Mangaluru: Twitter users on Sunday demanded justice for Khatija Jasmeen, a pregnant woman from Mangaluru who was allegedly denied treatment at various hospitals after testing positive for COVID-19.

According to the allegations labeled by the patient through a press meet, Dr. Priya Ballal, a local Gynecologist who was treating Jasmeen used her influence to deny admission to Jasmeen to various hospitals in the city after she tested positive for the virus.

The allegations added Jasmeen was into her last trimester of pregnancy when the incident took place in the third week of May. It further added that 31-year-old Jasmeen complained of cold and flu to Dr. Priya who advised her to take medication and rest at home.

When her condition partially deteriorated and she experienced fever, the family once again contacted Dr. Priya who asked Jasmeen to undergo a COVID test. The test returned positive and Dr. Priya asked Jasmeen to get admitted to her hospital for 15 days.

Jasmeen tried consulting other doctors as she didn’t support the idea of getting admitted to the hospital for 15 days. Jasmeen’s family took her to another private hospital in the city. After initially checking the patient and going through Dr. Priya’s prescription for the patient doctors at the hospital contacted Dr. Priya and after the call refused treatment to Jasmeen.

The same dilemma for the patient continued at the next nine hospitals in the city where Dr. Priya allegedly denied admission to the patient using her influence.

Twitter users started a campaign with #StopMedicalMafia and #JusticeForJasmeen that grossed over one lakh tweets slamming the doctor and behavior of the hospitals in the city at the time of a pandemic and in a place that is known as the medical hub of Coastal Karnataka.

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Mumbai (PTI): The rupee fell by 7 paise to 90.96 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday, weighed down by a rise in global crude oil prices and a stronger greenback.

A poor start to the domestic equity markets further pressured the local unit, but FII inflows provided support, preventing a sharp fall, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 90.91 against the US dollar and slipped further to 90.96, down 7 paise from its previous close.

The rupee gained 5 paise to settle at 90.89 against the US dollar on Monday.

"The Reserve Bank might be intervening to keep the rupee away from 91.00 levels, but the buying will itself allow it to go beyond 91.00 levels," Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, said.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.11 per cent higher at 97.81.

"The dollar index was higher amid a repositioning... It faces headwinds from (US President Donald) Trump's 15 per cent global tariffs announcement after the unfavourable Supreme Court ruling," Bhansali said.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose sharply by 0.85 per cent to USD 72.10 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, the Sensex tumbled 525.29 points to 82,769.37 in early trade, while the Nifty went down 145.85 points to 25,567.15.

On Monday, foreign institutional investors purchased equities worth Rs 3,483.70 crore, according to exchange data.