Footbridges to be built in coastal and malnad districts of Karnataka to avert tragedies

Bengaluru, Apr 17: The Karnataka government on Friday asked Information Technology, biotechnology and allied companies not to go for closure or layoffs citing lack of work orders due to COVID-19 lockdown and instead consider measures like cutting salaries among other things.

It said IT/BT companies in the state can resume operations with 50 per cent from their office space after April 20.

Deputy chief minister C N Ashwath Narayan, who is also in charge of IT & BT department, held video consultation with the captains of the industry in light of the disruption caused due to the lockdown, and discussed on the way forward - both for effective implementation of the lockdown as well as the future course to deal with the unique circumstances.

"Immediately we are going to permit 50 per cent, but it doesn't mean that they will be able to mobilise 50 per cent immediately. It will take few weeks for them to do so. Gradually percentage will increase and it will start getting back to normalcy," Ashwath Narayan told reporters.

Stating that there were discussions regarding layoffs, he said, companies should not go for layoffs, instead of that gradation or deduction in the salary should be taken up, so that it doesn't affect the functioning of companies also that are facing less orders.

"On handling such financial crisis they (industry) wanted government consideration with mutual cooperation and understanding the concerns," he added.

Pointing out that concerns were also expressed regarding measures or protocol that needs to be followed if any positive cases are reported in any of the office spaces, Ashwath Narayan said, certain guidelines will be issued in consultation with the Health Department.

"Once the relaxation is given this may become the usual phenomena, as cases will be reported here and there... so in that scenario how we need to work and handle the situation is important, so we will be working on protocols how to handle the situation. So far we have planned for residential areas and not for work spaces," he said.

The deputy chief minister said the IT and BT industry leaders are extremely happy with regard to the support system or backup given by the government of Karnataka, particularly IT/BT department.

Even during this crisis period in the entire world, Karnataka and Bengaluru were able to get a good reputation and become reliable partner, as IT/BT service providers in both the city and the state were able to provide excellent quality services to their clients without any interruption, he said.

If you compare with any state or country, we have done extremely well, and hope that this would get more business, he added.

Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan, who is also the Chairman of Vision Group IT, were among others present at the video conferencing.

Noting that concerns expressed by the industry regarding passes for employees to commute to office, Ashwath Narayan said, the government would make necessary arrangements in this regard, considering measures that need to be taken after April 20.

Regarding providing transport facility, they can seek for services from public transport Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) on a contract basis, he said, adding that "We will be ready to facilitate BMTC."

The minister said the industry leaders wanted internet services to continue with the same quality and without any interruption.

Bengaluru, Feb 8: The Department of Religious Endowments in Karnataka will undertake 'Ratha Yatras' in 110 major temples of the state, in order to inform the public about mass marriages, scheduled to be held on April 26.

The publicity campaign through Rath Yatra will be flagged off from Mookambika temple in Kollur of Udupi district from February 13.

The mass marriage programme 'Saptapadi,' would be held in 100 major temples of Muzrai department. The second phase would be held on May 24, Minister for Ports, Fisheries and Muzrai Kota Srinivas Poojary told newspersons here on Friday.

Bengaluru, Jan 21: A private hospital in Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka, on Tuesday claimed that it has successfully performed a live liver transplant on a Jehovah's Witness from Nigeria, by not using blood or blood products, in order to protect the patient's religious beliefs.

It is said that Jehovah's Witnesses are followers of a Christian faith that prohibits the use of blood or blood products during their treatment. Gehojadak (37), a Jehovah's Witness follower, had developed decompensated liver disease and visited more than three countries seeking treatment over the last four years but was turned away by most doctors due to the highly risky nature of surgery, Aster CMI Hospital said.

The surgery was challenging compared to a normal liver transplant because in order to protect the patient's religious beliefs, the medical team could not use blood or blood products (Fresh frozen plasma, Cryoprecipitate, Platelets etc), it said in a release, adding that very few such surgeries have been successfully conducted worldwide.

The patient's brother was the donor, the hospital said, adding, without a liver transplant, Gehojadak's chances of survival were less than 10 per cent over the next two years. A team of liver specialists from the Hospital thoroughly reviewed the patient's medical history before recommending a bloodless liver transplant and charted out a feasible pathway to make the surgery a success.

"This transplant was especially challenging as we did not have the safety net (of using blood) even if the patient's life was at risk due to their advance directive. We have performed other non-transplant liver surgeries in Jehovah's Witnesses and this gave us the confidence to take on Gehojadak's transplant," Dr Rajiv Lochan, Consultant Liver Transplant Surgeon, said.

The critical surgery took a 12-hour period to complete where two teams of specialists with close to 25 doctors including anaesthetists, intensivists worked in absolute sync with each other and Gehojadak finally received a life-saving liver transplant, the Hospital said. In a period of two weeks, the patient and his brother were fit enough to go home and were discharged from the hospital.

"Even if their haemoglobin levels dropped to life-threatening levels, the patients were clear that they would not accept a blood transfusion. Keeping the limitations in mind, the most effective treatment path was planned, and we spent close to two months preparing the patients for surgery," Arun V, Consultant Anesthesiologist said. The hospital arranged customised artificial products like synthetic drug molecules, to conduct a bloodless liver transplant, he added.