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Keeping its traditional philanthropic spirit, the Wipro Ltd headed by Azim Hashim Premji has converted its IT facility in Pune into a 450-bed dedicated COVID-19 hospital.
It has been done to help the Maharashtra government tackle the unprecedented health crisis arising out of COVID-19 or Coronavirus pandemic.
Wipro has completed the work in about one month of signing an MoU with the Maharashtra government.
State Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray inaugurated the hospital through online interaction on Thursday. “Chief Minister Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray today inaugurated the well-equipped Covid Hospital set up by Wipro at Hinjewadi, Pune,” tweeted the office of Maharashtra CM in Marathi with photos of the inauguration.
In his tweet Wipro Chairman Rishad Premji thanked Thackeray :“Thank you to the Hon’ble CM of Maharashtra, Shri Uddhav ji for inaugurating Wipro’s repurposed campus into a 450 bed Covid 19 hospital in Pune. Thanks to the Govt of Maharashtra for their deep support in enabling a one-month turnaround,” said Rishad Premji in a tweet Thursday night and shared some photos of the hospital.
In the first week of May, Wipro and the Maharashtra government had signed an MoU to repurpose its IT facility in Pune as a Covid hospital. According to a statement by Wipro after signing the MoU, the 450-bed hospital, to be equipped to treat moderate cases, will include 12 beds to stabilise critical patients before shifting them to a tertiary care facility.
This is an independent, isolated Covid-19 dedicated complex that also includes 24 rooms to accommodate doctors and medical staff.
Thank you to the Hon’ble CM of Maharashtra, Shri Uddhav ji for inaugurating Wipro’s repurposed campus into a 450 bed Covid 19 hospital in Pune. Thanks to the Govt of Maharashtra for their deep support in enabling a one month turnaround.@Wipro@uddhavthackeray@CMOMaharashtrapic.twitter.com/PI8eORIYBz
The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), All India Agricultural Workers’ Union (AIAWU) and Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) will lead a nationwide mass movement of farmers and workers on August 9, the day Quit India movement began. They will gather and demand health, food, income and employment for all farmers, farm workers, migrant workers, labourers.
The organisations have demanded that the government give the farmers and workers across India, access to free universal healthcare, including Covid-19 tests and treatment if required. As workers and farmers have been the worst hit by the Covid-19 lockdown, the unions have demanded that each person be given 10kg free food grains per month, for at least the next six months. A crucial demand, which had been recommended by leading economists too, was to put money in the pockets of the marginalised to restart the stalled economy. The trade unions ask that the government pay Rs.7500 per month for all non tax- paying families, for next six months.
As lakhs of migrant workers have been rendered homeless, and are under great financial stress even as they have returned home, the CITU, AIKS and AIAWU have also raised their voices. According to Hannan Mollah, General Secretary AIKS, the unions have demanded that these workers be given “200 days of work” under the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (MGNREGA) “at the rate of Rs 600 as wages per day, or an unemployment allowance.”
“It was the sudden lockdown that forced factories to shut, and the workers were out of their jobs,” said the union leaders. A major demand, said Mollah, that has already been voiced but still needs to be reiterated is to seek that the government rescind the recently passed Ordinances, that have done away with many labour welfare laws, as well as executive orders on Essential Commodities, Farm Trade, and Electricity Act.
To ensure that these demands are heard, and met, the union leadership has announced that they are launching multiple campaigns in the coming months..Some rural campaigns are already underway at villages across the country, said Tapan Sen General Secretary, CITU, they will culminate at a sub-divisional level mobilisation July 23.And that will be a curtain raiser to a national level demonstration on August 9.
According to the farmer, worker, and trade union leadership, they may also consider going to court against the various Ordinances that have been passed during the lockdown. “The issue must also be discussed in Parliament,” said Tapan Sen. “These are anti farmers and will benefit the corporates only. The farmer will be reduced to being slaves on their own land,” added Hannan Mollah, “families will become slaves.” He added that these ordinances will only benefit big corporate houses, and hoarders.
The farmer, and worker unions have said the government has used the lockdown to make a shift in the agricultural economy, to benefit corporates and landlords, and “depriving the producers,” the real wealth creators. The government, they alleged, have “finished off self reliance” and undone 70 years of work that was behind earning all the rights for labourers and workers of India.
With the lockdown creating a situation of reverse migration, there has been a rise in “acute unemployment, deepening absolute poverty and total lack of health facilities,” in the rural areas of the country. “Only the Kerala model has worked,” said B Venkat, General secretary of AIAWU. The union leaders said there isa need to “step up combative countrywide united struggles against the anti-people, anti-farmer, anti-worker neoliberal policy regime.”
“We have to defy, resist, combat,” said Tapan Sen, “we have to do a massive mobilisation.”
“We will strive to develop massive joint struggles of the trade unions, peasant organisations and organisations of various class mass and social organisations against these anti-national policies in the coming days,” stated the trade unions in a signed statement. The AIKS and AIAWU will also support the calls given by CTUs, to observe a day of protest on July 3. This protest will be one of “non cooperation and defiance”.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is in the process of deporting the foreign Tablighi Jamaat members who had attended the Nizamuddin Markaz congregation in March 2020. They had been booked for violating visa norms.
They have completed the quarantine cycle and have been for more than three months in detention in India. The Indian government has been receiving requests from foreign governments to repatriate their citizens as soon as possible.
These foreign TJ members are from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand and other countries. The government is in touch with foreign embassies to initiate the process of their deportation.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has made public that 2,594 foreign Tablighi Jamaat members had come to India since January till June 2, 2020. Among them 960 members are still in India.
However there is an utter confusion in the actual numbers foreign Tablighi Jamaat members currently in India. The UP government has told the Allahabad High Court that it has 279 TJ members. The Delhi figure is 541 and the Chennai figure is 125. If we add them it makes 945, while the MHA has released the figure of 960. Where 15 other foreign TJ members are, is unknown.
In the related development the government has confiscated the passport of 723 foreign nationals among them are 23 Nepali nationals whose identity cards are taken away. Among them are 270 Bangladeshi nationals.
The government sources say that many of the foreign nationals have violated the visa norms and have been blacklisted from entering India for next 10 years. They had entered India on the tourist visa but were engaged in preaching activities.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) officials have reportedly said; “the foreigner TJ members will be deported, but the cases filed against them will go on. The foreign embassies will arrange the flights and make arrangements for the return of their citizens.”
The MHA further said “those indulging in Tablighi activities have done a specific visa violation and will attract a fine of $500. Some of them do not have any money with them and the government will consider waiving the fine.”
Recently, the MHA has added a new category in the general policy guidelines relating to visas, putting restrictions on engaging in Tabligh activities in India.
In the related development the Uttar Pradesh government had informed the Allahabad High Court that 279 foreign Tablighi workers were lodged in jails while 46 had left the country after being released from institutional quarantine.
Similarly, Delhi Police has filed charge sheets against 541 such foreigners for violating visa norms, but arrested none of them. In Chennai there are 125 foreign TJ members under detention at the Borstal school in the Puzhal prison complex. They were arrested from various parts of the state for violating visa norms.
Among the 125 foreign TJ members in Chennai there are 13 male members from Bangladesh, 13 from Myanmar, 14 from Thailand, more than 10 from Malaysia, 46 from Indonesia among them 6 are women, and 8 from Ethiopia among them 4 are women and 9 from France, besides other countries.
Some of those foreign TJ members were in Tamil Nadu much before the TJ- Corona linkage was found in Delhi but were also being arrested along with those who had come to the state after attending the congregation in Delhi.
The Federation of Muslim Organizations and Parties had demanded their immediate release and deportation to their respective countries. “It is perhaps the first time in the history of India that a detention camp is made for foreigners visiting Tamil Nadu,” said M. H. Jawahirullah President of the political party ‘Manithaneya Makkal Katchi’.
“The foreigner’s belonging to the Tablighi Jamaat had come to the state on a pilgrimage but were arrested on false charges at the behest of the Central government,” he added.
The MMK leader said, “It is not the first time any foreigner has violated the visa rules but it is the first time foreigners are arrested for breaking visa rules. He wondered if the government will apply the same yardstick on the Hindu, Christian or Jew preachers who may come to India for preaching purposes on tourist visas.
AarogyaPath, a web based solution for the healthcare supply chain was launched to serve manufacturers, suppliers and customers to effectively deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. This national healthcare supply chain portal will remove supply chain bottlenecks during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The vision of this initiative is to set up an information management and forecasting database platform at national level. It will capture demand and supply scenarios for key healthcare needs items. This public platform will help healthcare users like hospitals, pathology laboratories, research institutes, medical colleges and patients.
It will also provide seamless access to suppliers, manufacturers and importers for prevailing needs and demand related to medical equipment, diagnostic instruments, drugs, Personal Protective Equipment, respiratory assistance devices.
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR said that AarogyaPath will become the national healthcare information platform of choice in the years to come. It said it will fill a critical gap in last-mile delivery of patient care within India through improved availability and affordability of healthcare supplies.
BJP Leader and Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani has said that the whole world has been affected by Covid-19 pandemic but due to efforts by Government of India the situation in the country is better than many developed nations.
Addressing a virtual rally Delhi Jan Samvad today, Ms Irani said, during this time of crisis Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a package of 20 lakh crore rupees. She said, the package will give new strength and opportunity to the country and countrymen.
The Union Minister lauded the efforts of Delhi BJP workers who provided food, ration to crores of poor people under feed the needy programme after lockdown.
She said, Narendra Modi Government is committed for the welfare of poor and in the time of crisis, Government provided free ration and gas cylinders so that no one goes hungry.
Speaking about achievements of Narendra Modi Government in last one year, Ms Irani said, after getting people’s mandate for the second time, the Government resolved problems related to unity and integrity of the country which was going on since six decades.
She said, many important steps taken like removing Article 370, passing the Citizenship Amendment Act and paving the way for construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
BJP National Vice President Shyam Jaju and Delhi BJP Chief Adesh Kumar Gupta also addressed on the occasion.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has issued the clinical management protocol for Covid-19. Loss Of smell and loss of taste are included as new symptoms of coronavirus among others.
The Health Ministry suggested that investigational therapies and drugs-Remdesivir, Convalescent Plasma Therapy, Tociluzimab and Hydroxychloroquine should only be used in a defined subgroup of Covid patients. The Ministry advised that Remdesivir may be considered in patients with moderate disease who are on oxygen and Convalescent plasma may be considered in patients with moderate disease whose oxygen requirement is progressively increasing despite use of steroids.
In the case of Convalescent Plasma Therapy, it is advised that recipients should be closely monitored for several hours post transfusion for any transfusion related adverse events and its use should be avoided in patients with IgA deficiency or immunoglobulin allergy. The Health Ministry also suggested that use of Tocilizumab may be considered in patients with moderate disease with progressively increasing oxygen requirements and in mechanically ventilated patients, not improving despite use of steroids.
On the use of Hydroxychloroquine, the Ministry said that this drug has demonstrated in vitro activity against corona virus and was shown to be clinically beneficial with significant limitations. It is advised that this drug should be used as early as possible in the disease course to achieve any meaningful effects and it should be avoided in patients with severe disease. An ECG should ideally be done before prescribing the drug. The Ministry has said that several large observational studies with severe methodologic limitations have shown no effect on mortality.
The Health Ministry has recommended Real time or conventional RT-PCR test for diagnosis whereas antibody tests have not been recommended for diagnosis of Covid-19. It said, dual infections with other respiratory infections like viral, bacterial and fungal have been found in COVID-19 patients and depending on local epidemiology and clinical symptoms, tests for other potential causes like influenza, other respiratory viruses, malaria, dengue fever, typhoid fever are recommended. It has suggested collection of blood cultures, ideally prior to initiation of antimicrobial therapy for Covid-19 patients with severe disease.
Home Minister Amit Shah will hold a meeting with Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tomorrow to review the situation in the national capital regarding COVID-19. Seniors members of the State Disaster Management Authority will also attend the meeting. Mr. Shah will also be meeting with the Mayors of municipal corporations of Delhi, later in the evening tomorrow.
Union Health Minister Dr. Harshvardhan, Director AIIMS, Dr. Randeep Guleria and other senior officers will be present in both these meetings. The dual meeting has been called by the Home Minister in the wake of rising cases of coronavirus in the National Capital, which is the third highest. The Supreme Court had pulled up the Delhi government on the state of affairs in the hospitals.
