Vaidya Prashant Tiwari Sent Defamation Notice To Ima

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Hospital withdraws notice against use of Malayalam after outrage

New Delhi, June 6 (IANS) Delhi's Govind Ballabh Pant Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research (GIPMER) has withdrawn its order released a day ago directing all nursing staff to use only Hindi and English language for communication at the premises of the healthcare facility.The hospital administration said that the circular was issued without their information after the controversy erupted over its specific notice that mentioned "serious actions" to be taken against anyone found speaking in other languages.The GIPMER's action came after Delhi Health department also issued a memo to it earlier in connection with its recent notice directing nursing staff to communicate only in Hindi or English.The circular was issued on Saturday by the nursing superintendent of the hospital who had said that GIPMER had received a complaint against the use of the Malayalam language. "A complaint has been received regarding Malayalam language is being used for communication in working places in GIPMER. Whereas maximum patients and colleagues do not know this language and feel helpless causing a lot of inconvenience," the circular read."So, it is directed to all nursing personnel to use only Hindi and English for communication otherwise serious action will be taken," it added.Soon after the GIPMER issued the circular, Rajya Sabha MP and Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal requested Union Health Minister through a letter for immediate withdrawal of the order."I urge to Hon'ble health Minister @drharshvardhan to order an immediate withdrawal of the bizarre & unconstitutional circular issued by the authorities of GIPMER," Venugopal tweeted."Nurses from Kerala are sincerely discharging their duties across the world and taking care of the patients. Naturally, nurses belonging to the same region would speak the language among themselves as it is their mother tongue. it is illogical to assume that they would speak in their mother tongue to a person who can't speak that language. The circular is, undoubtedly, highly discriminatory and denying the basic fundamental right guaranteed by our constitution," the Congress leader said in the letter.Congress Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor also criticised the circular, saying it is violation of the basic human rights of Indian citizens."It boggles the mind that in democratic India a government institution can tell its nurses not to speak in their mother tongue to others who understand them. This is unacceptable, crude, offensive and a violation of the basic human rights of Indian citizens. A reprimand is overdue!," Tharoor tweeted.While Rahul Gandhi said, "Malayalam is as Indian as any other Indian language. Stop language discrimination!" --IANS rak/skp/
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646 doctors succumbed to Covid during 2nd wave: IMA

New Delhi, June 5 (IANS) As many as 646 doctors lost their lives in the fight against Covid-19 during the second wave of the pandemic, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) said on Saturday.Delhi reported the maximum number of fatalities among doctors at 109, followed by Bihar (97), Uttar Pradesh (79), Rajasthan (43), Jharkhand (39), Gujarat (37), Andhra Pradesh (35), Telangana (34), Tamil Nadu (32), West Bengal (30), and Maharashtra and Odisha (23 each).A total of 16 doctors lost their lives in Madhya Pradesh during the second wave, followed by nine in Karnataka, eight in Assam, five each in Chhattisgarh, Manipur and Kerala, three each in Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Punjab, two each in Tripura, Uttarakhand and Goa, one in Pondicherry and one at an unknown place.During the first wave of the pandemic last year, a total of 748 doctors had fallen prey to the deadly virus, the IMA added.India has been struggling with a massive surge in coronavirus cases for the past few months. While the daily count of cases has reduced, the number of deaths continues to be high.India reported 1,20,529 fresh coronavirus cases on Saturday, the lowest single-day spike in around two months, taking its overall tally to 2,86,94,879, as per the Health Ministry data.With the addition of 3,380 fatalities in the last 24 hours, India's Covid death toll till date stands at 3,44,082.The active caseload has reduced to 15,55,248, which comprises 5.73 per cent of the total infections, while the national recovery rate has improved to 93.08 per cent, the data showed.--IANSrak/arm
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624 doctors died in 2nd

