Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 5

To honour and motivate the police personnel working at the frontline of the battle against Covid-19, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has authorised the DGP to institute a new award for cops doing exceptional work and going beyond the call of duty during the current crisis.

DGP Dinkar Gupta said he had chosen ASI (LR) Bikar Singh and constable Sukhjinder Pal Singh of Moga for the ‘DGP’s Honour & Disc for Exemplary Seva to Society’. The two policemen assisted a woman of Moga’s Dharamkot in delivering a baby two days ago after she had been denied admission by many hospitals late at night.

In addition, the DGP has also selected SHO Sanjeev Kumar of Amritsar, who has been feeding the poor and hungry with a missionary zeal.

Nearly 50,000 policemen are deployed in the field, helping out people, especially the poor, underprivileged, unemployed and homeless people. At times, they also spend out of their pockets to help the needy.

In these difficult times, policemen have taken the lead in galvanising and mobilising the community to arrange for food for the less fortunate such as daily wage workers and migrant labourers. The cops are also working in close coordination with NGOs and religious organisations, especially gurdwaras, to ensure that everyone is fed and taken care of. Till date, they have fed over 3.2 crore people in the state which is more than the state’s total population.

Woman delivers baby on roadside

Tribune News Service

Moga, April 5

A woman was forced to deliver a baby on a roadside in Dharamkot town, Moga district, as no doctor was available to attend to her.

SSP Harmanbir Singh Gill said two policemen on duty called two local women, who helped Jyoti (30) deliver a baby. Her husband Harmesh Kumar, a daily wage earner, said he took Jyoti to the PHC in Dharamkot, but found no doctor there. He then took her to a private hospital, where no one came forward to help them. “Police officials came to our rescue. They also dropped us home,” he said.

Earlier on January 9, two women — Amandeep Kaur and Mamta Rani — gave birth on the floor of the maternity ward in the district hospital here.

No doctor attended to them. Nurses and paramedical staff helped the women deliver babies on the floor of the hospital.

Unfortunately, Amandeep Kaur’s child died of pneumonia later.

Dr Rakesh Bali, Senior Medical Officer, Kot-ise-Khan, said the Health Department staff, posted in the primary health centre (PHC) at Dharamkot, were away to Janer village for screening Covid suspects.

Modiji’s intentions in declaring a lockdown were noble as well as necessary. Could his army of advisers not have anticipated this tragedy? A solution should be found to at least partly compensate for the hard time

Julio Ribeiro

Julio Ribeiro

He was only a boy, 14 or 15 years of age. On his back he carried his meagre belongings, just one change of clothes, perhaps two if he had earned enough to feed his fancy. It would surprise me if he did not possess a mobile phone! Every boy from UP or Bihar, MP or Rajasthan, who has come to the big cities as migrant labour, has to have a mobile to keep in touch with his family back home. That picture on TV will forever remain with me!

The boy was weeping! He had just been caned by exasperated policemen whose one and only concern was to keep citizens off the streets. The boy hailed from the same social background and the same economic bracket as the policeman (before the policeman was recruited in the force). But that thought, even if did arise, would not deter the policeman from using his lathi on the boy!

The thought process of a policeman would not cross the boundaries of the orders emanating from the very top. Modiji had requested every citizen to stay home. And at home he or she had to keep a social distance of 3 feet from other members of the family. The boy was not aware of Modiji’s diktat. He only knew that the coronavirus had thrown him and other migrant labourers on the road without any shelter and without the means to earn his daily wage, half of which he sent home to his impecunious parents and the other half which he spent on keeping himself alive!

For him and the other migrant labourers on the roads, egressing the city, it was Hobson’s choice. They stayed on the roads and starved to death or they walked hundreds of kilometres to their villages to the security of the family where blood ties provided love and sympathy, which human beings crave even if that does not put food in their bellies.

Such niceties are beyond the understanding of a policeman. If a sensitive police leader has failed to put such thoughts in his ears, emphasising instead the paramount duty of keeping citizens confined to their own homes to break corona’s cycle, he is going to wield his lathi on the backs and legs of the poor labourers faced by death from starvation or from the virus.

The picture of that boy crying after being assaulted for choosing not to die of starvation has forced Modiji to apologise to the migrant labourers, who for a pittance are the backbone of the construction industry, in particular. When Modiji advised us to stay indoors, we accepted his sage advice because like him we belong to the ranks of the haves and neither Modiji or his cohorts of advisers, nor we spared a thought for the unfortunate!