In the wake of rising cases, Delhi LG has constituted an expert advisory committee to advise Delhi Disaster Management Authority on various aspects of COVID-19 management in the city. The committee will give advice on the challenges being faced in Delhi and suggest measures to ramp up medical infrastructure.
It will also advice Disaster Management Authority on the integration of measures being taken by the various agencies for the effective mitigation of Covid-19. Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research, Director of AIIMS Delhi and Director, NCDC are part of the committee.
Meanwhile, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain has stressed the need to relax the existing testing guidelines by ICMR so that more people can be tested.
A total of two thousand 137 new confirmed cases of Coronavirus have been reported in Delhi during the last twenty four hours taking the total number of cases to 36 thousand 824. The Delhi Government has confirmed that 13 thousand 398 people affected with Coronavirus have been cured so far. In the last 24 hours, 667 people recovered and 71 deaths were reported in the National Capital taking the toll to one thousand 214.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a detailed meeting with senior ministers and officials, today, to review India’s response to Covid-19 pandemic. The meeting reviewed the national level status and preparation in the context of the pandemic.
It took stock of situation in different states and union territories including Delhi. The meeting was attended by the Home Minister, Health Minister, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Cabinet Secretary, Health Secretary, DG ICMR and other officials of the Empowered Groups.
Dr. Vinod Paul, NITI Aayog member and Convenor of the Empowered Group of Medical Emergency Management Plan, made a detailed presentation on the current status and likely scenario of Covid-19 cases in the medium term. The members noted that two-thirds of the total cases in the country are in 5 states. In view of the challenges being faced by the large cities, it was discussed to augment testing as well as the number of beds and services to effectively handle the peak surge of daily cases.
The Prime Minister took cognizance of the recommendations of the Empowered Group on city and district-wise requirements of hospital and isolation beds. He instructed Health Ministry officials to undertake emergency planning in consultation with the States and UTs. Mr. Modi advised the Health Ministry to ensure suitable preparations in view of the start of the Monsoon season.
The present and emerging scenario of the Covid 19 disease in the capital was discussed and the projections for next 2 months was deliberated. Prime Minister suggested that the Home Minister and Health Minister should convene an emergency meeting with Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor and Chief Minister in presence of senior officials of both the Union and State government, along with officials of Municipal Corporations of Delhi, to plan a coordinated and comprehensive response to handle the challenges posed by rising cases of Covid-19. The Prime Minister appreciated outstanding work done by several states, districts and cities in containing and controlling the COVID-19 successfully.
United Arab Emirates, Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) announced 513 new COVID-19 cases in the country and also noted an additional 712 individuals had fully recovered from the infection, bringing the total number of recoveries to 25,946.
The total number of cases in UAE now stands at 41,499. The Ministry also announced one death as a result of COVID-19 complications. It added that the total number of deaths in the country has reached 287.
In Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Health in a statement said that the tally of confirmed cases of Novel Corona virus, in the Kingdom, rose to 1,19,943 cases as 3,921 new cases were reported. The death toll in the Kingdom went up to 893 as 36 new fatalities were reported. Majority of the new cases were detected in the city of Riyadh, followed by Jeddah and Mecca.
THE World Health Organization (WHO) has urged more countries to make a global political commitment so that any emerging vaccine for COVID-19 will be shared equitably. Speaking at a press conference yesterday, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, vaccines for the novel coronavirus should be made available as a global public good, to ensure everyone had fair access to any life-saving products that are developed.
Mr Tedros was speaking after concerns being raised that some countries including the United States could hoard any vaccines or drugs they develop to combat Covid-19, with poorer countries not getting access to the treatments they need. The WHO director-general said, many leaders around the globe have promoted the idea of making any vaccine a global public good, but that should continue to be promoted.
He added that more leaders should join the efforts, and they need to have a truly global political commitment and global consensus before they even have the product. The WHO’s top emergency expert Mike Ryan said, the disease was highly active in Central and South America. He said, the current situation in Brazil, was of increasing concern especially in cities.
The Latin American country has now one of the global hot-spots for the virus. Mr Ryan said, Brazil’s health system was still coping, although some intensive care units were at a critical stage and under heavy pressure with more than 90 percent bed occupancy rates.
