30 sheep die in wolf attack

Madikeri, Jun 9: A rare Rurk’s Ristella Skink was found by some wildlife enthusiasts on their way to Madapur in Kodagu district.

Ristella Rurkii, commonly known as Rurk’s Ristella, is a species of skink endemic to the Western Ghats of Southern India. It is a small, insectivorous, diurnal skink found in Shola grasslands and rain forests of hills ranges in parts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

The specific name, rurkii, is in honour of “Dr Rurk” who collected the type specimen in the Annamalai Hills, High Ranges, Travancore, and the Palani Hills, of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. It is endemic to rainforests South of Palghat Gap.

Mumbai, Jun 15: Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has approved Apoorva Diagnostic and Healthcare (ADHC) located at Bhaktivedanta Hospital, Mira Road to test suspected coronavirus infections in the region. The lab is equipped to process 500 tests on a per day basis and can be scaled up to 1000 and follows the pricing as per ICMR guidelines. ADHC will be closely working with local hospitals and Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) to test suspected coronavirus infections in the region.

The municipal corporations who will benefit from this facility would be Palghar, Virar Vasai and Mira Bhayander. The run time for the patients’ blood collection samples will reduce significantly.  The corporation earlier is known for becoming the first civic body to rope in private hospitals for coronavirus testing.

ADHC is the only lab operational for 24/7 thus supporting all the hospital and nursing homes in the Western region of Mumbai. ADHC is the only lab in this region equipped with fully automated frozen section, Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and complete Oncopathology services. Laboratory maintains the highest level of international standards and is the only lab in the state to introduce Artificial Intelligence in clinical pathology. One of the other unique feature of the lab is that it has the DNA film array technology for infectious panels and fully automated Microbiology lab which results in fast turnaround time to reduce hospitalization of the patient which helps reduce antibiotics harassment.

Dr. Ajay Sankhe, Director, Bhaktivedanta Hospital says, “We stand by our commitment to make the facility available for all the patients of Mumbai and will provide unconditional service in fighting the deadly disease We are always ready to serve the nation and our vision is to be a trusted healthcare partner enabling healthier lives.”

Kabir Das, Managing Director, ADHS, quips, “Current priority is to get over the crisis. The lab is a 24 X 7 high-tech diagnostic centre catering to all classes of society and meeting multifarious diagnostic needs with high precision and accuracy. Indian Council of Medical Research has approved our lab to test COVID-19 and we will surely extend all support needed.”

New Delhi, Jun 27: Wasim Akhtar, a journalist and founder of an online news portal, is helping the poor and needy people in the ongoing lockdown.

Not only is he helping them financially but also providing emotional support and setting the right example of humanity.

"I was very disturbed during the first 14 days of lockdown especially after seeing such sad videos about needy and poor people. But then I decided to move out of my house and help these poor people despite the fear of COVID-19 coronavirus. We supply ration to around 200 people every day so that their families won't sleep hungry," narrated Wasim Akhtar.

Waseem Akhtar and his team are contacting daily wagers and other needy people who have been locked jobless in their houses for the past 70 days. They are the people who will not beg for food to anybody, rather choose to sleep hungry. They are making sure to help the people in the remotest places by directly transferring the money in the accounts of needy people.

They have been feeding many migrants at Kurla and VT stations. "At VT station, there was a group of Tamilian migrants among which there were six women and two men, who didn't know Hindi or English language, who were helpless and nowhere to go to, we send them back to their natives," said Wasim when asked about it.

The Giving Care Foundation also funded the funeral of a 65-year old man at the Worli crematorium. They took care of the expenses of the delivery of a Kolkata-based woman whose husband was stuck in Mumbai. Along with this, they arranged everything for the funeral of a young girl who died after her prolonged illness amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Being a Muslim myself, I urge all the fellow Muslims that limit your expenses and help the poor and needy in such times," concluded Wasim Akhtar.