Mangaluru: Mangaluru Press Club and Dakshin Kannada Working Journalist Association, on Tuesday distributed health cards among its reporters at the Mangaluru Press Club office, here.
The health cards were distributed by President and Chancellor of NITTE (Deemed to be university) N. Vinay Hegde. The Mangaluru Press Club, came up with the scheme of distributing health cards, in association with the NITTE’s Justice KS Hegde Hospital, Mangaluru.
Under the scheme, the holders of the card will be eligible for a family health insurance scheme that will cover four members of a family, between the age of 3 months to 70 years.
A maximum coverage of Rs. 30,000/- will be offered which will be given in three installments. The in-patients can avail upto Rs. 9000/- per admission, while the consultations at the OPD will be free for the holders of the card.
The services and benefits of the card can be availed at NITTE’s Justice KS Hegde Hospital, at Deralakatte in Mangaluru.
Initially 97 cards will be distributed out of 246 reporters registered with Mangaluru press club. Off the 97 cards, those present during the event, were handed their respective healthcards.
Speaking at the event, Vinay Hegde, assured the officials of Press Club and working journalist association that the hospital will extend maximum support to the card holders from the press club while also adding that “The services covered under the card’s scheme will be made available easily, but in-case there is something we can do, that is not covered in the card, we will also try and arrange exceptions, looking at the seriousness of the case”.
Vinay Hegde further added “The media persons are the backbone of the democracy, and plays an important role in the development of any democracy. I take this as a pleasure, to serve media people. Them being healthy is very important for the health of our country”.
Hemanth Shetty, PRO of NITTE, also spoke at the event and explained the benefits of the card, while also urging the holders of the cards to effectively use it.
He added “We charge the BPL card holders a sum of Rs 150 and APL card holders Rs. 250 for the membership of the cards. When press club and working journalist association approached us with the proposal, we immediately approved their request and also told them that we will give these cards for free. It has cost us over Rs 24,000/- which has been credited from our charitable foundation”.
Officials of Mangaluru Press Club and Dakshin Kannada Working Journalist Association, thanked Vinay Hegde and Hemanth Shetty for their constant support throughout the project. Vinay Hegde was also felicitated by Press club towards the conclusion of the event to acknowledge his contributions in the field of education in Dakshina Kannada.
Mangaluru Press Club President, Anu Mangaluru, Working Journalist Association Dakshina Kannada, President Shrinivas Indaje, General Secretary Ibrahim Adkasthala and Patrika Bhava Trust President Anand Shetty were present on diaz during the event.



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Ranipet (Tamil Nadu) (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was being "controlled" by US President Donald Trump and that the PM wanted the AIADMK to capture power so that he could control Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.
Also, he claimed that the prime minister "handed out our energy security and gave away our data, besides selling our farmers and small and medium industries."
"You saw yesterday (in Parliament) the face of Prime Minister Narendra Modi completely lacking confidence," Rahul said on the delimitation bill.
"He (PM) could not even face the opposition. He was sitting sideways. And the reason is, he is controlled by the United States. He signed the India-US deal that sold our country out," Rahul said while addressing an election rally here.
He further said, "Today, if Donald Trump tells Modi to jump, Modi jumps. If Donald Trump tells Modi to lie down, Modi lies down. Why? Because Donald Trump controls Modi fully. How does he control him? He controls through the Epstein files. He controls him because he knows Modi's financial systems and understands Modi's link with Adani," the Congress leader alleged.
Just as he was being controlled by Trump, Modi wanted to do the same to the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. "That is why he wants to put AIADMK in power in TN," Rahul said.
The Union government had rejected references to PM Modi in the latest Jeffrey Epstein case files, describing it as “little more than trashy ruminations by a convicted criminal that deserves to be dismissed with the utmost contempt”.