The boys from UP and Bihar who provide the essential domestic help to the feudal and the nouveau riche in the city of Mumbai brought the reactions of this segment of our population to my notice in a tone and tenor that made me flinch. Why did Modiji have to spring this lockdown on us in the same manner as he did when he demonetised the 1,000 and 500 rupee notes? I explained the reasons. Then, in that case, why did he order the police to beat the poor labourers? Again, I explained that Modiji had, obviously, forgotten that only ‘sahibs’ possessed flats where they and their families could make themselves comfortable for three weeks. I said I would not hold Modiji guilty on this count because I, too, with my genuine concern for the poor, had not factored in this obvious outcome of the suddenly announced lockout.

Incidentally, renovation of the exteriors of our society building was being done when the lockdown was announced. The boys staying on site were twiddling their thumbs. Some residents felt that they were a source of possible contamination and should be asked to leave. Wiser counsel prevailed and they were allowed to stay on till the contractor could move them to another of his sites not far away. The boys themselves wish to go home to Madhya Pradesh, but cannot.

Modiji’s intentions in declaring the lockdown were noble as well as necessary. Could his army of advisers not have anticipated this tragedy? Modiji had lost traction after the CAA and NRC was announced and the youth lost hope after the JNU incident. Now, the poor — who had propelled him to office because of the houses and toilets he built for them, the direct money transfers he organised to eliminate the middlemen and the village roads he got constructed — are shocked by the treatment meted out to their friends, who constitute the bulk of the migrant labour.

It is not enough to merely apologise to the wronged. The problem is not an easy one to solve, I admit. But, as I said, Modiji has a vast reservoir of thinking men and women at his disposal. He should be able to find a solution that will at least partly compensate for the hard times these poor men have faced consequent to the lockdown.

The naval dockyard in Mumbai has designed a hand-held temperature sensor while a Portable Multi-feed Oxygen Manifold was designed by personnel in Visakhapatnam

New Delhi: As the country steps up its battle against Covid-19, the Indian Navy’s Mumbai and Visakhapatnam dockyards have also turned their attention to fighting the deadly virus.

While the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai has designed and developed its own hand-held infrared-based temperature sensor for screening of personnel, the one in Visakhapatnam has manufactured a portable system that can supply oxygen to six people at a time.

India has so far seen 50 deaths and over 1,700 positive cases of Covid-19.

The 285-year-old dockyard in Mumbai, of the Western Naval Command, has an average influx of 20,000 people every day. In view of the pandemic, initial screening of those entering the premises has become essential to prevent the spread of Covid-19 within the yard and the Western Fleet.

The most preliminary way to screen a probable Covid-19 patient is by checking their body temperature.

In a statement, the Navy has said that the decision to develop hand-held sensors was taken to overcome the scarcity of temperature guns and their higher price in the market due to the pandemic.

The hand-held thermometer developed by the Navy, which has an accuracy of 0.02 degree Celsius, was manufactured for less than Rs 1,000 using in-house resources. A statement by the Indian Navy also noted that the dockyard has the capability to scale up production of the temperature guns if required.

The price of temperature guns in the market start at Rs 3,000 with the more sophisticated ones costing around Rs 30,000.

The hand-held thermometre is expected to reduce the load on security guards at the gate of the Mumbai dockyard.

Also read: Coronavirus doesn’t stop Indian Army from carrying out its annual cyber security exercise

Oxygen supply system

Personnel from the Visakhapatnam Naval Dockyard have developed a ‘Portable Multi-feed Oxygen Manifold’ which can supply oxygen to multiple patients. Covid-19 is known to affect the respiratory system of patients.

The instrument fits into a single cylinder and can supply oxygen to six patients simultaneously from one bottle. A typical oxygen providing facility at hospitals comprises of an oxygen cylinder feeding only one patient through a Ventimask arrangement.

The preliminary trials of the Portable Multi-feed Oxygen Manifold were conducted at the dockyard in Visakhapatnam. It was followed by rapid trails at the Naval Hospital INHS Kalyani during which the portable instrument was set-up in 30 minutes.

Following these successful trials, the Visakhapatnam dockyard has now begun manufacture of 10 such devices.

While the Union health ministry’s data shows there are 8,432 ventilators in the public sector in India, Chennai-based medical device maker Trivitron Healthcare has said that there were about 40,000 ventilators across the country — mostly in the private sector.

