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.

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 5

The army on Sunday deferred till June 30 the release of personnel who had opted for premature retirement and were earlier scheduled to hang up their boots in the next two months.

“In view of the fight against #COVID19, SOS dates for all Pre-Mature Retirement of #IndianArmy officers extended till 30 June 2020. Individual letters to all will be issued after lockdown period,” a tweet by the Additional Directorate General Public Relations stated. SOS means ‘struck off strength’.

The moves comes in the wake of a nationwide lockdown to combat COVID-19 that has mandated reduced staff strength in government offices so that only essential services are maintained.

Retention of personnel till the situation returns to normal also addresses the issue of manpower requirements in case of any exigency. The Army has come up with a blue print to recall veterans to augment its strength if required.

The Armed Forces personnel are also engaged in combating COVID-19 pandemic. While the Air Force is constantly ferrying critically required medical supplies and emergency equipment to far flung areas, the forces are also running quarantine camps for travellers who have returned from abroad and providing medical teams and support to civilian authorities. The forces are also on the standby to assist civilian administration in maintaining law and order and undertake internal security duties if the need so arises.

Armed Forces personnel can opt for premature retirement if they are superseded or on medical and compassionate grounds if they have completed the minimum required service for grant of pension. A detailed policy and comprehensive instructions exist on the subject. According to sources, about 50,000 personnel have opted for premature retirement in the past five years.

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 29

Under the initiative by the SGPC to send back home outstation tourists who got stranded due to curfew restrictions, around 60 tourists belonging to Jammu and Kashmir returned through special buses on Sunday.

SGPC senior vice-president Rajinder Singh Mehta said two buses left for J and K today. “Our buses would drop them at Jammu only. However, those from Kashmir valley would make their own arrangement from there. The passengers were made to sit at a distance from each other as per the directions of the health department. Besides, the buses were also sanitised and the passengers too were provided with hand sanitisers”, he said.

Earlier, the SGPC had sent tourists to Delhi and Haryana in five buses. Similarly, four buses were flagged off for Shahjanahpur (UP) and Bathinda too. The buses also ferried the stranded tourists at Delhi for various parts of Punjab.

At present, various tourists from Tata Nagar (Gujarat), Mumbai and Bihar too were accommodated in various inns of the SGPC.

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, April 5

Curfew has been imposed in parts of Varanasi following the death of the state’s third Covid-19 positive case detected posthumously and discovery of another positive case on Sunday.

Confirming this, Varanasi District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said curfew had been imposed in Madanpura, Lohta, Gangapur and Bajardiha areas after Covid-19 positive patients were found.

A 55-year-old shopkeeper from Gangapur died at Banaras Hindu University’s Sir Sunderlal Hospital on April 3 while his report confirming his disease came a day later on April 4. He was a patient of high blood pressure and diabetes.

He had visited Kolkata, following which he fell ill on March 27 and was admitted to the hospital.

The first death in Gorakhpur’s BRD Medical College hospital of a 25-year-old Basti resident last Sunday was also confirmed after his death.

A woman resident of Varanasi’s Bajardiha area who had returned from Saudia Arabia on March 15 also tested positive on Sunday after which all these localities have been sealed.

Lucknow Cantonment next to the Sadar Bazaar area has been cordoned off barring even soldiers after 12 persons living in a mosque in Sadar Bazaar tested positive. They had attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi last month.

According to Lucknow Police Commissioner Sujit Pandey, as soon as they received the news of the 12 positive cases, the area was turned into a sterile zone to prevent the virus spread.

Only military medical teams, quick response teams, emergency MES services and essential services would be allowed, said chowki incharge of Lucknow Cantonment PK Gupta.

Additional chief secretary Avanish Awasthi said of the 1,499 people who had been identified in UP for attending Delhi’s Tablighi Jamaat meeting around 138 have tested positive so far.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath interacted through video-conferencing with the state’s elected representatives and 377 religious leaders from all districts of the state asking them for suggestions on how to prevent crowding once the lockdown is removed on April 15.

Ravi Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service
Gurdaspur, March 28

Even as officials are fighting a grim battle against Covid, Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Ishfaq is having a tough time tackling weird calls, with residents waking him up at odd hours to fulfil their demands, a majority of which are “illogical and irrational”.

Minister gets call in dead of night

Cabinet Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa was also a receiver of one such call and that too in the dead of the night from a resident of Dera Baba Nanak, the Assembly seat he represents. “Mantri ji, sade ghar noodles khatam hogaye ne. Kuch kar deyo please” (minister sahib, there are no noodles in our house. Please do something.)

At 4.15 am today, Ishfaq, who slept well past midnight after presiding over a high-level meeting on how to put an end to rumour-mongering, was woken up by a call on his mobile by a woman who demanded that curd be sent to her house immediately “as her husband had a hangover”.

“DC sahib, kal rat mere gharwale ne daru zyada pi lee te dahi mere ghar bhej do” (Sir, last evening my husband overdrank, so please send curd to my place),” she said.

Fifteen minutes later, the DC received a video of a man unabashedly crying and claiming that despite repeated reminders to grocery store owners, he was not supplied ration. The DC got in touch with the police and food supplies officials, who in turn visited the house of the “aggrieved man”.

