Author: wellnmed@gmail.com

** Hospital launches drive to honour Covid warriors in Bengaluru

Under the programme, healthcare professionals in over 300 hospitals in Bengaluru will be honoured over the next 12 days.

To acknowledge the efforts of healthcare professionals in government and private hospitals, Kauvery Hospitals on Monday flagged off Kritagnya programme, launching five vehicles that will visit each hospital and honour these Covid warriors.

The 12-day programme will culminate on July 31, when awards for Best Medical Innovation during the Covid pandemic will be given away in two different categories (Clinical and Non-clinical). An independent panel of juries is being set up to decide the winners. Scholarships will also be awarded to school and college-going children of healthcare workers who have lost their lives, while graduates will be helped with job placements as per their qualification. Parallelly, a vaccination drive for the underprivileged communities will be held.

** IISc researchers find unknown gene creating smaller eye lenses

The combination of a freshwater fish species, two rural children and six years of gruelling investigative work has allowed researchers to find a mutated gene that causes a serious eye defect in some Indian children.

** Building green bridges

An artist from Karkala is promoting sustainable living, and reviving the culture of areca tree trunk bridges in villages. His philosophy being ‘Keep it natural’.

UDUPI:

The grey gash of a concrete bridge strikes a discordant note in the earthy shades of a rustic setting — a sign of development which stands out like a sore thumb. It’s not meant to be there, says Purushotham Adve, who spent his childhood in Karkala taluk, by streams and rivers running through the Western Ghats. There were no squat ugly bridges in his childhood memories, only natural crossovers built by experienced villagers — often areca tree trunks slung together to form a bridge.

** This Mysuru man is recycling kindness

A 34-year-old researcher, Syed Baker, and his friends have been distributing groceries and food packets to many families since the first wave of Covid hit the country.

Syed, who returned from Russia during the pandemic, said, “I came across two women who had lost their father to suicide years ago. They, along with their mother, were surviving by doing odd jobs with caterers, but were left with no work when the pandemic struck. We helped them by supplying grocery kits. It made us realise how badly people were struggling.”