Modi govt seeks report from Karnataka, other states to extend ban on SIMI

Puttur, June 19: A 32-year-old woman in Puttur taluk of Dakshina Kannada district died due to complications caused by dengue yesterday.

The deceased is Naseema (32), wife of Nazeer Master, a resident of Parpunja village in the taluk.

She was not well for past few weeks and she was diagnosed with dengue fever with chills a week ago.

Initially she underwent treatment at a hospital in Puttur. After her condition worsened, she was shifted to a private hospital in Deralakatte.

However, she breathed her last without responding to any treatment last night.

Naseema is the second victim of the mosquito-borne infection in Puttur taluk this month. Last week, dengue had claimed the life of a woman in Bettampady village in the same taluk.

Bengaluru, Jan 6: A delegation of Christians, led by Peter Machado, archbishop of Bengaluru, met chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Sunday and sought an amicable solution to the issue of installing a statue of Jesus Christ atop Kapalibetta in Harobele village, Kanakapura taluk.

Yediyurappa is learnt to have assured the delegation of doing the needful and said he would take a decision after the revenue department submits its report. The department is looking into various aspects of the issue, including the sanction of 10 acres of land for the purpose.

“The meeting was cordial and the chief minister lent us a patient hearing. Our only request was to settle the issue in a way that is acceptable to all sections of society,” Machado said. Congress functionary and Kanakapura legislator DK Shivakumar had laid the foundation stone for the 114-foot statue of Christ on Kapalibetta on Christmas Day at an event organised by the Harobele Kapalibetta Development Trust, which plans to install the statue.

The issue took a political hue when BJP functionaries objected, saying the land sanctioned to the trust is part of gomala (reserved for cattle grazing) land and any religious activity there would be illegal. Revenue minister R Ashoka sought a report and department officials said they would submit it in a week’s time.

Bengaluru, Jul 1: Eighteen private hospitals here have been slapped with a show-cause notice after a 52-year old patient with influenza-like illness symptoms died here on being allegedly denied admission by them citing "non- availability" of beds. 

Health Minister B Sriramulu on Wednesdy said refusal to provide treatment was not only inhuman but also illegal as he tagged a copy of the notice in a tweet. 

"Notice has been served to the hospitals taking cognisance of the (media) reports about the denial of admission to a patient in emergency. Denying medical assistance during emergency is not only inhuman but also illegal," he tweeted. According to a report, the son and nephew of the patient took him to the 18 hospitals on Saturday and Sunday but he was not admitted on the pretext of non-availability of beds or ventilators. 

The man died later. The Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare issued the show-cause notice to the top authorities of the hospitals under the Karnataka Private Medical Establishment (KPME) Act, 2007. 

"By denying admission to the patient, your hospitals have violated the provisions of the KPME Act. You are liable for legal action," the notice said, seeking replies within 24 hours as to why action should not be against the hospitals. 

This was a "clear violation" of providing medical assistance and admission necessitated under the agreed provision of the KPME registration. Private medical establishments cannot refuse or avoid treatment to patients suffering from COVID-19 or having symptoms, the common notice added. 

The incident comes in the backdop of repeated instructions by the government that hospitals cannot deny admission to the patients suffering from coronavirus or having symptoms.