Philanthropists and corporates have been stepping in to help the city fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
St. Martha’s Hospital received 150 sets of oxygen concentrators that were sent by Dubai-based NRI Eugene Mayne, founder and chief executive of the Tristar Group.
Mr. Mayne, a graduate of St. Joseph’s Bangalore and Bangalore University, sourced the oxygen concentrators from Europe.
The second Indian Navy vessel carrying oxygen and other medical aid from Kuwait arrived at the New Mangaluru Port on Monday.
According to a press release by the New Mangaluru Port Trust, the Indian Navy vessel INS Kolkata brought two containers with 20 tonnes of oxygen, 200 oxygen cylinders packed in 10 pallets of 10 ton and four 10-litre high flow oxygen concentrators. This was sent by Government of Kuwait to the Indian Red Cross Society for use in treatment of COVID-19 patients.
The State Government on Tuesday announced distribution of free food through Indira Canteens thrice a day across the State till May 24. The announcement is expected to benefit the poor, street vendors and workers during the lockdown period.
The benefit will come through in more than 170 canteens across district and taluk centres, and through food packet distribution in more than 150 canteens and about 30 mobile canteens functioning in Bengaluru city limits. The service commenced from Tuesday in rest of the state while it will commence from Wednesday in Bengaluru.
Sunil Shetty from Balkunje village in Dakshina Kannada is among the few farmers who has got help from afar to ensure that his entire lot of ash gourd crop did not go a waste. A Good Samaritan from Australia saved him from financial distress.
Hotelier Sudhir Shetty, a native of Dakshina Kannada now doing business in Australia, has bought about 20 tonnes of Mr. Sunil Shetty’s produce through a friend, the Surathkal-based power system entrepreneur Kiran J. Bhandary. He asked Mr. Bhandary to distribute the ash gourd free of cost to those in need in the region. However, since offering ash gourd for free is regarded a taboo, Mr. Bhandary sold it at ₹1 a kg till Saturday.
The 100th World Red Cross Day was celebrated by the Youth Red Cross of University College Mangaluru virtually on Saturday.
Mangalore University Youth Red Cross Nodal Officer Ganapathi Gowda, Chief Guest, delivered the keynote address describing the origin and mission of the Red Cross.
The Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes’ Association (PHANA) on Sunday launched a portal — Search My Bed — which will provide real-time information on the availability of beds in private hospitals for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
This has been a long-standing demand from citizens who were otherwise forced to call up private hospitals or knock on their doors to see if there were any beds available for patients.
Tzar Labs, a molecular diagnostic company in coordination with the Mumbai-based Epigeneres Biotechnology, has claimed to have developed a breakthrough blood test for early prognosis/diagnosis of cancer.
Texas Instruments on Saturday announced setting up of 86 critical care beds in a modular ICU unit at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases in Bengaluru. Given as part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative, the ICU unit will come up at an investment of Rs 3 crore and will be ready in 3-4 weeks.
Former Minister and Rajya Sabha member K.B. Shanappa, 83, passed away at District General Hospital attached to Gulbarga Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) at about 3.30 p.m. on Sunday. He had tested positive for COVID-19 and was admitted to the State-run hospital after he developed complications a few days ago. He is survived by his wife, three daughters and two sons.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is in the process of setting up a COVID-19 Care Dashboard and a data-driven analytical system in collaboration with ITC Infotech, a wholly-owned subsidiary of business conglomerate ITC Ltd.
The move is aimed at upgrading the local body’s existing pandemic care infrastructure and removing the multiple hurdles people have been facing in the chase for beds. The second wave has seen horror stories of people scrambling to find oxygenated beds.