Details sought about 'black fungus' among COVID patients: Karnataka Health Minister
Bengaluru: The Karnataka government has sought information from health experts about 'black fungus' being detected among COVID patients in the country, Health Minister K Sudhakar said on Wednesday.
Addressing reporters at Chikkaballapura, he said, "I had a discussion with the technical advisory committee and the clinicians to submit a detailed report on black fungus in two days. Based on that, we will take a call."
The minister was replying to a query on media reports that the cases of black fungus or mucormycosis, a rare fungal infection, are on the rise among COVID-19 patients in some states, including Karnataka.
He said the government wants to learn about the disease and its treatment.
To another question on the rising double mutant variants of COVID, Sudhakar said he has ordered genealogical studies and its sequencing.
"Some have called it Indian variant also. It is behaving more erratically than the British variant. We are monitoring its movement as well. Some other countries are also studying it," the minister said.
On improving health infrastructure and medical care in Taluk level, the minister said the process to recruit 2,480 doctors and specialists in Taluk level had been going on for the past four-five months, which has now reached the final level.
"In the next two days, a gazette order will come for their recruitment.
Due to this, there will not be any shortage of physicians and doctors in Taluk level. We will appoint doctors at Taluk level in four days," the minister said.
Besides this, the state has 50 oxygenated beds and six ventilators in each Taluk hospital.
Karnataka has shown the declining trend in the COVID cases for the past two days reporting less than 40,000 infections from over 50,000 cases a few days back.
To bring the spread of COVID under control, the Karnataka government has imposed a lockdown-like stringent restriction in the state from May 10 to May 24 morning following the advice of the ministers, technical advisory committee and the opposition leaders.
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ED undertakes raids in Jharkhand Ayushman Bharat 'fraud' case
Ranchi, Apr 4 (PTI): The Enforcement Directorate on Friday conducted multi-state searches, including at the premises of the private secretary of former Jharkhand health minister Banna Gupta, as part of a money laundering probe into alleged irregularities in the Centre's Ayushman Bharat scheme, official sources said.
The officials of the federal probe agency raided 21 locations in Jharkhand, Delhi and West Bengal under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources said.
Premises linked to Om Prakash Singh, Gupta, apart from that of "key suspects", including consultants and former executives of associated firms, were raided early morning. A security team of central paramilitary personnel accompanied the officials of the federal probe agency.
Locations of officials linked to the Jharkhand State Arogya Society (JSAS), employees and offices of Third-Party Administrators (TPAs) like MD India, Safeway, Medi Assist and their associates were also raided, they said.
There was no immediate response to the ED action by Gupta or his PS.
ED teams raided a house in Mango locality and a nursing home along NH-33 in Jamshedpur city apart from locations in Ashok Nagar and Bariyatu in state capital Ranchi.
In Kolkata, the offices of some "entry operators" or hawala dealers are being raided, the sources said.
The ED, agency sources said, suspects that "proceeds of crime" were generated through systematic "fraud" within the Ayushman Bharat scheme through "manipulation" of hospital empanelment and processing of "fake" claims facilitated by a "nexus" demanding commissions and kickbacks.
Ayushman Bharat is a flagship scheme of the Union government which aims to achieve universal health coverage for citizens.
