Youngest pellet Kashmir's victim may not regain sight

Agencies
November 27, 2018

Srinagar, Nov 27: Eighteen-month-old Hiba Nisar, the youngest pellet victim in Kashmir, has been discharged from hospital after surgery on her right eye but doctors are not sure if her eyesight will be restored completely.

Hiba was playing inside her house in Shopian when clashes broke out between protesters and security forces in the wake of an encounter where six militants were killed on Sunday, the infant's mother Marsala Jan said.

"The encounter site is quite far from our house but clashes broke out in our neighbourhood. First, there was tear smoke all around us which caused coughing in Hiba and then there was a sudden bang. My daughter was hit in the eye by a pellet fired towards our home," Jan said.

Doctors at the SMHS Hospital here said Hiba underwent surgery as she had suffered corneal perforation, an anomaly in the cornea resulting from damage to the corneal surface, due to the pellets.

"Like most cases, the kid will be able to see but there is no guarantee that her eyesight will be restored completely," the doctor, who treated Hiba, told PTI.

The doctor said the treatment is a long drawn process and Hiba's parents will have to take a lot of precautions to ensure that she does not get any complications.

"She will have to be brought here for follow-up treatment regularly. Her first appointment is next week," the ophthalmologist said.

Two human rights activists have approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to take cognisance of Hiba's injury.

In their plea before the rights body, the activists – Syed Mujtaba Hussian and Mirza Jahanzeb Beg – have sought Rs 10 lakh compensation to the victim.

They also sought an independent investigation into the incident and action against the personnel involved in the firing of pellets.

Thousands of Kashmiris have been injured due to the use of pellet guns as a crowd control non-lethal weapon by security forces during law and order situations.

While few deaths have been reported due to use of pellets, a large number of injured persons have lost eyesight in one or both eyes, leading to demands from various quarters to discontinue the use of this weapon for law and order situations.

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News Network
March 3,2020

Daman, Mar 3: A BJP councillor was shot dead on Monday in the Union Territory of Daman, police said.

Salim Memon was sitting in his motorcycle showroom when three to four unidentified persons shot four to five bullets after asking a visitor there to move out, an official said quoting eye-witnesses.

While fleeing, they also shot two rounds close to this visitor who was standing outside, he said.

"Memon was rushed to a hospital in Marwad area but was declared dead on arrival. CCTV footage is being scanned to nab the culprits," said Daman Superintendent of Police Vikramjit Singh.

Memon was elected to Daman municipality as a Congress candidate but then switched over to the BJP.

Sources said Memon, who also has a land brokerage business, had come out of jail a few months back in connection with a case of rivalry.

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News Network
June 29,2020

New Delhi, Jun 29: A disturbing video of a Covid-19 patient, speaking his last words, after his oxygen supply was allegedly cut off, has surfaced on social media. The patient reportedly died after indicating that the oxygen supply to him was cut off despite his requests.

The video has a 35-year-old Covid-19 patient bidding good-bye to his family, from a government hospital bed in Hyderabad. The patient Ravi Kumar can be seen speaking out against the negligence of of the medical staff in providing ventilator support to him when he needed it the most.

The video has led to social media outrage as it attracted public attention towards plight of patients in government hospitals

"I am not able to breathe, I pleaded but they did not continue oxygen for the last three hours. I am not able to breathe anymore daddy, it's like my heart has stopped, Bye daddy. Bye to all, daddy," these were apparently the final words of the man, who spoke in his local dialect, and shared on social media.

Several reports have claimed that the man had been admitted to government Chest hospital, after several private hospitals refused to admit him. His ventilator support was allegedly taken off in the hospital, after which he recorded the video message.

The victim’s family shared the video message for the public to know of the negligence.

Reports have it that Ravi’s covid-19 report, which testes positive, was given to family a day after his death, when 30 of his family members performed the final rites, thus making all of them vulnerable to the virus. Ravi’s father has alleged that the test was done on June 24 and Ravi died on June 26, while the report was given to them on June 27.

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News Network
April 30,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 30: Shares of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd rose almost 9% on Thursday after the Indian drugmaker got an approval to conduct clinical trials with antiviral drug favipiravir, seen as a potential treatment for COVID-19.

Favipiravir, manufactured under the brand name Avigan by a unit of Japan's Fujifilm Holdings Corp and approved for use as an anti-flu drug in the Asian island country in 2014, has been effective, with no obvious side-effects, in helping coronavirus patients recover, a Chinese official told reporters at a news conference last month.

"After having successfully developed the API and the formulations ... Glenmark is all geared to immediately begin clinical trials on favipiravir on COVID-19 patients in India," Sushrut Kulkarni, executive vice-president for Global R&D, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, said in a statement. 

The Drug Controller General of India, the country's drug regulator, did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.

On Wednesday, another Indian pharmaceutical company, Strides Pharma Science Ltd, said it had developed and commercialized favipiravir antiviral tablets, and had applied to Indian drug authorities to start trials.

Shares of Mumbai-based Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, which rose as much as 8.9% to 359 rupees ($4.78), was trading up 5.9%, as of 0407 GMT.

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