The minister said the government will intimate the eligible people after confirmation from Serum Institute of India about the arrival of vaccines.

BENGALURU: Vaccination of people above 18 years of age, which was supposed to start from May 1, may be delayed as the vaccines have not yet arrived, Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said on Friday.

“We have made orders to Serum Institute in Pune for over one crore doses but the official news is that they are still not prepared to give it to us from tomorrow as scheduled,” the Minister told reporters here. He asked people who have enrolled themselves on the Cowin portal for inoculation to refrain from going to vaccination centres on May 1.

The minister said the government will intimate the eligible people after confirmation from Serum Institute of India about the arrival of vaccines. “We have already paid Rs 400 crore to purchase one crore doses of Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India in Pune,” the Minister said.

According to him, the Serum Institute has the capacity to produce five to six crore doses in a month while the Hyderabad based Bharat Biotech can produce one to 1.5 crore doses. Russia’s Sputnik has given licence to Dr Reddy’s Laboratory to produce the vaccine but they have not informed the government officially when they will be able to supply it.

BENGALURU: In the most explosive increase that Karnataka has witnessed throughout the pandemic, a whopping 39,047 fresh cases were added to the state’s Covid-19 tally on Wednesday. This massive addition has pushed the state to No. 2 position behind Maharashtra, which leads the pack with 6,73,481 active cases, and overtaking Uttar Pradesh.

Although the 11,883 single-day discharges recorded on Wednesday is the highest in the second wave, the first wave of the pandemic had seen better figures with 13,550 discharged on October 22 and 12,030 discharged on October 12 last year. The total number of patients discharged from March 2020, when the pandemic broke out in Karnataka, until now, stands at 10,95,883, up from 10,84,050 on Tuesday. 

BACK in October last year, the state’s recovery rate was 86.85%, and although it increased to a high of 98.05% by January 30 this year, the intense second wave has dragged it down to 76.11 per cent now. Bengaluru Urban district also recorded the single-day highest with 22,596 new cases. Out of the 229 deaths, 137 deaths were from Bengaluru Urban alone.

The total positive cases in the the city is 7,10,347. Bengaluru has reported 6,139 Covid deaths and tops among cities in the country with the highest active cases at 2,24,152. The number of patients discharged in the city for the day was 4,530 and total discharged stands at 4,80,055, up from 4,75,525 on Tuesday.

Apart from Bengaluru, the other districts with high number of cases are Mysuru (1,759) Kolar (1,194), Tumakuru (1,174), Ballari (1,106) and Hassan (1,001). Mysuru recorded 11 deaths and stands second among districts after Bengaluru Urban, with the death toll at 1,180.

Pramesh Jain

In its first of its kind in the history of the Bengaluru City Police,DCP East,Dr SD Sharanappa who is a special executive magistrate has Externed a 30-year-old habitual offender from the city for a period of one year due to his unabated criminal activities.

The accused a history sheeter has been identified as,Karthik alias Rahul,30,a resident of Gautampura in Halasuru having over 11 criminal cases pending against him,was posing a threat to the society and creating fear psychosis among the people .

DCP East,Dr SD Sharanappa told reporters,the accused Karthik alias Rahul is a history-sheeter at Halasuru police station, he had 11 cases against him.

Karthik was involved in crimes such as rape, robbery,attempt to murder,extortion,criminal intimidation,attack on government employees, and other offences, throughout the period of the last 10-11 years.He had no fear of the law and continued committing crimes that were detrimental to society.

The Halasuru police inspector who kept a close watch on his criminal activities in the area has  submitted a detailed report about his activities to the ACP and DCP seeking externment .

Considering the request, Dr SD Sharanappa , ordered the police to extern Karthik out of the city for one year and ensure necessary measures that he should not violate the order.

DCP (East) Sharanappa SD, who is also a Special Executive Magistrate,ordered for the externment of Karthik from the jurisdiction of Bengaluru City Police Commissionerate for a period of one year, from April 26, 2021,to April 26, 2022.He has been sent to Bengaluru Rural district,and will not be allowed to enter Bengaluru City during this period he added.

