The protest against CAA, NPR, NRC and police atrocities against minorities was jointly being organised by the various Muslim organisations of twin district under the leadership of Muslim Central Committee.

“We had just expected around 1 lakh people. But the Mangaluru witnessed the largest gathering in its history on Jan 15. Around 3 lakh people had participated in the protest,” Ibrahim Kodichail, vice president of the committee told media persons today.

K S Mohammed Masood, president of the committee, added that the event was a grand success and fretful, besides being peaceful. He wholeheartedly thanked all those who strived hard to make the protest a great success and to those who had taken part in it.

“At least 28 organisations have come together. As a result 3 lakh people assembled. I thank all those organisations,” he said.

He also opined that police too had helped to maintain law and order and cooperated with the protesters at the venue.

SM Rasheed Haji, B M Mumtaz Ali, Syed Ahmed Basha Thangal, Kasim Ahmed H K and Mansoor Ahmed Azad were present at the press meet among others.

Hubballi, May 14: South Western Railway (SWR) has so far ferried about 54,000 passengers, including migrant workers, students and stranded people to 11 states to reach their home towns by Shramik Special trains.

So far 40 Shramik Specials were run one each from Kabakaputtur in Mysuru and Hubballi and remaining 38 from Chikkabanavara/Malur from Bengaluru area. About 54,000 passengers were ferried to different parts of the country. Maximum Shramik Specials trains train services were run to Lucknow (9) and Danapur (7).

Shramik Specials were run to Bihar (Bakora, Danapur, Baruni, Darbhanga), West Bengal (Purila, Bankura, New Jalpaiguri), Jharkhand (Hatia, Barkakana), Rajasthan (Jaipur, Udaipur), Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow, Gorakhpur), Orissa (Bhubaneswar), Madhya Pradesh (Gwalior), Uttarakhand (Haridwar), Himachal Pradesh (Una), Tripura (Agartala) and Jammu and Kashmir (Udhampur).

SWR is transporting passengers to their destination as per the demand of the State Government with proper protocol and the receiving State Government is ready to accept them.

Kasaragod, Apr 19: Kasaragod, Kerala's COVID-19 hotspot, is the only district in the southern state lacking adequate health infrastructure.

In spite of treating the highest number of COVID-19 patients in the state with meagre infrastructural facilities and even without the support of a medical college in the north Kerala district, no deaths have been reported due to coronavirus.

The state health department views the performance of M Kunhiraman and his team, consisting of Janardhana Naik and Krishna Naik, at the General hospital in Kasaragod as a success story.

"Not only did they control the situation quickly with minimum infrastructure, they also started turning out a large number of negative cases within a few weeks and creditably ensured zero mortality.

This can be showcased as a best global model," Chairman of the Information Education and Communication (IEC) Committee and Project Director Kerala State Aids Control Society, R Ramesh said.

Recalling the ordeal, Janardhana Naik said his first major challenge was the physical examination of a patient with suspected COVID-19.

"Even with the PPE kit, nobody knew how effective they were and it took a whole 30 minutes to wear them properly.

But as time passed, we got accustomed to it," he said.

The traditional method of dealing with a patient involved knowing his or her history, observation and physical examination.

For hundreds of years, the hands-on body approach has been the soul of the doctor-patient relationship -- taking the pulse, tapping on and listening to the chest, feeling lumps.

With the onset of COVID-19 all that has changed.

"In fact, the whole exercise was fraught with grave risks because everything connected with COVID-19 was new.

Doctors have to keep a distance even though the physical examination wearing a Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is difficult.

Sounds from the body are inaudible, vision is blurred through the smog-covered goggles and a stethoscope seldom has any use," Janardhana Naik said.

It was from March 15 that the hospital started receiving COVID-19 patients, primarily from Dubai.

By the time the first person came, the hospital was ready for him.

Soon, patient numbers began to swell and in a couple of weeks they reached about 91.

From then on, it was teamwork.

Committees were formed for each and every task, including the help desk, IT, treatment, medical board, training, food, waste disposal and data maintenance.

Initially, patients had many misgivings about the hospital.

"Some were disillusioned and even aggressive. Some were not happy with the facilities the hospital had to offer.

But gradually through good treatment and counselling by a psychiatrist, who visited the hospital on alternate days, the confidence and mood of the patients changed and they became friendly with the staff," Naik elaborated.

Counselling was also given to the concerned family members of the patients.

Besides treatment, the medical staff had to spend a considerable amount of time clearing the doubts of patients.

When they got discharged some patients insisted on seeing the faces of the medical staff, who till then were anonymous entities covered from head to toe.

Some even wanted to take selfies with them.

However, the medical team politely turned down their requests and preferred to remain hidden in their work attires.

The mood of the patients also rubbed off on the doctors and hospital staff.

All the physicians and hospital staff are now more confident of dealing with contagious diseases after treating COVID-19 patients.

"Our previous experience of treating H1N1, Chikungunya and Dengue cases helped us a lot.

Words of encouragement from the Health Minister K K Shailaja, Health Principal Secretary Dr Rajan N Khobragade and Health Services Director Dr Sarita R L gave us the impetus to build up confidence.

Moreover, the field health workers did a wonderful job in containing the viral spread," Naik added.

As the number of coronavirus cases rose, the state government on April 5 deputed a 26-member medical team from Thiruvananthapuram to set up a COVID-19 hospital in the district.

They turned a block of the under construction Government Medical College as a hospital-like facility, setting up a 200 bed facility to treat coronavirus patients.