Happy ending to Ullal missing boy story

Bengaluru, Jul 24: A government doctor who was turned away by three private hospitals because he could not produce a coronavirus test result passed away today in Bengaluru. Dr Manjunath, who was a frontline COVID-19 doctor, was allegedly turned away by hospitals when he was extremely ill and struggling to breathe.

Dr Manjunath worked in the state Health and Family Welfare department and was based in Ramanagara district, around 50 km from Bengaluru.

D Randeep, a Special Officer with the Bengaluru municipal body BBMP, said that the hospitals that had refused to admit Dr Manjunath would be reported to the health department.

In June-end, Dr Manjunath went to Rajashekhar Hospital in JP Nagar, BGS Global Hospital in Kengeri and Sagar hospital in Kumaraswamy Layout. All three demanded to see his COVID-19 test result but those were still not in at the time, according to his family. His brother-in-law Nagendra is also a doctor with BBMP and in charge of allotting hospital beds, yet he was completely helpless when it came to his own relative.

He was finally admitted to Sagar hospital on June 25 when his family sat in protest on the footpath outside the Dayananda Sagar campus. He was placed on ventilator and later shifted to the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, where he died earlier today. The hospital says Dr Manjunath was discharged on July 9 because he wanted plasma therapy.

Six members of his family, including a 14-year-old, tested COVID-19 positive. Most of them have recovered.

Bengaluru has seen several cases of patients being turned away from hospitals in the city. Hospitals say they need Covid test results to know whether to admit patients in the coronavirus ICU or in the general section and to understand treatment protocol.

Mr Randeep said hospitals have been instructed to admit patients even without such a certificate. Notices have been sent to hospitals that fail to comply. The OPD of two private hospitals was sealed for 48 hours when they refused to admit a patient.

Bengaluru, Apr 24: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Thursday held a meeting with state officials to address the situation in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.

Due to COVID-19, the prices of the crops have come down. It was instructed to buy those vegetables and keep them in cold storage and then sell. It was also instructed to export fruits, vegetables which cannot be kept for a long time to other states and countries.

Wherever there is a scarcity of drinking water, it was decided to supply water immediately.
Chief Minister Yediyurappa had earlier spoken to Union Minister Sadananda Gowda and took information regarding fertilisers.

As fertilisers' demand is less in the international market, the Union minister for fertilisers said that farmers will be given fertilisers at less than the actual price.

As some of the associations/guilds have violated the lease conditions by not starting the actual work which they have got the land for in Bengaluru, they have been instructed to return the land to the government where the lease conditions have been violated.

As far as the irrigation department is concerned, much water is stored in dams. It was decided to utilise the same for the cultivation of crops and for the purpose of drinking.

As far as the education department is concerned, it was instructed to give online training to students.

With the help of state television channel Doordarshan, it has been decided to teach students about the syllabus and other activities till the reopening of school.

The KSRTC has lost hundreds of crore due to the reduction in bus services due to COVID-19. So, they were instructed to use buses to transport goods to generate revenue.

The government also decided that salary for the doctors, who are working on a contract basis against COVID-19, will be increased significantly.

Mangaluru, May 25: D V Sadananda Gowda, Union Minister for Chemical and Fertilizer, has once again written to the Ministry of External Affairs urging to take steps to operate more repatriation flights from Gulf countries to Karnataka. 

In his second letter in 10 days addressed to Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Union Minister for External Affairs, expressed regret over not giving due priority for the repatriation of Kannadigas in the middle east during the extended second phase of Vande Bharat Mission. 

"I shall be grateful if you could personally intervene and instuct the concerned in arranging flights to Mangaluru and Bengaluru from Gulf countries in existing schedule itself," Mr Gowda urged Mr Jayashankar.