Finally Bengaluru Police Commissioner,Kamal Pant,Addl CP East,S Murugan,has appreciated DCP East,Dr SD Sharanappa,ACP,D kumar,PI, Shivaprasad G for the excellent investigation and based on the information gathered the history sheeter has been banished from city to keep the society safe and a suitable reward will be given to the team he added.

BENGALURU: With demand shooting up for Remdesivir following the alarming rise in COVID-19 cases in the state, Karnataka is contemplating importing two lakh vials of the anti-viral drug.

The state is getting 10,000 to 20,000 vials of Remdesivir on a daily basis and the Centre has allocated additional 25,000 vials, Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar told reporters here.

The minister said he has spoken to Biocon executive chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw to supply 10,000 vials in 10 days and another 50,000-60,000 vials within a month.

“We are trying to directly procure two lakh vials from abroad. We are seeking Centre’s approval for this,” the minister said.

Further, the state is increasing steps to increase the availability of ventilators by 10 times, Sudhakar said.

“In 15 days, at least 2,000 makeshift ICU beds will be ready. 800 of them will have ventilators.”

In Victoria hospital campus 250 ICU beds will be set up and in another new building, 150-200 ICU beds will be arranged and 100 of them will have ventilators, the minister said.

He added that makeshift hospitals will also be set up at Bowring, RGICD and NIMHANS hospitals.

KOLAR: Karnataka health minister Dr. K Sudhakar has ordered the suspension of SNR Hospital district surgeon Dr. SG Narayanaswamy and resident medical officer (RMO) Dr. Narayanaswamy after four patients allegedly died due to lack of oxygen in the district hospital.

After noticing that some of the ventilators were defunct, a visibly upset minister placed the district surgeon and RMO under suspension.

Dr. Sudhakar also heard the grievances from the patient attendants when a woman fell on his feet to request shifting of his relative to ventilator support. He took all the details including the bed facilities, infrastructure on the spot while holding discussions with the district Deputy Commissioner Dr.Selvamani and Superintendent of Police Karthick Reddy and doctors.

The minister also told the district administration to contact him at any time if any issues regarding lack of oxygen or supply of the medicines emerge. He also directed the district administration to take over more private hospitals to treat Covid patients.

BENGALURU: With the exponential rise in Covid-19 cases during the second wave of the pandemic, the state is also witnessing an increase in the number of deaths. As of Tuesday’s figures, Karnataka was at third spot in the country in terms of the high number of deaths, after Maharashtra and Delhi.

Dr Anoop Amarnath, Head, Scientific Board and Chairman-Geriatric Medicine, at Manipal Hospital, who is also a member of Critical Care Support Team, said, “Late presentation and late referrals to the tertiary centres are the main reasons for the high number of deaths. The characteristics of a pandemic are that with a surge in cases, the positivity rate increases and thereby mortality as well.”

He pointed out that the need of the hour is to carry out very objective triaging. “Hospitals need to see who can be managed at home and who needs hospitalisation. If this is done right, then we can save many patients. 

A scientific way of triaging needs to be carried out where RT-PCR test is done followed by checking the clinical characteristics of patients for symptoms, saturation levels and biochemical makers. If it is high, then admission is needed at the earliest. This apart, HRCT needs to be done to check the CT score. If all this is prioritised, we can have better outcomes, he suggested.”

Though Karnataka’s Case Fatality Rate has not been on the higher side, in comparison to the other states, the experts foresee it going up in the next few months if proper initiatives are not taken immediately. Currently, Karnataka’s CFR is 1.1 per cent. Punjab has the highest CFR at 2.5 per cent , followed by Maharashtra (1.5 per cent), Delhi and West Bengal (1.4 per cent), Gujarat (1.3 per cent) and Tamil Nadu (1.2 per cent).

Dr Pradeep Rangappa, Intensivist, Columbia Asia Hospital, Bengaluru, and member of the State-Level Committee for Covid-19, said, “If the situation remains the same, the CFR is bound to climb up. We need to segregate the CFR of the first and second waves to get the figures of the current scenario, wherein the fatality rate is quite bad.”