The Indian Army has so far only been operating out of quarantine camps set up by the armed service for coronavirus patients.

New Delhi: A medical team from the Army was deployed at the Narela quarantine camp in Delhi Friday where some of the coronavirus-infected patients from the Tablighi Jamaat eventare being kept. This is the first time the armed service has been deployed at a civil centre set up to handle the coronavirus cases.

So far, the Army’s doctors and specialists have only been operating out of the quarantine centres set up by the force.

Defence sources said none of the quarantined people misbehaved with the Army medical team after reports emerged that some Tablighi Jamaat members refused to cooperate and even harassed civil medical teams.

“This deployment consists of two doctors and two nurses. They are accompanied by a protective unit as per standard operating procedure,” said an Army source.

Also read: There is a reason India turned to Armed Forces Medical Services when it came to coronavirus

Health ministry requests for Army team

Another source said that the deployment was made at the request of the health ministry after the Delhi government appealed for it since there was a lot of pressure on the civil medical teams.

The armed forces have already been directed to augment medical resources for civil health set-ups too.

Currently, there are six quarantine facilities being run by the Army — Mumbai, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Hindon, Manesar and Chennai — at which 1,737 people have been treated. Of these cases, 403 patients have been released.

The Army is also preparing dedicated Covid-19 facilities, including high-dependency units and intensive care unit beds, at 51 Army hospitals. Some of these facilities are located at Kolkata, Visakhapatnam, Kochi, Dundigal (near Hyderabad), Bengaluru, Kanpur, Jaisalmer, Jorhat and Gorakhpur.

Also read: It is war. Modi govt must deploy Indian military to fight coronavirus

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 5

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has called up the son and the nephew of former Hazoori Ragi Bhai Nirmal Singh, who died of Covid last week, to extend his condolences. He also assured them of the government’s support in the treatment of family members, who have tested positive for the virus.

All Covid patients would be provided proper care in line with the government’s medical protocol, the Chief Minister assured Bhai Nirmal Singh’s son Amiteshwar Singh and nephew Jagpreet Singh.

The Health Department would monitor their progress, he said, and asked them to contact him in case they needed any assistance. Capt Amarinder also enquired about the well-being of the members of the family who had tested positive.

The Chief Minister termed as “unfortunate” the delay in ragi’s cremation because of unfounded fears of Verka village residents. “I have ordered authorities that no such incident should take place again,” he said.

Capt Amarinder said he had asked the Chief Secretary and the DGP to ensure that health and other officials at the district level complied with government instructions and take action against those found violating instructions.

Taksalis hit out at govt

Chandigarh: Shiromani Akali Dal (Taksali) president Ranjit Singh Brahmpura on Sunday criticised the Capt Amarinder Singh government for alleged negligence in the treatment of Bhai Nirmal Singh. In the four-minute audio clip, which is being circulated, Bhai Nirmal Singh is heard telling his son Amiteshwar Singh about the poor facilities in the isolation ward and that he may not survive. “The Health Department’s preparedness for Covid has been exposed,” Brahmpura said in a statement. The former MP added, “Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh should order an inquiry into the ragi’s death.” TNS

He said that the army, navy and air force have moved into action by dedicating 17-18 hospitals to care for the infected, and the total bed capacity in the forces has been ramped up to 15,000 so far.

ndia’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen Bipin Rawat believes that India must break the Covid-19 virus chain by April 14, through the lockdown and social distancing, or be prepared to weather the long-term consequences of the pandemic.

“The military dictum is ‘prepare or perish’, but in these times of Covid we have refined it to ‘prepare or suffer’. We must arrest the spread of the virus through a 100% lockdown and social distancing by April 14. With the harvesting season around the corner, India cannot afford the numbers to go up. The military is totally prepared to stand up to the demands made by government and the people,” Gen Rawat said in a phone interview.

Click here for the complete coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic

He said that the army, navy and air force have moved into action by dedicating 17-18 hospitals to care for the infected, and the total bed capacity in the forces has been ramped up to 15,000 so far. “We have hospitals ready even in far-off places like Dimapur and Zakhama in Nagaland, even though the virus has not spread in North-east India. We have now two to three hospitals ready in each zone to treat, manage and control the infection,” he said.

