Category: National

Delhi: In the middle of COVID-19 chaos, dedicated team at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals performed successful liver transplant of 10 months old Noor, from Malaysia.

Noor soon after birth had developed jaundice that worsened with time and was diagnosed with biliary atresia, a rare liver and bile disease which is seen in 1 out of 12000 infants. In addition to this, Noor also had heterotaxy, an abnormal arrangement of the internal thoracic-abdominal organs across the left-right axis of the body. Her liver and stomach lie in the middle of the abdomen and her heart lies in the middle of the chest.

At about 2 months of age Noor underwent a Kasai surgery that connects the under surface of liver directly to the intestines to achieve biliary drainage. She also underwent abdominal surgery to correct intestinal malrotation. Both surgeries at that time had failed.

According to Dr Anupam Sibal, Group Medical Director, Apollo Hospitals Group and Senior Paediatric Gastroenterologist & Hepatologist, Apollo Hospitals, Delhi, “If Kasai surgery fails to clear jaundice, then the only treatment is a liver transplant. Noor fell into this category of failed Kasai and developed progressive liver failure leading to severe jaundice, a bloated belly with ascites, growth failure, bleeding episodes due to liver dysfunction and increased pressure in the veins supplying her hardened liver.

She was hospitalised in Kuala Lampur multiple times and there once nearly died of a massive gastro-intestinal bleed in February. Initially her transfer to India was cancelled as she was on ventilator but since it was a very high-risk case requiring immediate surgery, she was referred to us.”

According to Dr Neerav Goyal, Senior Consultant and Head, Apollo Liver Transplant, Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery Unit, Apollo Hospital, Delhi , “The day after the family landed in Delhi, an advisory was issued by the Government to quarantine all travellers from Malaysia for 2 weeks. It was an ethical dilemma for the treating team as on one hand was the fear that she would not pull through that long and on the other hand the baby or her parents should be in the COVID incubation period. The team acted fast and put the family in quarantine. For 2 weeks post which the liver transplant was planned.”

“She developed a rhythm disturbance with a very slow heart rate while awaiting a transplant. She required temporary pacemaker. Post the quarantine period, after testing for SARS-COV- 2 which was negative and taking all precautions including PPE, she underwent a living related liver transplant on 31st March 2020. The donor was her mother. At the time of the transplant, Noor had a bilirubin level of about 45 mg/dl as against a normal of less than one. Her weight was only 6.5 kg at the age of 9 months.” Said, Dr Smita Malhotra, Consultant, Paediatric Gastroenterologist & Hepatologist, Apollo Hospitals, Apollo Hospitals Delhi.

“Starting with the first successful liver transplantation in India in 1998, the Apollo Liver Transplant Program has now performed more than 3500 liver transplants including 361 in children. “Because of heterotaxy, low weight precarious over all condition due to pronounced liver failure and the heart condition, this liver transplant was very high-risk procedure. Our extensive experience in liver transplantation helped us conduct an uneventful Liver transplant in a very complicated situation,” added, Dr. Sibal.

Our transplantation success rates are comparable to the best published outcomes in the world, which is truly a credit to the excellent team at Apollo Hospital that adheres to the highest standards of clinical care. We value the trust our patients. We have performed the most complicated of liver transplants (e.g., in babies weighing as less as 4 kilograms), combined liver–kidney transplants and multi-organ transplants,” Said Dr. Goyal.

By divine Grace driving modern medicine to its best, Noor underwent a successful liver transplant. The Liver transplant was done under the expert supervision of Dr Anupam Sibal, Medical Director, Apollo Hospitals Group and Senior Paediatric Gastroenterologist & Hepatologist and his team comprising Dr Neerav Goyal, Dr Smita Malhotra, Dr Vikas Kohli, Dr Varun Kumar, Dr Sanjeev Kumar Aneja.

She smiled beautifully at the staff and the sparkle in the eyes of the parents hides all the torment they have been through. She has now been discharged and awaits her return to Malaysia.

More than one lakh Non-Resident Keralites (NRKs) have reportedly enrolled on Non-Resident Keralites Affairs (NORKA) website after it began the registration process for bringing back people from various countries on Sunday.

As expected, a majority of the applicants were from the United Arab Emirates. As many as 45,430 persons, which accounted for 45 per cent of the total applications so far, were from Dubai, followed by 11,668 from Qatar, 11,365 Saudi Arabia, 6,350 from Kuwait, 4,375 from Oman, and 2,092 from Bahrain.

Only 321 people from the United States have evinced their interest in coming back despite the exponential rise in the number of COVID cases. US recorded 960,000 cases on Sunday, and the deaths surpassed 54,700.

As many as 621 people from the UK and over 100 from Asian countries, including Malaysia and Singapore, too applied for return.

Kerala government has urged the Centre to give preference to people with expired visiting visas, aged, pregnant women, children and critically ill first patients while screening applications.

Registration continues

The number is expected to rise in the coming days. NORKA has not set any deadline for the submissions.

Those who are interested to return may register their names with NORKA’s website:

http://www.registernorkaroots.org

after getting themselves tested for COVID-19 and obtaining a negative certificate.

The state government is awaiting nod from the centre to bring people back from abroad.

On Sunday, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan promised to set up COVID testing centres at all four international airports in the state during a video conference with the representatives of Kerala community in various Gulf countries.

NDTV reported, quoting government sources, that the ministry of external affairs has started planning for the evacuation of Indian nationals abroad. This being done in coordination with the Civil Aviation Ministry, Air India, state governments and Indian missions abroad, said the report.

Protocol for returnees

All returnees should follow these norms:

• All returnees should remain in home quarantine for 14 days even their tests at the airports retuned negative.

• Those who cannot stay at home should stay at the government-run quarantine facilities.

• Relatives should desist from receiving the returnees at the airports.

• All the returnees should go home directly and should not visit friends or relatives en route

• Those who arrive with COVID symptoms will be shifted to hospitals for further tests.

PTI

NEW DELHI: Amid reports of many Tablighi Jamaat members volunteering to donate their plasma for treatment of COVID-19 patients, Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Monday said those who committed the sin of spreading the virus through their “criminal conduct” are now claiming to be “corona warriors”.

Naqvi said there is a “well-planned dirty Tablighi conspiracy” to prove every Indian Muslim as a Tablighi. His remarks come after 10 members of Tablighi Jamaat, who attended its congregation and tested positive for COVID-19, have come forward and donated their plasma to treat severally-ill coronavirus patients in the national capital.

Several Tablighi Jamaat members at different quarantine centres have also volunteered to donate their plasma for treatment of COVID-19 patients, sources said.

Those Tablighi committed sin to spread Corona through their “Criminal Conduct” are claiming themselves to be “Corona warriors”.Amazing..Instead of being ashamed of their crime,Tablighi are insulting lakhs of #CoronaWarriors This is called “Chori Aur Seena Zori" #IndiaFightsCorona

— Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (@naqvimukhtar) April 27, 2020

“Those Tablighi committed sin to spread corona through their ‘criminal conduct’ are claiming themselves to be ‘corona warriors’. Amazing..instead of being ashamed of their crime,Tablighi are insulting lakhs of #CoronaWarriors,” This is called ‘chori aur seena zori’ #IndiaFightsCorona

(“Chori aur seena zori” is a Hindi proverb for “The hunt with the hound and run with the camel”)

In the plasma therapy, transfusion of plasma from recovered patients to severally-ill COVID-19 patients is conducted. Convalescent plasma is an experimental procedure for coronavirus patients.

The move comes after an appeal was made by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal last week to patients, who have successfully recovered from coronavirus, to donate their plasma for treatment of COVID-19 patients.

Last week, Naqvi, while reacting to instances of Muslims being blamed for the spurt in COVID-19 cases after Tablighi Jamaat congregation here, had said the entire Muslim community cannot be held responsible for one group’s “crime”. He had asserted that most of the minority community members have condemned the group’s action.

TOI

VADODARA: The pleasure of online ludo game turned intensely bitter for a couple after the man mercilessly thrashed his wife who defeated him consecutively in the game.

The 24-year-old woman suffered severe spinal cord injuries and had to be hospitalized recently.

According to the counsellors of 181 Abhayam helpline, the woman, who gives tuition at her house in Vemali to contribute to the family income.
Wanting her husband to stay indoors instead of spending time with others in their society, she coaxed him to play ludo on the mobile phone. He agreed to play, but his wife defeated him consecutively for three to four rounds in the game.

“A sore loser, he started arguing with with his wife and the verbal duel turned ugly. He started beating her with such ferocity that the woman developed a gap between two of her vertebrae,” said a counsellor from 181 Abhayam.

“His ego was hurt thinking that wife outsmarted him and was more intelligent as she also contributed to the family income,” said the counsellor.

The man works in a private electronics company and earns enough to sustain both of them. However, as they have to pay instalments of their home loan, the woman started started giving tuitions at home and did a beautician’s course.

The woman was taken to an orthopaedic surgeon and after treatment she decided to go to her parents’ home instead of living with her husband,” the counsellor said.

“But before that she wanted to go to her home to collect some documents. We then counselled them both,” the counsellor added.

Project coordinator Chandrakant Makwana said, “Our counsellors give options to the women whether they want to lodge a police complaint or settle the issue. In this case since the husband apologized and the woman did not wish to register an offence, so we counselled to live to together and the consequences about marital discord.”

