Mangalore under CCTV surveillance

Bengaluru, Jul 24: A government doctor who was turned away by three private hospitals because he could not produce a coronavirus test result passed away today in Bengaluru. Dr Manjunath, who was a frontline COVID-19 doctor, was allegedly turned away by hospitals when he was extremely ill and struggling to breathe.

Dr Manjunath worked in the state Health and Family Welfare department and was based in Ramanagara district, around 50 km from Bengaluru.

D Randeep, a Special Officer with the Bengaluru municipal body BBMP, said that the hospitals that had refused to admit Dr Manjunath would be reported to the health department.

In June-end, Dr Manjunath went to Rajashekhar Hospital in JP Nagar, BGS Global Hospital in Kengeri and Sagar hospital in Kumaraswamy Layout. All three demanded to see his COVID-19 test result but those were still not in at the time, according to his family. His brother-in-law Nagendra is also a doctor with BBMP and in charge of allotting hospital beds, yet he was completely helpless when it came to his own relative.

He was finally admitted to Sagar hospital on June 25 when his family sat in protest on the footpath outside the Dayananda Sagar campus. He was placed on ventilator and later shifted to the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, where he died earlier today. The hospital says Dr Manjunath was discharged on July 9 because he wanted plasma therapy.

Six members of his family, including a 14-year-old, tested COVID-19 positive. Most of them have recovered.

Bengaluru has seen several cases of patients being turned away from hospitals in the city. Hospitals say they need Covid test results to know whether to admit patients in the coronavirus ICU or in the general section and to understand treatment protocol.

Mr Randeep said hospitals have been instructed to admit patients even without such a certificate. Notices have been sent to hospitals that fail to comply. The OPD of two private hospitals was sealed for 48 hours when they refused to admit a patient.

Bengaluru, Jan 6: Activist Irom Chanu Sharmila took part in a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR) at Sir Puttanna Chetty Town Hall here on Sunday.

Sharmila, who came in the protest along with her child, took part in a 'burqa and bindi' protest marking the birth anniversary of social reformer Savitribai Phule.

Protests have erupted across the country over the CAA which grants citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Parsi, Buddhist, and Christian refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

Bengaluru, May 19: In the wake of assurance by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to look into their demands, hotels and restaurants in Karnataka today decided to continue takeaway services for three more days.

Hotels were also exempted from the total lockdown on Sundays in Karnataka - under the state guidelines issued for Lockdown 4.0.

The Karnataka Pradesh Hotel and Restaurants' Association (KPHRA) had earlier threatened to stop takeaway services over refusal to allow dine-in facility in the fourth phase of the lockdown. 

B Chandrashekar Hebbar, president of KPHRA said that the CM urged hoteliers to wait for three days, assuring that a decision will be taken. 

"We appraised the government over the mounting losses by keeping just take-away services open. Noting that social distancing and other guidelines will be followed, we urged him to allow dine-in facility," he said.

The Association will wait three more days before discontinuing parcel services, Hebbar said. 

The government also provided relaxation to hotels from the total lockdown announced in Karnataka on Sundays, he said. 

A package for hotel employees such as cooks and waiters, along the lines of those announced for farmers, cab drivers and weavers, was also sought in a petition submitted to the chief minister.

In fact the state government had expressed its willingness to open hotels under the Lockdown 4.0, subject to restrictions. However, the central guidelines do not allow dine-in services.