JD(S), BJP slam Ramya for questioning Sangh Parivar's role in freedom struggle

Bengaluru, Apr 13: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President and former Minister D K Shivakumar has demanded resignation of Minister In-Charge of COVID-19 for his alleged irresponsible comment, despite holding a responsible post.

Mr Shivakumar's comments came after Dr Sudhakar on Sunday shared a picture of him and his children in a swimming pool, on Twitter with a caption, ''After a long time joined my children for swimming hope maintaining social distance here as well…hahaha.''

However, Dr Sudhakar deleted the tweet from his account, soon after he was criticised for sharing such a picture, when the country is facing a health crisis.

Bengaluru, May 30: The Karnataka government will soon launch a project to maintain the health database of all its citizens, said Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Friday.

A first of its kind initiative, the "State Health Register" will be a robust and standardised health repository of all the citizens, as per an official release.

Sudhakar said that the project will be implemented first in Chikkaballapur district on an experimental basis. "Enhanced focus on healthcare has become imperative and our government is committed to providing world-class healthcare to all citizens," he added.

While speaking to media, the minister said that COVID-19 experience has demonstrated the necessity of having robust, real-time public health data and, therefore, there is a need to maintain a repository of health data of each and every citizen.

He said that the government will be undertaking a survey of all 6.5 crore people in the state, by using a team of Primary Health Centre officials, revenue officials, education department staff and ASHA karyakartas.

"They will visit each household and collect health data of all the members of the family. This will not only help the government to provide better healthcare but will also help efficient resource allocation, management and better implementation of various citizen-centric schemes in the state," Sudhakar stated.

"Public-Private Partnership -- It's our vision to provide world-class healthcare to all citizens in the state and we need accurate data to make our vision a reality. The health register is a futuristic project which is taken up in the interest of the people. The project will include 50 per cent partnership of private hospitals. The data collected will help us to prioritise healthcare based on geography, demography and other targetted measures," read the release.

Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has assured all support for the project and a detailed discussion will be undertaken in the upcoming cabinet meeting, said Dr Sudhakar.

The minister also assured that he is committed to ensuring that all citizens of the state have access to world-class healthcare.

Mangaluru, May 13: Kinz Foundation started distributing around 1500 food packets daily for migrant workers migrating in different parts of Dakshina Kannada district amidst coastal coronavirus lockdown.

"We are distributing daily 1,500 food packets both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. The number will be increased to 5,000," said businessman Althaf Hussain who arranged food packets on May 13.

"These are trying times. The poor migrants who are being denied of their bread due to the lockdown deserve help and we are trying to bring them food which is most basic needs.” he added.