PRAMESH S JAIN 

The Jigani police have arrested A 33-year-old doctor and receptionist of the private hospital was caught red handed by Jigani police while trying to sell Remdesivir injection for Rs 15,000 in black .

The accused has been identified as Dr.Farman Ali,resident of Austin town and joined the,Ace Suhas hospital in Jigani,two months ago.The other accused is Rakshith V Salian,working as  receptionist for the last three months.

Need of the hour in Bengaluru now is to have one dedicated and resourceful helpline to guide patients to hospitals or find alternatives at the earliest. People are just left scrambling between hospital numbers,NGOs,influence social media and other means to find a bed said by senior journalist.

Senior officer told reporters,our Anekal Sub-Division, DYSP,H Mahadevappa received information about illegally hoarding and selling life saving drug Remdesivir injection vials in black.

Based on a tip off that the hospital is involved in selling injections in black a team of police led by Inspector Goutham J,approached the hospital as prospective customers and caught the accused red handed while they were trying to sell the life saving drug Remdesivir injection in black rate.

During search the police team have also seized two bottles of injections vials which the accused have availed from government quota.

During investigation the accused confessed the crime that they have availed the injection vials in government quota and has violated law as people are dieing because of shortage of Remdesivir injection vials and this people to make ease money are playing with the life of patients and charging exhobirant price.

Meanwhile a family lost their father who was admitted in private hospital after he was infected with Covid19 and was undergoing treatment as today in the morning the doctors asked the family members to arrange for a life saving drug Remdesivir injection vials emergencily.

The family members contacted the drug control control room for the Remdesivir injection vials as prescribed by the doctors and the control room took a note and said we have noted the requirement and once it is available we will send.

But it is alleged that the relatives tried across city to all the corners nearly 100 pharmas and requested many officers for life saving drug for their father as the Remdesivir injection vials dint reach in time later by evening the patient succumbed to Covid because of life saving drug Remdesivir injection was not available in time.

The family leaves in north Bengaluru and the victim who died due to Covid! is survived by his wife and three children’s in Bengaluru.

But here this some people of pharmacy and doctors medical distributors and hospital management are playing with the lives of people who are struggling to get Remdesivir injection vials for the family members and here this people are taking advantage of the pandemic situation and are illegally hoarding the vials and selling it into higher price to make quick buck and become rich are now cooling their heels in jail.

The Jigani police have also seized two bottles of the injections from the hospital and also booked  Dr Jagadish Hiremath,head of the hospital a case has been registered in Jigani police station charging the trio under various sections of the Drug Control Act and also under cheating and further investigation is on.

Finally,IGP Central Range,Chandrashekhar,has appreciated, Bengaluru Rural SP,Ravi D Chennanavar,Addl SP,Lakshmi Ganesh,DYSP, Anekal Sub-Division,Dr.HM Mahadevappa,PI,Gautham J,PSIs,Govinda BT,Shivalinganaik,and crime staff as,Srinivas,Mahesh,Sharieff Sab,Kottesh,and other has been appreciated for the commendable and exemplary work done by them a suitable reward will be given to the team he added.

PRAMESH S JAIN

Two Alert RPF personnel rescued a 39 year old passenger in the nick of time while his leg stuck between the moving train and the platform while he was trying to deboard the train Yelahanka station from a moving train on Saturday morning.

Debashmita Chattopadhyay Banerjee,Senior Divisional Security Commissioner of Railway Protection Force,South Western Railway immediately rushed to the spot as soon as she received the information to take stock of the situation.

After inspecting the spot and collecting details, Debashmita Chattopadhyay Banerjee told reporters,Our two brave RPF personnel identified who risked their life and saved a passenger life are,Madhav singh and his colleague Ashish Kumar who were on rounds on platform no.3.When they noticed a passenger struggling with crushed leg next to moving train at around 6.30 am.

