RSS activist murder: Cops remain tight lipped over ‘arrest’ of suspects

Kasaragod, Apr 19: Kasaragod, Kerala's COVID-19 hotspot, is the only district in the southern state lacking adequate health infrastructure.

In spite of treating the highest number of COVID-19 patients in the state with meagre infrastructural facilities and even without the support of a medical college in the north Kerala district, no deaths have been reported due to coronavirus.

The state health department views the performance of M Kunhiraman and his team, consisting of Janardhana Naik and Krishna Naik, at the General hospital in Kasaragod as a success story.

"Not only did they control the situation quickly with minimum infrastructure, they also started turning out a large number of negative cases within a few weeks and creditably ensured zero mortality.

This can be showcased as a best global model," Chairman of the Information Education and Communication (IEC) Committee and Project Director Kerala State Aids Control Society, R Ramesh said.

Recalling the ordeal, Janardhana Naik said his first major challenge was the physical examination of a patient with suspected COVID-19.

"Even with the PPE kit, nobody knew how effective they were and it took a whole 30 minutes to wear them properly.

But as time passed, we got accustomed to it," he said.

The traditional method of dealing with a patient involved knowing his or her history, observation and physical examination.

For hundreds of years, the hands-on body approach has been the soul of the doctor-patient relationship -- taking the pulse, tapping on and listening to the chest, feeling lumps.

With the onset of COVID-19 all that has changed.

"In fact, the whole exercise was fraught with grave risks because everything connected with COVID-19 was new.

Doctors have to keep a distance even though the physical examination wearing a Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is difficult.

Sounds from the body are inaudible, vision is blurred through the smog-covered goggles and a stethoscope seldom has any use," Janardhana Naik said.

It was from March 15 that the hospital started receiving COVID-19 patients, primarily from Dubai.

By the time the first person came, the hospital was ready for him.

Soon, patient numbers began to swell and in a couple of weeks they reached about 91.

From then on, it was teamwork.

Committees were formed for each and every task, including the help desk, IT, treatment, medical board, training, food, waste disposal and data maintenance.

Initially, patients had many misgivings about the hospital.

"Some were disillusioned and even aggressive. Some were not happy with the facilities the hospital had to offer.

But gradually through good treatment and counselling by a psychiatrist, who visited the hospital on alternate days, the confidence and mood of the patients changed and they became friendly with the staff," Naik elaborated.

Counselling was also given to the concerned family members of the patients.

Besides treatment, the medical staff had to spend a considerable amount of time clearing the doubts of patients.

When they got discharged some patients insisted on seeing the faces of the medical staff, who till then were anonymous entities covered from head to toe.

Some even wanted to take selfies with them.

However, the medical team politely turned down their requests and preferred to remain hidden in their work attires.

The mood of the patients also rubbed off on the doctors and hospital staff.

All the physicians and hospital staff are now more confident of dealing with contagious diseases after treating COVID-19 patients.

"Our previous experience of treating H1N1, Chikungunya and Dengue cases helped us a lot.

Words of encouragement from the Health Minister K K Shailaja, Health Principal Secretary Dr Rajan N Khobragade and Health Services Director Dr Sarita R L gave us the impetus to build up confidence.

Moreover, the field health workers did a wonderful job in containing the viral spread," Naik added.

As the number of coronavirus cases rose, the state government on April 5 deputed a 26-member medical team from Thiruvananthapuram to set up a COVID-19 hospital in the district.

They turned a block of the under construction Government Medical College as a hospital-like facility, setting up a 200 bed facility to treat coronavirus patients.

Bengaluru, Jul 13: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has initiated the process of recruiting 1,700 medical professionals, doctors, staff nurses and support staff to scale up its workforce to set up 30,000 COVID-19 care beds, an official said on Sunday.

According to the official, to establish and run 30,000 COVID care beds, 1,800 doctors and 3,600 nurses are required. A 10,100-bed facility was set up last week in the Bengaluru International Exhibition centre (BIEC) on Tumkur road.

The Health Department has calculated that one doctor per shift is needed for every 100 patients and one staff nurse for every 50 patients. Similarly, two supporting staff and three Group D employees are needed per shift for every 100 patients. Generally, a day is divided into three shifts of eight hours each.

According to the director of medical education, there are 25,000 nursing students who have completed GNM and BSc Nursing courses and are pursuing higher education.

Likewise, there are 3,231 medical, dental and Aayush interns, while MD and MS postgraduate students have been identified to be 1,613 in Bengaluru colleges.

"The department plans to actively utilise the services of interns and postgraduate students for the COVID Care Centre (CCC) operations," said the official.

Currently, there are 2,100 CCC beds operational under the civic body in Bengaluru with a pool of 503 doctors, 167 ayush doctors, 128 nursing and paramedical staff.

Earlier in May, the civic body also notified the recruitment of 380 microbiologists, technicians and data entry operators for six months. In June, the civic body again notified the recruitment of 637 doctors, nurses, technicians and group d employees to strengthen its fight against the pandemic.

Bengaluru has recently seen a spike in COVID-19 in Karnataka, accounting for 61% of all active cases in the state.

On Saturday, the city reported 1,533 new cases, taking its total tally to 16,862, of which 12,793 are active.

Karnataka recorded 2,798 more coronavirus cases and 70 more casualties on Saturday evening, raising the state's total cases to 36,216 and the death toll to 613.

Bengaluru, Jun 5: An FIR has been filed against former journalist and human rights activist Aakar Anil Patel in Bengaluru here over his comments on social media under charges pertaining to provocation with intent to cause riots.

The FIR was registered under Section 117 (abetting commission of an offence by the public or by more than ten persons), 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), and 505-1-B (intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the JC Nagar police station.

According to the FIR filed on June 2, Patel had tweeted that protests like the ones in the US over George Floyd's death are needed in India by the marginalised communities.

Patel, former chief of Amnesty International India, had on May 31 posted from his Twitter account, which is not verified.

On May 25, Floyd died in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota, following which protests against police brutality and racism erupted in various cities in the United States. The protests were later replaced by incidents of violence across the country.

India also has witnessed several cases of mob lynchings and custodial deaths in recent years. In most cases victims belong to down trodden communities such as Muslims and Dalits.

Responding to the development, Amnesty International India has said that FIR against Patel is another example of how the right to dissent is being "increasingly" criminalised.

"The Bengaluru police must stop abusing its authority and put an end to the intimidation and harassment of Aakar Patel for exercising his constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of expression. People of this country have the right to agree or disagree with those in power, and to express these opinions in peaceful protests - without fear or unlawful interference," Amnesty International India Executive Director Avinash Kumar said.

He said that peacefully protesting against the government is not a crime and added that not agreeing with the policies of those in power does not make you a traitor.