Mangaluru: Private hospitals should give 50% beds to govt to fight COVID019: DK in-charge minister
Mangaluru: Dakshina Kannada District in-charge Minister, Kota Srinivas Poojary on Thursday added that all the private hospitals and medical colleges should reserve their 50% of bed capacity to the government to use for COVID-19 management.
He was speaking after visiting the city’s AJ Hospital and Srinivas Medical College on the request of Mangaluru North MLA Dr. Bharat Shetty on Thursday.
“Public healthcare is the priority of the government and the private hospitals should cooperate with the government to tackle the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the district. The state government intends to provide free treatment to COVID-19 patients under Ayushmann scheme” he said while adding that the COVID-19 patients admitted at private hospitals should be treated at prices fixed by the government.
He also added that the government will provide Rapid Antigen Kits to private hospitals that will allow them to do free COVID-19 testing and such testing is already being done at government hospitals. He further informed that the state government will supply 50 ventilators to the district.
Deputy Commissioner Dr. KV Rajendra directed hospitals to display information of COVID-19 treatment at the hospital, fee charges, and Ayushman scheme at the entrance of hospitals.
He also directed the medical colleges to conduct free COVID-19 testing per day using Rapid Antigen Kits.
Other officials of District Administration including DHO and Zilla Panchayath CEO were present during the meeting.
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MediaOne TV Facebook page restored after block linked to ‘government request’
Kochi: The official Facebook page of Malayalam news channel MediaOne TV has been restored after being blocked without prior notice, the broadcaster said on Wednesday.
The channel was quoted by Maktoob as saying that the restriction was lifted automatically, with Meta Platforms informing it that the action had been taken following a “government request” which has now expired or been reversed.
The development came shortly after the channel approached the Kerala High Court challenging the blocking of its page, terming it arbitrary and in violation of legal provisions and judicial precedents. The High Court had issued notice to Meta via email hours before the restriction was withdrawn.
In its petition, the channel said access to its Facebook page had been restricted for users in India without citing any specific content or alleged violation. It contended that while individual posts may be taken down under applicable a rule, blocking an entire page goes beyond the scope of such measures.
The incident followed an earlier action taken against the channel in 2022, when the Ministry of Information and transmitting prohibited it from transmitting. It cited national security concerns regarding the Ministry of Home Affairs' refusal of security clearance.
The Supreme Court of India in April 2023 set aside the ban, observing that national security claims cannot be made without substantive basis and that criticism of government policies does not render a media outlet anti-national.