New Delhi, June 3 (IANS) At least 624 doctors died in the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic across the country, with the national capital losing the most. According to the latest report of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), so far 109 doctors have lost their lives in Delhi alone in the second wave.The IMA's latest data revealed that a total of 1,362 doctors have died so far since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. In the first wave as many as 748 doctors lost their lives.Delhi is followed by Bihar where most doctors' deaths have been recorded. A total of 96 doctors have lost their lives in Bihar, while Uttar Pradesh lost 79, Rajasthan 43, Jharkhand 39 and Andhra Pradesh 34.However, there are some states where less number of deaths were recorded, including Puducherry where one doctor died in the second wave, while Tripura lost 2, Uttarakhand 2, Goa 2, and Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab lost 3 doctors each. As per the IMA, those who died were aged mostly between 30 and 55 years, including resident doctors and doctors doing internship. Apart from this, some pregnant women doctors have also lost their lives, the IMA said. As the Covid cases rose in the second wave, doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers were hard pressed to cope with the pressure and several of them had to work overtime. --IANSmsk/skp/bg
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On Jaipur man's complaint, NHRC notice to TN on Covid bio waste

Jaipur, May 24 (IANS) On the complaint made by a Jaipur law student with regard to the Covid-19 biomedical waste lying scattered in garbage dumps near Redhills, Chennai, the National Human Rights Commission slapped a notice to the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary directing him to take appropriate action within 8 weeks.One Tapish Saraswat, a law student from Jaipur was quite upset to read the media reports of Covid biomedical waste including the PPE suits, test kits and syringes lying open in garbage dumps in Chennai and hence wrote to National Human Rights Commission alleging serious negligence on the part of the concerned authorities. In his complaint, Saraswat said, "The biomedical waste generated during treatment and diagnosis of Covid-19 patients is required to be treated and disposed off in a scientific manner and in line with provisions under Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016. The second wave of the pandemic is serious to mankind. A large number of Covid patients are detected every day and a massive amount of medical waste is generated. PPE suits, Covid test kits and syringes are seen in open garbage dumps near Redhills, Chennai, Tamil Nadu (As Reported in media)."This is a serious negligence on the part of the concerned department as it not only spreads the virus but is also a threat to the environment. The average generation of Covid-19 related biomedical waste in the country shot up from 75 tonnes per day in March to 203 tonnes per day in May following the spike in cases, according to estimates by the Central Pollution Control Board. The average monthly generation increased to 139 tonnes per day in April from 75 tonnes in March. As on May 10, the corresponding figure was 203 tonnes per day.""Peak generation of about 250 tonnes per day was reported on May 10. The earlier peak in the year 2020 was in the range of 180 to 220 tonnes per day," as per the estimates by the Central Pollution Control Board, he said, adding, "Despite a spike in the number of patients, there was no proportional growth in the quantity of Covid related biomedical waste generated owing to the proper segregation of waste," said Saraswat.Acting on his complaint, NHRC directed the chief secretary of Tamil Nadu to take appropriate action within 8 weeks, associating the complainant/victim and to inform him/her of the action taken in the matter.--IANS arc/skp/
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Ramdev deserves to be prosecuted for trashing modern medicine: IMA

New Delhi, May 22 (IANS) In a stinging attack on Ramdev, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has alleged that the yoga guru is creating a false sense of fear and frustration in the public at large so that he can sell his 'illegal' and 'unapproved' so-called medicines and make money at the cost of the people."IMA brings to the notice of our Health Minister, a video circulating in social media portraying the celebrated Yoga guruji addressing 'ALLOPATHY EK AISI STUPID AUR DIWALIYA SCIENCE HAI'. In the past too, he had uttered modern medical doctors as murderers in the presence of the Health Minister himself on the pretext of the release of his wonder drugs," the IMA said in a statement. "However, it is a well-known fact that the said yoga guruji and his associate Balkrishna Ji have been taking modern medical allopathy treatment as and when they get into illness. Now to mislead the public at large, he is making all false and baseless acquisitions so that he can sell his illegal and unapproved drugs," IMA said. "In this address, he has further claimed that Remdesivir, Faviflu and all other approved drugs by the DCGI have failed, and stated that 'LAKHO LOGO KI MAUT ALLOPHATHY KI DAWAI KHANE SE HUI HAI', challenging the wisdom and integrity of DCGI and the head of all these, our Health Minister," the statement said. Remdesivir and Faviflu have been approved by the Central Drug Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) and were notified for use for Covid patients by the Central government in June-July, 2020. The said notification was made by the Central government u/s 2A of the Epidemic Decease Act, 1897. "Therefore, u/s 3 of the Epidemic Decease Act read with Section 188 of IPC, Ramdev deserves to be prosecuted for disobeying and causing danger to the lives of many by making them believe not to take the advice of allopathy drugs. His quote about Favipiravir as medicine against fever/antipyretic is laughable and childish, and demonstrates his in-depth scientific knowledge," IMA added. "Besides being an internationally adorned yoga guru, he is a corporate giant of a pharmaceutical unit and has made several false acquisitions about his company products time and again to mislead the public. The controversies over Coronil and Swasari are well-known to all, and the criminal complaint in Muzaffarour court by social worker Tamanna Hashmi for misleading and putting to risk the lives of a large number of people is a proof to his misadventures," the statement added. --IANSsan/arm
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O2 concentrator case: Navneet Kalra

New Delhi, May 17 (IANS) A Delhi court on Monday sent businessman Navneet Kalra, who was arrested late on Sunday night, to three days' police custody in connection with oxygen concentrator hoarding case.Metropolitan Magistrate Archana Beniwal at the Saket district court passed the order after hearing the arguments of Delhi Police and Kalra's lawyers.The Delhi Police had sought a five-day custody of Kalra for interrogation in connection with alleged black-marketing and hoarding of oxygen concentrators. Advocate Vineet Malhotra, representing Kalra, had argued that Kalra's custody was not required, as the police have already had his phone and bills of sale of the oxygen concentrators.Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava, however, submitted that Additional Sessions Judge at the Saket Court had earlier held custodial interrogation of Kalra was required, and also the Delhi High Court did not entertain his plea seeking anticipatory bail. He also submitted that the whole society is looking at the investigating agency and the judiciary in this case.A Delhi High Court bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad had turned down Kalra's plea for anticipatory bail, remarking: "I'm persuaded by the trial court's order. Interim protection cannot be given at this stage."During the hearing before the magistrate, the Delhi Police said the details in connection with the system of procurement of the oxygen concentrators were yet to be unearthed. The police insisted that for this this purpose, it requires Kalra's custody.The magistrate noted that the court was of the view that Kalra's custodial interrogation was required for recovery of electronic devices used for the purpose of commission of alleged offences, to recover remaining oxygen concentrators, and to identify victims exploited by him.The court added that his interrogation is required for detailed investigation "regarding his involvement and connection with Matrix and Classic Metals, the manner of procurement of OCs, for detailed investigation of financial transactions from his firm as well as to identify the other co-accused/ associates involved in the present case".The court said the accused should be medically examined before production as per rule and be produced on May 20, before the duty metropolitan magistrate concerned.The south Delhi police arrested Kalra, who was absconding since May 7, from his brother-in-law's farmhouse in Gurugram late Sunday night and handed over him to the Crime Branch, which is probing the matter. On May 5, a case was registered against Kalra under sections 420 (cheating), 188 (disobedience to order promulgated by public servant), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code as also under the provisions of the Essential Commodities Act and the Epidemic Diseases Act. This followed seizure of 524 oxygen concentrators from three restaurants -- Khan Chacha, Nega Ju and Town Hall - owned by Kalra. The case was later transferred to the Delhi Police's Crime Branch. --IANSss/vd