Also Read: Coronavirus: How world reached a million cases in 93 days

The CDS said that the military and its doctors were constantly in touch with the Union health ministry, and he, as secretary of military affairs, was attending meetings with PK Mishra, principal secretary to the Prime Minister, and cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba.

Gen Rawat said that one ward in each hospital, including places such as Delhi where the base hospital is normally crowded, will be dedicated for Covid-19 patients. “We have created isolation and quarantine facilities in Jaisalmer, Jodhpur and Jhansi to accommodate 500 patients each for treatment, to add to the capacity of para-military facilities, such as the one in Manesar,” he said.

The single-point military advisor to the government said that since army, navy and air force schools are closed due to the lockdown, the premises can be prepared as quarantine centres. “We have three army public schools, one navy school and one air force public school in Delhi. It has been decided that these schools should be made ready to be made quarantine centres, if required. Even though the capacities of these schools is about 1,500 patients each, only 200 will be put up in each school due to proper sanitation requirements. The same model is being readied in other parts of the country if there is a requirement, or in a worst-case scenario.”

Also Read: Covid-19: What you need to know today

Gen Rawat also said that the defence ministry has made an important change in the procurement manual by allowing advance payments to be made to the manufacturers of medical equipment such as ventilators, masks and protection suits. “We have already placed an order of 370 ventilators with the DRDO {Defence Research and Development Organisation} and are asking ordnance factories also for manufacture of masks and PPE {personal protective equipment} suits. The power to make advance payments has been given to director generals of armed medical services, army commanders, corps commanders and brigade commanders so that there is no shortage of any medical supplies, both for troops and the public,” he said.

The CDS also said that two naval medical ships were ready to help neighbouring countries in case of a medical emergency. The air force, which recently flew a 14-member team to the Maldives, is prepared to ferry medical supplies in and out of the country.

Although Gen Rawat is optimistic that India can contain the virus, he is “keeping his fingers crossed” and hoping that “social distancing, lockdown, and the Indian summer heat” will end the threat.

Amit Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 5

From providing medicines and ration to getting their wheelchairs fixed and taking them for a health check-up, the UT police have come to the service of senior citizens in all possible ways during the lockdown.

Understanding the need for keeping in touch with the elderly, especially when there are restrictions in the city, police personnel started making calls through the control room on March 31 and till April 5, 4,480 senior citizens were called up of whom 2,328 attended their calls. The police said 105 of them sought police assistance.

UT SSP Nilambari Jagdale said senior citizens had sought help for delivering medicines, ration, vegetables and fruits. “A Sector 21 resident also asked to get her wheelchair repaired,” the SSP said.

She said the SHOs concerned were being apprised of the need and they were doing the needful on priority.

The police said a few senior citizens were also taken for a check-up to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, besides banks and ATMs to withdraw money. “We will continue providing assistance to them in future as well,” the SSP said.

“We are taking special care of senior citizens who are staying alone,” the police official said.

The police are also making calls to pregnant women to ensure their well-being. “Those in need can call the emergency number 112 for assistance and we will send our team for help,” said a police official.

New Delhi: India has delivered 6.2 tonnes of essential medicines and hospital consumables to Maldives, which were stuck due to the 21-day coronavirus lockdown in the country.

The consignment was airlifted to Male by an Indian Air Force (IAF) C-130 aircraft Wednesday as part of ‘Operation Sanjeevani’.

These medicines and consumables were procured by Maldives’ State Trading Organisation (STO) from eight different suppliers in India.

A statement from the Indian embassy in Maldives Thursday said that due to the lockdown in India to contain the spread of Covid-19, the consignment could not be transported to Maldives by the suppliers through any other means.

So, at the request of the Maldivian government, the IAF aircraft lifted these medicines from the airports in New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Madurai, and flew them to Maldives.

The Indian Army facilitated the transport of these medicines and consumables from warehouses across India to the respective airports.

Also read: India ramps up Covid-19 assistance to SAARC nations, team set to leave for Nepal

Medicines included influenza, cancer drugs

The medicines included influenza vaccines, anti-viral drugs such as lopinavir and ritonavir (which have been used to treat Covid-19 patients in other countries), medicines for cardiac conditions, kidney ailments, hypertension, high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, allergies and cancer treatment.

The consignment also included anticonvulsants and consumables such as catheters, nebulisers, urine bags and infant feeding tubes.

India had on 14 March gifted 5.5 tonnes of essential medicines to Maldives to deal with coronavirus.

