Dr Kafeel Khan’s younger brother shot at near Gorakhpur temple

Bengaluru, Jun 24: The Karnataka government on Tuesday announced that fever clinics would be established at all district-level and taluk-level hospitals, wherein fever cases would be screened in a separate area.

"Fever clinics to be established at all district hospitals/district-level hospitals and taluk-level hospitals, wherein all fever cases should be screened 24x7 in a separate area and for Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) cases to be subjected for swab testing," read a circular from the Department of Health and Family Welfare dated June 22.

The circular said that private institutions in the corporation areas should also be designated as fever clinics.

"100 per cent of Community Health Centres (CHC), 50 per cent of Primary Health Centres and Urban Primary Health Centres (UPHC) to be converted as exclusive fever clinics to screen ILI/SARI during working hours. The remaining PHC/UPHC to cater to non-COVID-19 cases. All health institutions need to have a separate entry for COVID and non-COVID services," the circular further said.

Karnataka on Tuesday reported 322 fresh COVID-19 positive cases and eight deaths.
According to the state health department, the total number of positive cases has mounted to 9,721 and 150 deaths. So far, 6,004 people have been discharged.

Bengaluru, Jul 22: Karnataka's Covid-19 task force on Tuesday decided that the state government will regulate the supply of Remdesivir, the drug used in the treatment of coronavirus infected patients, to private hospitals to check black marketing and hoarding.

"Remdesivir which is currently available in the government hospitals will be supplied to private hospitals through the government.

This will help curb black marketing of this drug," Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar's office said in a release.

Along with Sudhakar, other task force members, including Health Minister Sriramulu, Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwath Narayan and Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar attended the meeting. However, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai was not part of it as he was out of Bengaluru.

At the meeting, the government has also fixed the rate for Covid-19 tests in private labs- Rs 2,000 for government referred cases and 3,000 for self-reporting cases.

It was also decided to purchase 4 lakh antigen test kits and 5 lakh swab test kits to ramp up testing, the release said, adding that approvals have also been given for additional drugs for the treatment of Covid-19 patients.

The decisions also included increasing monthly salary for Ayush doctors to 48,000, MBBS doctors to 80,000 and nurses to get 30,000 for next 6 months.

The task force also made it clear that private hospitals have to reserve 50 percent beds for the government for Covid-19 treatment. The remaining 50 percent can be used by the private hospitals for Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 treatment.

Private hospitals provide treatment under Ayushman Bharat scheme (ABARK) for Covid-19 patients.

Those cases in which treatment does not cover under the scheme can be charged as per the user charges, the release said.

A committee will be formed to supervise and recommend the purchase of equipment and medicines for Covid-19 treatment, which will be headed by ACS, ITBT Department.

Approval has been given for the procurement of N-95 masks and lakh PPE kits for the safety of healthcare workers. The decision also has been taken to connect oxygen pipeline to 4,736 beds in 17 government medical colleges, which will enable high flow oxygen for these beds besides being beneficial for future use as well.

According to the release, 16 RTPCR and 15 Automated RNA extraction units will be established to ramp up testing and this will help achieve the target of 50,000 tests per day. "On the whole approvals given for purchase of equipment and upgradation of existing facilities at government hospitals is estimated to be about Rs 500 Crore," it added.

Kasaragod, May 30: Karnataka origin IPS officer D Shilpa has been appointed the new Superintendent of Police of Kasargod district.

The 35-year-old 2016-batch IPS officer is the first woman SP of Kasaragod. 

Her appointment follows the sudden transfer of P S Sabu who was hitherto holding the post. He has now been appointed as SP of Alappuzha.

Shilpa has earlier served as ASP of Kasargod. She was also ASP of Kannur during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Shilpa was one of the three IPS officers assigned to Kasaragod with IG Vijay Sakhare during the first phase of covid lockdown.

A native of HSR Layout in Bengaluru, Shilpa holds a Bachelor's degree in Electronics Engineering and a Masters Degree in Business Administration.