A Dalit leader should become CM of Karnataka, says Parameshwara

Bengaluru, Jul 6: A video clip of a Bengaluru-based doctor urging the follow doctors to return to their duty at a time when medicos are desperately needed to fight against COVID-19 has busted the myth of ‘shortage of beds’ in the hospitals. 

In past few of weeks, dozens of people in Bengaluru have lost their lives after hospital denied them admission citing lack of beds. 

Dr Taha Mateen, Managing Director of HBS Hospital, in an emotional message, appealed to healthcare professionals, including doctors, to help handle the situation better. The video has gone viral on social media.

“I speak from the ICU of HBS Hospital. It’s been a virtual bloodbath. I came in the morning at like 7:30 in the morning and its 12’o’clock midnight right now. Patients are continuously calling me now ‘cause their fathers are breathless, their brothers are breathless and they cannot find a room in Bengaluru and at this time if you see there is one Mr Shiva and me. There is no other doctor willing to work in this hospital,” Dr Mateen says in the video.

Dr Mateen further said, "I have beds, I have oxygen beds, I have ventilators, I have all the equipment. I have another 30 beds like this but I don’t have doctors working here.” He said that there is an urgent need to mobilise healthcare staff.

Sources said the COVID-19 patients at the hospital are left with only five doctors and 12 nurses. Until recently, the HBS Hospital had 20 nurses and 44 doctors on its roll.

According to a report, the hospital is facing huge difficulties in treating patients admitted at Intensive Care Units (ICU). Eight patients with severe respiratory problems are admitted to the hospital and are waiting for their COVID-19 test results.

"We have sufficient beds at the hospital to treat coronavirus patients, but we don't have doctors. And we can't admit more patients as we are left with just five doctors, said Dr Taha Mateen.

"All doctors are on WhatsApp, I request all doctors to come out and perform their duties, Dr Mateen said in a video appeal on WhatsApp, Twitter and Instagram. 

According to Dr Mateen, a COVID-19 patient, who was admitted to COVID care centre at Haj  Bhavan, was abandoned on a road by an ambulance driver. Later, the patient was picked by NGO volunteers. 

"The patient was brought to HBS Hospital at 2 am. He had a very low blood oxygen level. We stabilised his condition. Later, we had to send him home as we don't have enough staff to take care of him. We also sent an oxygen cylinder to his home," a report quoted Dr Mateen as saying.

Bengaluru, Feb 26: Karnataka Police and intelligence have been asked to be on alert in the wake of communal violence in Delhi and take preemptive measures, state Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said here on Wednesday.

"We have been keeping a close watch on the developments after the Delhi incident. I have instructed my officers to be on alert and take precautionary actions rather than actions after the incidents," Bommai told media.

"The day before yesterday we had a high-level meeting...we are having a close watch," he added.

Violence erupted in Delhi on Sunday evening after groups protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and those supporting it indulged in stone pelting at each other.

The confrontation soon turned communal and the violence spread to other areas of northeast Delhi including Chand Bagh, Mustafabad, Brijpuri, Shiv Vihar and Noor Ilahi on Monday and Tuesday in which at least 20 persons, including a police head constable, have died and over 200 have been injured.

Bengaluru, May 24: With 130 new cases, Karnataka's COVID-19 tally crossed the 2,000-mark on Sunday. Most new cases reported have interstate travel history with 97 coming from Maharashtra. The number of active cases in the state is 1,391 and the deaths reported so far is 42, including 2 for non-COVID reasons.

"Ninety seven of the 130 new patients are returnees from Maharashtra, the worst affected state in the country with 47,190 cases till Saturday," said a state health official. 

"The total number of COVID-19 cases across the state is 2,089, with 130 more testing positive in the past 18 hours," said the official.

Forty six patients were discharged from hospitals on Sunday taking the number of cured persons to 634. Of the 46 discharged, 18 are in Davanagere, 20 in Uttara Kannada, 4 in Chitradurga, 3 in Bagalakote and one in Haveri.

Of the 30 Karnataka districts, Chikkaballapura recorded the highest cases on Sunday at 27, followed by Yadgir (24), Udupi (23), Mandya (15) and Hassan (14).

Chikkaballapura is the home district of Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar, a doctor by profession, who is spearheading the fight against the pandemic.

On Saturday, the state's tally shot up to 1,959 due to 196 new cases, the highest single-day rise, with 195 of them crossing over from Maharashtra through the inter-state border, which was opened up as part of partial relaxation of the lockdown.  

The Karnataka government has imposed institutional quarantine on persons traveling in from outside the state, particularly by flight from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh.