Centre asks states to allow hospitalised covid patients use smartphones to interact with kin

Agencies
August 2, 2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: The Centre has written to all states and Union Territories stating that smartphones and tablet devices should be allowed for hospitalised Covid-19 patients so that they can interact with family and friends through video conferencing, which would provide them psychological support.

Though mobile phones are allowed in hospital wards, the missive was issued following some representation from the kin of patients alleging otherwise.

Director-General of Health Services (DGHS) in the Health Ministry Dr Rajiv Garg in the letter to the principal secretaries of health and medical education of states and Union territories said appropriate protocols for disinfecting devices and allotting timeslots can be developed by the hospital concerned to facilitate contact between patients and their family.

He underlined that administrative and medical teams should be responsive to the psychological needs of patients admitted in Covid-19 wards and ICUs of various hospitals.

"Social connection can calm down patients and also reinforce the psychological support given by the treating team. Please instruct all concerned that they should allow smartphones and tablet devices in patient areas so that the patient can video conference with their family and friends," stated the letter issued on July 29.

"Though mobile phones are allowed in the wards to enable a patient stay in touch with his or her family, we received representations from the patient families from some states stating mobile phones are not being allowed by hospital administrations because of which they were not being able to stay in contact with the patient," said Dr Garg.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
August 3,2020

New Delhi, Aug 3: Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh on Monday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should defer the foundation stone laying ceremony for Ram temple from August 5 as it will be an "inauspicious hour" for the event.

"I request Modi Ji again that the inauspicious occasion of August 5 (for foundation stone laying ceremony for Ram temple) should be deferred. The construction of Ram temple is to begin after hundreds of years of struggle and PM Modi should leave his stubbornness that may cause an obstruction in the process," Digvijaya tweeted (translated from Hindi).

The Congress leader went on to claim that several BJP leaders were falling sick due to COVID-19 as the result of ignoring the norms of Sanatan Dharma. "The results of ignoring the norms of Sanatan Dharma are - all priests of Ram temple tested positive for COVID-19, death of UP Minister Kamal Rani Varun due to corona, UP BJP chief tested COVID-19 positive, Home Minister Amit Shah tested positive for COVID-19, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan tested positive for COVID-19, Karnataka CM Yediyurappa tested positive for COVID-19," he added.

"Lord Ram is the epicentre of faith for crores of Hindus and the PM should not play with norms and traditions of Sanatan Dharma established across thousands of years," he added.

The Congress leader further questioned the urgency of holding the foundation stone laying event in times when COVID-19 spread is prevalent across the country.

"By laying the foundation stone for Ram temple at an inauspicious hour, how many people do you want to send to the hospital Modi Ji? Yogi Ji, please explain to Modi Ji. In your presence, why are the norms and traditions of Sanatan Dharma being broken? What is your compulsion that you are allowing this to happen?" he contended.

"One more question arises. A minister of the Uttar Pradesh government died due to coronavirus. Union Home Minister tested positive for COVID-19 and Uttar Pradesh BJP chief also tested positive. In these circumstances, whether Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and India's Prime Minister should not be quarantined? Is being quarantined only mandated for common people? Not for Prime Minister and Chief Ministers? The time limit for quarantine is 14 days," he added.

He further said that the entire cabinet should go into quarantine otherwise they will infect the residents of Ayodhya.

"These people's religion is 'Hindutva' and not 'Sanatan Dharma'. hence they have nothing to do with Sanatan Dharma's traditions. They have broken all the norms. Now, Modi Ji will issue the muhurta and he will only lay the foundation stone," he tweeted.

The Prime Minister is scheduled to lay the foundation stone of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on August 5.

The construction of Ram temple will begin after the ceremony to lay the foundation stone in which Chief Ministers of several states, Ministers from the Union Cabinet and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat are also likely to participate.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
August 6,2020

New Delhi, Aug 6 : With a single-day spike of 56,282 new COVID-19 cases and 904 deaths in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 tally reached 19,64,537 on Thursday.

With the increase of 904 deaths, the toll due to the disease now stands at 40,699 in the country, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

The COVID-19 count includes 5,95,501 active cases and 13,28,337 cured/discharged/migrated patients.

Meanwhile, as per the MoHFW, the percentage of discharged patients stands at 67.62, while the active cases are at 30.31 in the country as of today.

The deaths reported due to the infection are currently at a little above two per cent of the total confirmed cases in the country.

Maharashtra with 1,46,268 active cases and 3,05,521 cured and discharged patients continues to be the worst affected. The state has also reported 16,476 deaths due to the infection.

Tamil Nadu has 54,184 active cases while 2,14,815 patients have been discharged after treatment in the state. 4,461 deaths have been reported due to COVID-19 in the state.

Andhra Pradesh with 80,426 active cases is the third on the list. There are 1,04,354 cured and discharged patients and 1,681 deaths reported from the state.

The national capital's active cases tally once again crossed the 10-thousand mark with 175 new cases being reported. Delhi now has 10,072 active cases and 1,26,116 cured and discharged patients. 4,044 people have lost their lives due to the disease in the Union Territory so far.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
April 1,2020

Prayagraj,  April 1: Seven Indonesian nationals, one person from Kolkata and one from Kerala who had attended the event at Delhi's Nizamuddin Markaz have been put under quarantine, informed SP (City) Prayagraj, Brijesh Kumar Srivastava on Wednesday.

"Seven Indonesian nationals, one person from Kolkata and one from Kerala, were found at Abdullah mosque here. During the investigation, it was found that they had attended the Markaz gathering in Delhi. These people, along with 28 people who came in contact with them, have been quarantined." he said.

"A case has also been registered against them for not informing the police on reaching here," he added.

Earlier, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had said that the officials are not certain of the accurate number of people who participated in the event but it is being estimated that 1,500-1,700 people had assembled at the Markaz building.

The religious gathering was held at the Markaz building in Nizamuddin between March 13 and March 15.

The total number of active cases rose to 1466 in the country, while 132 people have been cured and discharged after receiving treatment, as of 9 am.

The number of deaths due to the infection also rose to 38, while one person has migrated.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.