They immediately rushed to rescue the passenger later identified as M.Gurjeeth Singh aged resident of  Barnala dist,Pnajab- travelling in coach no.D1 had come to meet his friends.He forgot to get down after reaching Yelahanka but realized his stop wheh the train started to move.

While hurrying to get down,he lost control and fell down between the gap of the platform and train and his right foot got crushed.

They rushed to the spot and pulled out Gurjeeth to safety before rushing him to Yelahanka General hospital.

They provided first aid to stop the bleeding from the foot with available materials and picked him up and took him to General hospital,Yelahanka where he has been treated for stopping the severe blood loss and after that he was shifted to Victoria Hospital for further treatment .

The officials informed his family members and the friends whom he supposed to meet them for the bravery and life saving act by our unsung heroes with their pro-active alertness on duty today saved a passengers life they risked their life and did a exemplary job.

I appreciate the exemplary work done by two RPF personnel,Madhav Singh and Ashish Kumar for the commendable job done by them and a reward will be given to both for their excellent job done in saving life of passengers risking their own lives.

The incident was intimated to their family members who expressed their gratefulness for the timely action by RPF in saving the life.South Western Railway requests the passengers not to board or deboard a moving train,which may endanger the precious life,said by RPF,Senior Divisional Security Commissioner,Debashmita Chattopadhyay Banerjee.

Meanwhile recently,At Vangani station of Central Railway, Pointsman,Mr.Mayur Shelkhe saved the life of a child just in the nick of the time. He risked his life to save the life of the child.We salute his exemplary courage and utmost devotion to the duty tweeted by,Railway Minister, Piyush Goyal.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal also lauded the man for his valor act.

“Very proud of Mayur Shelke,Railwayman from the Vangani Railway Station in Mumbai who has done an exceptionally courageous act, risked his own life and saved a child’s life,” Piyush Goyal wrote.

Meanwhile, the clip has gone viral on Twitter and has garnered over 1.47 lakh views and over 15k comments.

Pramesh Jain

The Central Bureau of Investigation officials on Tuesday filed a supplementary charge sheet against Roshan Baig,Former Minister of Karnataka,his firm and Mohammed Mansoor Khan,CEO and MD of IMA along with the other Directors,in CBI court,related to the ongoing investigation in IMA scam.   

Name of the accused in the chargesheet are, Roshan Baig,Former Minister of Karnataka,his firm M/s Danish Publications,and others including,Mohammed Mansoor Khan,CEO & MD of,IMA,Bangalore,and other Directors of IMA are,Nizamuddin.A,Naveed Ahmed,Vaseem,M/s IMA Pvt Ltd M/s Daanish Publications,are named in the chargesheet.

It was alleged that Mr.Baig had received several crores of rupees from IMA funds for election expenditure.

It was further alleged that the accused was also utilising the said funds for daily expenditure including salaries of employees of his firm identified as Danish Publications.

 It was also alleged that the Mr.Baig spent the funds for various social and cultural activities in his Constituency to increase his popularity.

 The funds of IMA were allegedly unauthorised deposits raised from innocent public to the tune of Rs 4000 crore (approx) from around one lakh investors.

It has been alleged that money was diverted to the former Minister so that the accused firm could continue it’s illegal activities. 

It may be recalled that CBI had registered 04 cases in the said scam and earlier filed 03 charge sheets and Three more supplementary charge sheets against 33 accused including MD and  CEO and its directors of IMA,several private persons,Revenue and Police officials.

 It was alleged that the said Group had raised unauthorised deposits and cheated the public by failing to repay the principal and as well as the promised returns.

These funds were allegedly diverted for acquiring properties,paying bribe amounts to the official who are later charged in the case.

Several properties including moveable and immovable were identified and attached under KPIDFE (Karnataka Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments)Act,2004 by the Competent Authority.Further Investigation is continuing.

The public is reminded that the above findings are based on the investigation done by CBI and evidence collected by it.

Under the Indian Law,the accused are presumed to be innocent till their guilt is finally established after a fair trial,press release from the CBI,said.