India had also sent a 14-member Covid-19 Rapid Response Team of doctors and specialists to enhance Maldives’ preparedness. The team has come back after providing necessary training and help.

The IAF, meanwhile, Wednesday said it has transported around 25 tonnes of essential medical supplies from Delhi, Surat, Chandigarh to Manipur, Nagaland and the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

The medical supplies included personal protective equipment (PPE), hand sanitisers, surgical gloves, thermal scanners, the IAF said in a statement, adding that medical personnel are also being taken from one place to another using their aircraft.

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 5

From evaluating the technical parameters of missiles and explosives, Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL) here has switched its expertise and in-house innovation to develop personal protective gear for the medical fraternity in the nationwide fight against COVID-19.

As many as 10,000 full face protective shields and 15 acrylic enclosures for examining infected persons are being produced by TBRL for the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Research and Education (PGIMER) here.

“The face shields are single use as well as multiple use type while the lntubation protective enclosure can be used multiple times,” Dr Manjit Singh, Director TBRL said. “We are making about a 100 face shields and 3-4 enclosures each day,” he added.

An important Defence Research and Development Organisaltion (DRDO) establishment based in Chandigarh, TBRL is involved in development, production, processing and characterisation of different high explosive compositions, fragmentation studies of warheads, captive flight testing of bombs, missiles and airborne systems and ballistics evaluation of protective system like body armour, vehicle armour and helmets.

The face shields are light weight and can be worn full day with comfort. Commonly available A-4 size transparency sheets used in overhead projectors are being used as visors while the holding frame is manufactured through Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), commonly known as 3-D printing. Polylactic Acid filament, a biodegradable thermoplastic derived from renewable resources such as corn starch or sugarcane, was used for 3-D printing.

The enclosures were requested by PGIMER’s Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care to act as first level of protection for doctors and medical staff during the intubation of COVID-19 patients. This is a process in which a tube is inserted into the patient’s mouth to keep the airway open so that the patient can be placed on a ventilator.

Made of perspex sheets the transparent enclosure is a cuboid that covers the patient’s face and upper chest, with two holes on one side through which a doctor has insert his arms to work. Medical professionals are at elevated levels of risk of infection as virus particles can become aerosolised during intubation.

Mass production of the products is planned using injection moulding technique to expedite the process. Industrial partners are also being developed to meet the possible demands from neighbouring states. Being a research laboratory, in-house production in TBRL is limited.

Dr Manjit said that TBRL is also making hand sanitizers for the Chandigarh Police using base compositions developed by the DRDO. The requirement is for 6,000 bottles of 500 ml and 1,200 bottles have already been supplied. TBRL was to get the sanitizers bottled from a commercial plant in Baddi in Himachal Pradesh, but the area has been sealed-off due to the death of an infected person. Alternate measures are being explored.

In addition, TBRL is also acting as a facilitator for the procurement of bio-suits developed by another DRDO lab for use by health care service providers. A walk-through disinfection tunnel, which is placed at the entrance to a building or complex, is also being evaluated at TBRL. Developed by Research Center Imarat, Hyderabad, the tunnel is equipped with sensors to assess body parameters, air showers and disinfectant sprays. It has the potential of being deployed at any public place or office complex.

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 2

Taking a tough stand on the issue in the light of the Nizamuddin incident, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday completely prohibited all gatherings, including religious, in the state. He said the state government would impose a total ban on all congregations, irrespective of the religion involved.

He said he would talk to Akal Takht Jathedar. He also directed the Chief Secretary to discuss the matter with the SGPC, in view of the upcoming Baisakhi festival.

The Chief Minister also ordered 21-day quarantine for all those who had returned to the state from Nizamuddin (Delhi) since January and asked the police and administrative officials to move aggressively to track, trace and isolate all such people. He directed the police and health officials to constitute special teams to track and follow up on those who had returned to Punjab from Nizamuddin.

Capt Amarinder was discussing and reviewing the current situation through a video conference with DCs and other senior officials of the civil administration and police department.

Meanwhile, DGP Dinkar Gupta said some 200 persons from Punjab had visited Nizamuddin and returned at different times, with 12 districts believed to be affected. They were being tracked, along with some from others states who had come to Punjab for Tabligh Jamaat work.

Health Secretary Anurag Aggarwal informed the Chief Minister that the department had so far received a list of 125 such persons.