Over-staying COVID patients in hospitals should go home: CM Yediyurappa
Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Tuesday asked COVID patients over-staying in hospitals 'unnecessarily' to go home to make way for serious ones to get treatment.
"What is the need for the 332 patients to remain in the hospital for 30 days? They should vacate the beds.
There are 503 patients in the hospital for 20 days.
This way people who are staying in the hospital unnecessarily should go home," he said.
He was speaking to reporters after visiting a COVID war room in the city, which has generated data about the COVID patients, the status of beds in the hospitals, oxygen availability and other essential drugs for the pandemic.
The CM said the COVID War Room has generated information about those patients who can avail treatment at home but were staying put in the hospital depriving serious patients from getting treatment.
Responding to a query, Yediyurappa said those 503 people are in the hospital despite advice of doctors for their discharge.
According to him, such patients should be told that the treatment was over and they should go home paving the way for admission of serious ones.
Hailing the COVID War Room management, Yediyurappa said it is a model in the country as the data are perfect giving every detail on a real time basis about the number of people admitted, for how long they are there and the availability of beds in the hospitals for COVID patients.
"We are operating this war room in a systematic manner, which probably cannot be seen anywhere in the country," the he said.
To a query on BJP national general secretary B L Santhosh meeting him, Yediyurappa said he discussed for an hour with him COVID-19, the situation prevailing in Delhi and Karnataka and the ways to improve things.
The Chief Minister further said Santhosh assured him of every assistance from Delhi (Central government).
"As you know that today we received 120 tonnes of oxygen from Jamshedpur. This way they (Centre) are giving us whatever is required.
I am absolutely content as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is giving priority to Karnataka," Yediyurappa said.
The Chief Minister's visit to COVID War Room came after BJP MP Tejasvi Surya alleged that there was a bed booking scam in private hospitals where a few War Room staff colluded with the hospitals and civic officials to block the government quota of beds.
Those beds were 'sold' to the needy for a hefty bribe somewhere between Rs 50,000 to over Rs one lakh, he had alleged.
A few people have been arrested so far in connection with the case.
With an alarming rise in COVID cases in the state, the demand for hospital beds has gone up significantly leading to the shortage of beds, oxygen and drugs such as Remdesivir at many places.
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Russian First Deputy PM Manturov meets PM Modi; discusses trade, energy ties
New Delhi (PTI): Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov on Thursday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed ways to strengthen bilateral ties in areas of investment, energy and industrial cooperation.
Manturov, on a two-day visit to India, also held talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
The Russian embassy said Modi and Manturov discussed "specific steps to implement agreements reached" during the India-Russia summit held in December last.
"Particular attention was paid to further strengthening Russia-India trade, economic, investment, energy and industrial cooperation," it said on social media.
In their meeting, Doval and Manturov were learnt to have discussed bilateral defence cooperation besides the evolving regional security situation.
The Russian first deputy PM's visit to New Delhi comes days after India cleared procurement of a fresh batch of five S-400 missile systems from Russia.
The decision to procure the additional batch of five S-400 air defence missile systems was taken against the backdrop of the missile system proving its capability during Operation Sindoor.
The missile system played a crucial role in India's dominance over Pakistan during the May 7-10 hostilities last year.
In October 2018, India had signed a USD 5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of S-400 air defence missile systems, notwithstanding a warning by the US that going ahead with the contract may invite US sanctions under the provisions of Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
Three squadrons have already been delivered.
In the talks, the two sides are also expected to exchange views on the West Asia conflict and its impact on global economy, especially on the energy sector.
It is learnt that both sides also reviewed the implementation of decisions taken at the summit talks between Prime Minister Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin in last December.
Following talks between the two leaders, India and Russia unveiled a raft of measures including a five-year roadmap to build a robust economic partnership and to increase the annual trade to USD 100 billion by 2030.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last week lauded India's "independent foreign policy" and said that Russia looks forward to welcoming Prime Minister Modi for a visit this year.
In an address at a conference titled 'India and Russia: Towards a new bilateral agenda', he said the "time-tested" friendship between the two countries is a model on interstate relations based on mutual trust and respect.
