Amid pandemic, Karnataka recruits 4,000 medical officers
Bengaluru, Jun 28: Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Karnataka government has recruited 4,000 medical officers including 1,750 doctors, Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said on Monday.
The minister said compulsory services in rural areas for MBBS doctors has been implemented and 2,053 doctors have been appointed to various vacant positions in Health and Family Welfare and Medical Education Departments.
In a statement, he said 1,001 medicos have been appointed on contractual basis in 18 Government medical colleges and hospitals whereas 666 doctors have been appointed to work in ICU at Taluk hospitals who will be reporting to their respective workplaces by this month end.
He added that 348 doctors have been appointed under the National Health Mission, of which 90 doctors have been posted in Community Health Centres and three in Nephro-urology.
Sudhakar also said that the Karnataka Health Promotion Trust in collaboration with Association of Public Health Technologies has developed a pilot project for testing tuberculosis patients using Artificial Intelligence.
It will be undertaken in Ballari, Koppal, Chikkaballapura and Belagavi.
Speaking about mucormycosis (black fungus), he said 3,232 people have been affected by the fungal infection so far out of which 387 have recovered and 262 have died.
More than 1,600 have been operated.
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Israeli strikes kill at least 17 in Gaza as ground troops enter Palestinian territory's north
Deir al-Balah (Gaza), Apr 4 (AP): Israeli strikes killed more than a dozen people in the Gaza Strip early Friday, as Israel sent more ground troops into the Palestinian territory to ramp up its offensive against Hamas.
At least 17 people, some from the same family, were killed after an airstrike hit the southern city of Khan Younis, according to hospital staff. Hours later, people were still searching through the rubble, looking for survivors.
The attack follows days of Israeli strikes, which have killed at least 100 people, as it intensifies operations, intended to pressure Hamas to release its hostages. On Friday, Israel said it had begun ground activity in northern Gaza, in order to expand its security zone.
Israel's military had issued sweeping evacuation orders for parts of northern Gaza before expected ground operations. The UN humanitarian office said around 280,000 Palestinians have been displaced since Israel ended the ceasefire with Hamas last month.
In recent days, Israel's vowed to seize large parts of the Palestinian territory and establish a new security corridor across it.
To pressure Hamas, Israel has imposed a monthlong blockade on food, fuel and humanitarian aid that has left civilians facing acute shortages as supplies dwindle — a tactic that rights groups say is a war crime. Israel said earlier this week that enough food had entered Gaza during a six-week truce to sustain the territory's roughly 2 million Palestinians for a long time.
Hamas says it will only release the remaining 59 hostages — 24 of whom are believed to be alive — in exchange for the release of more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli pullout from Gaza. The group has rejected demands that it lay down its arms or leave the territory.
The predawn strike on Friday hit a three-story building. In addition to the dead, the attack wounded at least 16 people from the same family. Associated Press reporters saw bodies being carried out in blankets, while others searched for people trapped under the rubble and collected charred remains.
“We don't know how to collect them and how to bury them. We don't know whose remains these are. They were burned and dismembered,” said Ismail Al-Aqqad, whose brother died in the strike, as well as his brother's family.
On Thursday, more than 30 bodies, including women and children, were taken to hospitals in and around Khan Younis, according to hospital staff.
Israel said Friday that it had killed a top Hamas commander in a strike in Lebanon's coastal city of Sidon. Israel said that Hassan Farhat was a commander of Hamas' western area in Lebanon and that he was responsible for numerous attacks against Israel, including one in February 2024, which killed an Israeli soldier and injured others.
The war began when Hamas-led group attacked southern Israel on Oct 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages, most of whom have since been released in ceasefire agreements and other deals. Israel rescued eight living hostages and has recovered dozens of bodies.
More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza as part of Israel's offensive, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't say whether those killed are civilians or combatants. The ministry says more than half of those killed were women and children. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 Hamas fighters, without providing evidence.
The war has left most of Gaza in ruins, and at its height displaced around 90% of the population.