When the officials reached the man’s house, they were taken aback to see a room fully stacked with a dozen large boxes of ration items. They then reported the matter to the DC, who rang up the man to know the truth. The reply he got was, “DC sahib, eh ration tan main apne munde de viah layee rakhiya hai. Sade pandit ji ne keha hai ki viah to pehlan isnu hath nahi lagana” (this ration is for my son’s wedding. Our priest has asked us not to touch it before the wedding day).”

Officials from the Food and Civil Supplies Department claimed that every day, a number of people called them up saying “Sade ghar adhrak khatam hogya” (we do not have ginger in our house), “Bache Maggi mangde ne” (children are asking for Maggi)).

Cabinet Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa was also a receiver of one such call and that too in the dead of the night from a resident of Dera Baba Nanak, the Assembly seat he represents. “Mantri ji, sade ghar noodles khatam hogaye ne. Kuch kar deyo please” (minister sahib, there are no noodles in our house. Please do something).

Raman Bahl, chairman of the Punjab State Subordinate Services Selection Board, distributed 300 ration kits. Real estate dealer Manjit Singh Dala has sent a message on social media, asking residents to contact him if they needed anything.

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 5

All military exercises which the Indian armed forces conduct with militaries of other countries have been suspended till further orders due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

The Ministry of Defence in consultation with the Ministry of External Affairs had planned more than 50 exercises during 2020. “Everything has been put on hold till further orders,” said a senior functionary, adding that even after the covid scare goes away it will take some time for militaries to start re-engaging with each other. Assets like warships, planes and helicopters and combat manpower of each country have been diverted to oversee the crisis.

There’s no scope for even conducting the planning conferences which are prelude to conducting a exercise. The calendar for exercises will have to redrawn; some exercises will be expectedly curtailed while others will have to be ‘postponed’. Countries will have to commit assets and also be sure that the host country is free from Covid.

The scheduled list for 2020 included several bilateral exercises with countries like US, Russia China, France, UK, Israel, Japan, Brazil, South Africa, Malaysia, Nepal, among others.

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 2

The Ministry of Defence has mobilised retired personnel of the armed forces to carry out some tasks in the fight against Covid. Also the services of the National Cadet Corps have been okayed.

The Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare in the MoD has taken the initiative to mobilise services of ex-servicemen community as a part of augmentation of human resource to assist the state and district administration.

The retired armed forces personnel — some 26 lakh — remain connected with their regiments, squadrons, ship-mates and course mates. Also uniquely, only retired servicemen have a dedicated department for their welfare.

Rajya Sainik Boards and Zila Sainik Boards are playing a dynamic role in identifying and mobilising maximum ESM volunteers to assist the state and district administration in performing public outreach activities such as contact tracing, community surveillance, management of quarantine facilities or any such tasks assigned to them.

The ESM are disciplined, motivated and well trained to operate in adverse situations and they have pan-India presence in all districts and villages across the country.

In Punjab, an organisation, called ‘Guardians of Governance’, comprising 4,200 ESM is assisting in data collection from all the villages.

The Chhattisgarh Government has employed some ESM to assist the police. Similarly, in Andhra Pradesh, all District Collectors have asked for ESM volunteers.

NCC cadets to help in relief efforts

• The National Cadet Corps (NCC) has extended the services of cadets — above 18 years of age — to augment relief efforts and functioning of various agencies involved in battling Covid
• The tasks envisaged for NCC cadets include manning of helpline, call centres, distribution of relief material, medicines, food, essential commodities, community assistance, data management and traffic management

Chandigarh, April 4

His last meeting with the family was just a few minutes long—the time it takes to have a cup of tea. And this was sipped outside the front door.

Dr Gurpal Kataria is posted at Punjab government hospital in Nawanshahr, a coronavirus hotspot. The front line doctor and his team are taking care of the 18 infected patients admitted at the isolation ward there.

The doctor has little time now to visit his family in Jalandhar, 60 km away. He keeps in touch over the phone but the last, brief visit was two weeks back.

“I did not enter the home as a precautionary measure, just saw them and then returned on duty,” he says.

Kataria’s wife is a dentist at the Hoshiarpur civil hospital.

“My daughter, who has taken the class 10 exams, always tells me to take care. She also feels proud that her parents are serving people,” he says.

Nawanshahr has reported 19 coronavirus cases so far, the highest number from any district in Punjab where the count was 53 on Saturday morning.

A 70-year-old patient has died in Nawanshahr. Eighteen others, including a two-and-a-half-year-old child and three women, are in the isolation ward of the civil hospital, waiting for the day their tests results show negative.

Kataraia says a major concern is the patients’ morale. They often ask doctors about the coronavirus count, worrying how many people have died each day.

“For us this is like a place of worship, where we get a sense of satisfaction when we see happiness on the faces of our patients,” says the 54-year-old doctor.

“We counsel our patients on a regular basis and tell them there is no need to be scared, and they will be fine. We try to keep them in positive frame of mind and keep their morale high,” Kataria says. “We do not let them feel that they are stuck here.” “When they go back from here, they will certainly remember us,” he says.

He says all arrangements are in place at the government hospital to deal with any coronavirus eventuality. Medical teams are on standby, in case there is a spike.

Kataria’s own team—which includes a microbiologist, a rural medical officer, a pharmacist and a lab technician—stays in houses within the hospital complex.

“I and my team are available round the clock here,” he tells PTI over the phone.

Kataria got his MD degree from the Amritsar government medical college. His experience at the time of swine flu outbreak in 2009 has helped him in dealing with the coronavirus cases, he says. PTI