People above 60, those with comorbidities can get Covid vaccine at dist hospitals: K'taka minister
Bengaluru: Karnataka Minister for Medical Education Dr Sharan Prakash Patil on Tuesday said people above 60 years and those with comorbidities can get vaccinated for the Covid-19 from January 3 onwards at the district hospitals in the wake of rising infections of JN-1 sub-variant.
The minister, however, underlined that there was no need to panic and urged people to take precautionary measures to tackle the spread of the virus.
In the wake of rising cases of JN-1 sub-variant of Covid-19 in the state, the minister convened a meeting with the heads of medical institutions and hospitals coming under the purview of the medical education department along with the head of the Covid-19 Technical Advisory Committee and its members here.
Patil reviewed the prevailing situation and took stock of the preparedness to tackle Covid-19 in the state.
ALSO READ: K'taka registers 296 new Covid-19 cases and one death
After the meeting the minister said in a statement that there was no specific direction from the Central government on new vaccines.
"We will give the same vaccines that were administered during the first and second wave of the pandemic and the people above 60 years and those with comorbidities can get vaccinated at district hospitals from Wednesday," Patil said.
According to him, the experts have opined that the JN-1 sub-variant is likely to spread rapidly but unlikely to cause serious health issues. So there was no need to panic.
He also said that the government will not issue orders making masks mandatory but people need to be careful at crowded places.
"Even though the WHO and many health experts have stated that the JN-1 sub-variant is unlikely to cause serious health problems for infected people, I've instructed the officials to be vigilant and take precautionary measures and create awareness among the people. The state has received 30,000 Covid vaccines from the Centre and we have taken all the steps to prevent shortage," said the minister.
Clarifying about the availability of medicine, oxygen beds and equipments, the minister denied cash crunch regarding purchase of those items. He said a proposal will be sent to the finance department regarding purchase of equipments and recruitment of staff in some hospitals.
Explaining the cause of death of the 10 people who died in the state recently, Dr Patil denied that Covid was the cause and said that the patients had been suffering from various diseases. He further added that nine out of 10 people were suffering from heart, kidney and other ailments and one person from Mangaluru was an alcoholic and was not vaccinated.
Regarding the meeting with the officials, the minister said he has directed the officials to reserve 50 beds for Covid patients in each district hospital According to him, 18,141 beds in medical colleges, 10,000 in government hospitals and 11,500 beds coming under the Health and Family Welfare department are available for Covid patients.
The minister said testing capacities and healthcare facilities will be augmented in all districts and arrangements have been made for separate oxygen beds and ICUs in all government medical institutions Stating that 30,000 vaccines are presently available, Patil appealed to people who have missed vaccination and booster shots to avail of this facility.
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Taj Mahal top earning ASI monument through ticket sales from FY19-20 to FY23-24: Govt
New Delhi, Apr 3 (PTI): The iconic Taj Mahal in Agra earned the "highest income" through the sale of tickets among the ASI-protected monuments from FY19-20 to FY23-24, according to data shared by the government.
Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat shared the data in a written response to a query in Rajya Sabha.
He was asked the amount that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has received from selling entry tickets to various monuments in the last five years, year-wise and monument-wise; and the monuments that have received the highest income through selling entry tickets in the last five years.
In his response, the minister shared the data in a tabular form for cycles of financial years ranging from FY19-20 to FY23-24.
According to the data, Taj Mahal earned the top slot for all five years.
The Mughal-era architectural wonder was commissioned by Emperor Shah Jehan in the 17th century and it is considered one of the most beautiful buildings in the world.
In FY19-20, the Agra Fort in Agra and Qutub Minar in Delhi were in the second and third positions.
In FY20-21, the Group of Monuments Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu and Sun Temple, Konark were in the second and third positions. In FY23-24, Qutub Minar and Red Fort of Delhi were in the second and third positions.
