Karnataka to soon have health register for all its citizens

Health

The project will be piloted first in Chikkaballapura and Dakshina Kannada districts.

PTI

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The Karnataka government on Wednesday said it would soon launch a project to maintain the health database of all its citizens by having a "State Health Register." A first of its kind initiative, the State Health Register will be a robust and standardised health repository of all the citizens, an official release said. This project will be implemented first in Chikkaballapura and Dakshina Kannada districts on an experimental basis. https://twitter.com/mla_sudhakar/status/1265622824363782144?s=20 "The COVID-19 experience has demonstrated the necessity of having a robust, real-time public health data and therefore, there is a need to maintain a repository of health data of each and every citizen," Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar was quoted as saying in the release. The government would undertake a survey of all 6.5 crore people in the state using a team of Primary Health Centre officials, revenue officials, education department staff and ASHA (Accredited Social Heath Activist) karyakartas, he said. They will visit each household and collect health data of all members of the family, he said, adding that this would not only help the government provide better healthcare, but also help in efficient resource allocation, management and better implementation of various citizen centric schemes in the state. Stating that the government's vision is to provide world class healthcare to all citizens, for which accurate data is needed, Sudhakar said the health register is a futuristic project which has been taken up in the interests of the people. The project will include 50% partnership of private hospitals. "The data collected will help us to prioritise healthcare based on geography, demography and other targeted measures," he said. Sudhakar said that Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has extended support for the project and added that detailed discussions would be held in this regard in the upcoming cabinet meeting.

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Karnataka considers opening up malls and hotels, awaits Centre’s nod

Lockdown

The Bruhat Bangalore Hotels Association and the Shopping Centre Association met Chief Minister Yediyurappa on Tuesday seeking permission for dine-in service at hotels and the opening of malls.

TNM Staff

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After over two months of lockdown, the Karnataka government is considering opening up hotels and malls to the public, subject to the Centre’s approval. Quoting Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, Times of India reported that he had written to the Centre seeking their approval to open malls, restaurants and hotels. He said the state is awaiting the Centre’s nod. Deccan Herald quoted a source close to the Chief Minister stating that Karnataka may relax rules after the Centre’s guidelines come in. The Bruhat Bangalore Hotels Association and the Shopping Centre Association had on Tuesday met the Chief Minister and sought for permission to allow dine-in service at hotels and for malls to reopen. Yediyurappa had on Wednesday said that temples, churches, mosques and other places of worship would open from June 1. "We are waiting for guidelines from the Central government but we have to live with the coronavirus and we want to open temples, mosques and churches in the state from June 1," said the CM. He added that temples will be opened to offer pooja and daily rituals and not for the conduct of temple fairs and events. Karnataka reported 135 new cases of coronavirus in the state, and 3 new deaths, on Wednesday. The overall reported cases in the state is 2418. Most of the new cases are returnees from other states and abroad. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address the nation on May 31, the last day of lockdown 4.0. There is speculation of another extension of the lockdown, which came into effect on March 25.

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K’taka to name flyover in Bengaluru after Veer Savarkar, opposition questions move

Controversy

Former Chief Ministers Siddaramaiah and HD Kumaraswamy and other opposition leaders have called the move an “insult” to freedom fighters from Karnataka's soil.

TNM Staff

PTI

The Congress and JD(S) in Karnataka have opposed the Karnataka government’s move to name a flyover in Bengaluru after Hindutva ideologue Veer Savarkar and termed it as an “insult” to freedom fighters of the state. The 400-metre long flyover was built on Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan Road in Yelahanka in the city and is scheduled to be inaugurated by Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Thursday, which happens to be Savarkar's birthday. The inauguration will be limited to few people due to restrictions over the locdown in effect in the country.  Leader of Opposition and Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah termed the move to name the flyover after Savarkar as an “insult” to freedom fighters from Karnataka's soil and urged Yediyurappa to drop it and instead name it after a freedom fighter from the state. In a tweet, he said, "The hasty decision to name Yelahanka flyover after Savarkar is an evidence to say that the administration is not run by an elected government, but by those behind the screen.Chief Minister are you seeking opposition cooperation for such anti-people decisions?(sic)” Another former Chief Minister and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy said the decision was an insult to those who fought for the prosperity of the state and it was not right on the part of the government to do so. "There are several eminent personalities who fought for the development and welfare of the state both before and after independence, flyover could have been named after them. Have other states named things after freedom fighters from the state? I urge the state government on behalf of the people to step back from the decision," he tweeted. According to sources, the decision to name the flyover at Yelahanka after Veer Savarkar was taken at the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (city civic body) council meeting on February 29 and the formalities have been completed.  Defending the move, Yelahanka MLA S R Vishwanath, who is also the political secretary to Chief Minister said, there was nothing wrong in naming the flyover after a freedom fighter who was jailed and suffered punishment at Kala Pani (erstwhile Andaman jail) punishment for the sake of the country. Although Savarkar's supporters cite his time in the Cellular Jail, his critics highlight the mercy petitions Savarkar wrote to the British in which he pledged loyalty to them.  Vishwanath termed the attempt to create controversy over naming the flyover after Savarkar as an insult to freedom fighters, adding that several projects and bridges in his constituency have been named after eminent personalities of the state and the county and this was one such move. Rejecting his contention, Congress said that the naming of the bridge after Savarkar was taken despite opposition, and questioned Savarkar's contribution to Karnataka and Bengaluru. The Congress and other opposition parties had earlier vehemently opposed the move to confer Bharat Ratna on Savarkar, posthumously. While the BJP counts on his contribution to India's freedom movement and calls him a “great patriot,” the Congress and other opposition parties have long shunned him for his alleged link to Mahatma Gandhi's assassin. (With PTI inputs)

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Karnataka nurse gets COVID-19, officials say he may not have worn PPE properly

Coronavirus

So far, 15 of his primary contacts have been quarantined and their swab samples have been collected.

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After a 35-year-old male nurse employed at Karnataka’s Ballari district government hospital tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Monday, the district administration is trying to find out how a person, who was wearing personal protection equipment (PPE), got infected.  Ballari Deputy Commissioner Nakul told TNM that the nurse was wearing PPE as he was monitoring patients who were coming in to give swab samples. He was also deployed as the staff at the isolation wards where patients with COVID-19 were housed.  “Ideally there is a zero per cent chance of getting infected if the person is wearing a PPE. The nurse was also wearing it. We are looking for two possibilities. He either did not wear the PPE as per protocol or he may have come into contact with someone outside the hospital, who could have been infected. So we are trying to find out how he got it,” he said. So far, 15 of his primary contacts have been quarantined and their swab samples have been collected.  The nurse tested positive after a routine round of tests done for medical staff. Of the 15 staff who were tested, 14 results came back negative except for that of the 35-year-old nurse.  This is not the first instance of a medical staff contracting the virus despite wearing protective gear. On May 13, a 37-year-old nurse who was aiding patients with COVID-19 at Bengaluru’s Victoria Hospital tested positive for the Sars-Cov-2.  Her swab samples were also collected as part of the protocol, where doctors and nurses have to take the test after a 14-day quarantine on completing their COVID-19 duty. This testing is done on the 13th day of the quarantine period, after which they are allowed to go home, as TNM had earlier reported. In this case, too, all of the nurse’s colleagues on duty with her had tested negative. The health department had also said that the woman could have got it from her husband, who is a primary contact of a COVID-19 patient. However, health officials have not yet traced the source of infection in her case. 

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