Belagavi, Dec 12: Senior Legislator K Pratapchandra Shetty of Congress was unanimously elected as Karnataka Legislative Council Chairman here on Wednesday during the ongoing Winter Session at Suvarna Vikas Soudha.
Mr Shetty was the lone candidate who had filed his nomination papers yesterday. The senior leader from Udupi has been a four-time MLA and three time MLC.
Senior member of the house and former Minister S R Patil and Allam Veerbhadrappa, both from Congress proposed Mr Shetty's name.
Bengaluru, Jun 20: The Karnataka Health Department has issued guidelines on the admission of COVID-19 patients in private hospitals after clinical assessment, mandating that the district surveillance officer (DSO) should be first informed to initiate further procedures, an official said on Friday.
"A health team sent by the DSO should visit the home or hospital where the patient is staying. The team should conduct a rapid assessment of his or her health condition," said Karnataka's Additional Chief Secretary Jawaid Akhtar.
In the rapid health condition assessment, the team should first check the patient's body temperature, followed by SpO2 (oxygen saturation) level and confirm if there are any comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, tuberculosis, HIV, cancer, stroke etc.
Depending on the health condition of patients, Akhtar said, two categories have been made.
"Those who have body temperature greater than 37.5 degrees Celsius, SpO2 level below 94 percent, elderly (above 60 years) and suffering from known comorbid conditions should be taken to a dedicated Covid hospital (DCH)," he said.
"All other patients, even if older but not suffering from co-morbidities, those below 60 and suffering from co-morbidities and asymptomatic cases should be taken to a dedicated Covid health centre (DCHC) or a private hospital as opted by the patient," he added.
Private hospitals have been asked to pitch in due to the rising number of cases in Karnataka. Currently, there are 2943 active cases in the state after 337 cases were reported on Friday.
"The patients are assessed clinically and evaluated at DCHCs or private hospitals with appropriate diagnostic tests. After evaluation, if the patients are asymptomatic, they are shifted to a COVID Care Centre (CCC) for further management," said Akhtar.
CCCs are expected to be equipped with ventilated rooms, pulse oximeters, handheld thermal scanners and blood pressure apparatus.
A nurse has to be present round the clock for every 50 patients and should visit each patient twice a day for assessment whereas the medical officer has to visit the CCC once a day. He should also be available on call in case of an emergency.
Staff serving food and others should wear personal protective equipment and an N-95 mask. Explaining the procedures at DCHCs, Akhtar said general examinations for medical conditions like body temperature, BP, pulse, oxygen saturation and urine output should be in place.
Investigations such as complete blood count, fasting blood sugar, random blood sugar, liver function tests, renal function tests, ECG and chest X-ray facilities should be available.
"DCHCs should ensure that above examinations are over in an orderly timeline of 24 hours and depending on the examination, the patient is continued to be lodged at the DCHC or sent to DCH or CCC," said the senior officer.
Likewise, the discharge policy should be done as per the protocols issued by the Health Department from time to time.
The Karnataka government is yet to fix an upper limit on the cost of treating COVID-19 patients in private hospitals. While reports indicated that this could be capped at Rs 5200 per day, health officials are yet to specify this is the case. Private hospitals in the state have asked the government to take a collaborative approach in deciding the fixed cap on treatment cost.
Mysuru, Mar 13: A state-of-the-art viral research laboratory in the city has been identified as one of the testing laboratories for the detection of COVID-19, official sources said here on Friday.
The samples of suspected cases could be sent to the lab for analysis and it would take about three hours to get the results.
The Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (VRDL), which was set up from Central grants and functions at the Microbiology Department of K.R. Hospital, has been authorised to carry out the tests. This lab in Mysuru is among the 52-plus laboratories in the country.
Though the VRDL is equipped to carry out the tests, the sole authority of confirming the virus lies with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune. VRDL is also the sole agency for collection and transportation of suspected samples of COVID-19 to NIV.
VRDL, which is part of the Mysore Medical College and Research Institute, functions on the advice of NIV.
According to the guidelines issued by ICMR, the results of the tests done here have to be shared with NIV the same day and the labs are not supposed to disclose the results since the NIV is the only authority to declare positive cases. Also, confirmation from the NIV should be awaited in case the samples test negative for COVID-19. The ICMR, in the guidelines made available on its website, has advised clinicians at labs to isolate the patient tested positive for COVID-19 in the identified facility and follow bio-safety precautions.
VRDL is a part of a network of labs established by the Department of Health Research, Government of India. The rise in the number of viral outbreaks and the resultant mortality had been cited as key reasons for the launch of network of such hi-tech labs in the country.
The NIV and the National Centre for Disease Control, Delhi, are the top laboratories for the network, while the National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai, is the supervising authority for the data generated by the network of labs, sources added.
Bengaluru, June 10: The Department of Primary and Secondary Education of Government of Karnataka today ordered a ban on online classes for children from KG to class 5.
The decision was taken following a report based on the report submitted by director NIMHANS, recommending online classes only above the age of 6 years and also following the complaints from several parents about online classes conducted by private schools even for kindergarten kids.
Briefing the media soon after the meeting with department officials, S Suresh Kumar, primary and secondary education minister said, "We have taken two major decisions today. The online classes for LKG, UKG and primary classes should be stopped immediately."
Even collecting fees in the name of online classes should be stopped, said the minister. "We have already issued a circular about it insisting that schools not collect fees in the name of online classes and also requesting schools not to increase fees for the 2020-21 academic year considering financial constraints of several people due to the COVID-19 pandemic," said the minister.
The department, however, also discussed how to engage children during this period as there was no clarity over the reopening of schools for the 2020-21 academic year. "We have constituted a committee to prepare guidelines on how to engage students and increase their knowledge. The committee is headed by Prof. MK Sridhar," he said.
Before taking this decision, the department had three rounds of discussions with various experts, including Prof. MK Sridhar, Prof. VP Niranjanaradhya, Dr John Vijay Sagar and other departments, including the home and health departments.
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CONGRATULATIONS AND ALL THE BEST ON THE OCCASSION OF ELECTED KARNATAKA SPEAKER.
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