Yeddy calls Rahul a 'bachcha', says Cong chief’s Karnataka visit has ensured BJP’s win

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.

Bengaluru, Apr 16: The Karnataka government on Wednesday identified 14 departments as essential and asked all its employees to attend work during the extended period of lockdown to check coronavirus spread in the state.

According to a circular issued by Chief Secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar, all classes of officials/employees in these departments must attend to their work.

The departments are: Health and Family Welfare, Medical Education, Home, Revenue, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Urban Development, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Information and Public Relations, Transport, Energy, Personnel and Administrative Reforms (e-Governance), Finance (including treasuries), Animal Husbandry and Fisheries and Forest, Ecology and Environment.

In all other departments, only Group-A officers have been directed to report for duty.

However, those visually-impaired or physically-

handicapped are exempt from work, the circular said, adding that this norms will be valid till April 19.

New Delhi, Jan 14: The Kerala government has challenged the new Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) before the Supreme Court, becoming the first state to do so amid nationwide protests against the religion-based citizenship law. The Supreme Court is already hearing over 60 petitions against the law.

Kerala's Left-led government in its petition calls the CAA a violation of several articles of the constitution including the right to equality and says the law goes against the basic principle of secularism in the constitution.

The Kerala government has also challenged the validity of changes made in 2015 to the Passport law and the Foreigners (Amendment) Order, regularising the stay of non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who had entered India before 2015.

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), eases the path for non-Muslims in the neighbouring Muslim-majority nations of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh to become Indian citizens. Critics fear that the CAA, along with a proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC), will discriminate against Muslims.

The Kerala petition says the CAA violates Articles 14, 21 and 25 of the constitution.

While Article 14 is about the right to equality, Article 21 says "no person will be deprived of life or personal liberty except according to a procedure established by law". Under Article 25, "all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience."

Several non-BJP governments have refused to carry out the NRC in an attempt to stave off the enforcement of the citizenship law.

Over 60 writ petitions have been filed in Supreme Court so far against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Various political parties, NGOs and also MPs have challenged the law.

The Supreme Court will hear the petitions on January 22.

During the last hearing, petitioners didn't ask that the law be put on hold as the CAA was not in force. The Act has, however, come into force from January 10 through a home ministry notification.