The man was warned that physical torture is a crime and he can be arrested for the crime if she would complain to the police. “He agreed and apologized to the woman. She too agreed to return to him after spending a few days with her parents,” the counsellor said.
A written undertaking about it was also taken from the couple.

Earlier this month, a patient admitted at the hospital for dialysis tested positive for coronavirus

PTI

Thirty-three healthcare workers of the Max Super Speciality Hospital in Patparganj of east Delhi, including two doctors, had tested positive for COVID-19 so far, the hospital spokesperson said on Monday.

On April 15, the hospital announced that it would test all its workers and the 33 cases were found during this process, according to the hospital.

“The hospital is being sanitised and the staff who were tested positive were moved to Max Hospital, Saket, East Wing, which is a COVID treatment facility. Also, 145 nurses working at the Patparganj hospital have been quarantined,” the spokesperson said.

Max Super Speciality Hospital in Patparganj is not a COVID-19 treatment facility, and earlier this month, a patient admitted at the hospital for dialysis tested positive for the virus.

The Union Health Ministry, in its daily update of the coronavirus cases in India, said that the country has registered 27,333 COVID-19 positive cases so far, of which 20,835 are active.

As many as 872 people have died of the infection. The country’s recovery rate is 21.9%, as 6,184 people have recovered from the disease so far.

Covid-19 Updates:

Delhi:

33 healthcare workers at Delhi’s Max Hospital test positive

Thirty-three healthcare workers of Max Super Speciality Hospital in Patparganj of East Delhi, including two doctors, were tested positive for COVID-19 so far, said the hospital spokesperson on Monday.

On April 15, the hospital had announced that it will test all its workers for COVID-19 and the 33 cases were found during this process, according to the hospital.

Andra Pradesh:

80 more COVID positive cases reported in AP

Andhra Pradesh reported 80 new COVID-19 positive cases in six districts during the past 24 hours out of 6,517 samples tested. This is the third time the State has reported 80 or more cases in the past five days. Around 30% of the total cases reported so far were detected during the same period.

The State COVID-19 tally has gone up to 1,177 now and the death toll remains at 31 with no new deaths reported in the past two days. Four patients have recovered, leaving 911 active cases.

Madhya Pradesh:

Three die of COVID-19 in Indore

Three persons have died of COVID-19 in Indore while undergoing treatment at hospitals, taking the death toll in the city to 60.

All three were men aged 55, 65 and 67. They suffered from diabetes and hypertension which hastened the deaths, according to a bulletin issued by the district administration late night on Sunday.

So far, 2,121 persons have tested positive for the illness in Madhya Pradesh. As many as 106 have died of it, and 318 have recovered from the disease.

Maharashtra:

Cases in Pune continue to soar as district reports 55 more over 12-hour span

At least 55 new COVID-19 cases were reported over a 12-hour span across Pune district, with the majority being from Pune city. This takes the district’s cumulative tally of active cases to 1,044, said health officials on Monday.

Meanwhile, the death of a 48-year-old woman in the city’s Sassoon General Hospital took the district’s death toll to 78, said authorities.

Odisha:

In Bihar, 16 more COVID-19 positive cases have been detected, taking the total figure to 290. All cases have come from Jamalpur in Munger district.

More details awaited.

Karnataka:

Patient ends life in COVID-19 ward

Patient number 466, a 50-year-old auto-rickshaw driver from Bengaluru, who was being treated in the COVID-19 ICU ward on the sixth floor at the Emergency and Trauma Care Centre on Victoria Hospital premises ended his life on Monday morning.

Sources in the hospital said the patient, who had suffered renal failure and was on dialysis, was depressed after the death of Patient number 465 in the ICU ward on Sunday.

India puts its recovery rate at 21.9%

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan noted that 5,913 people have recovered from COVID-19 so far, placing India’s recovery rate at 21.9%.

“The situation is improving in India as Hotspot Districts are moving towards becoming Non Hotspot Districts,” said the Minister. Dr. Vardhan said people should observe the lockdown in letter and spirit and treat it as an effective intervention to cut down the spread of COVID-19.

Chandigarh: Punjab police on Sunday claimed to have arrested an activist of the Kashmiri militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen with Rs 29 lakh cash worth Indian currency in his possession.

Hilal Ahmed Wagay, a resident of Nowgam coming under Avantipura police station area of Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir, was nabbed by the Amritsar police team on April 25 near Metro Mart, Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta said in a statement here.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Wagay was sent by Kashmir valley chief of Hizbul Mujahideen, Riyaz Ahmed Naiku, for collecting money from an unidentified person near Metro Mart in Amritsar in a truck, the DGP said.

Money was delivered to him by an unknown person, who came on a two-wheeler, Gupta said.

The person accompanying Wagay in the truck was identified as Rayees Ahmed, a resident of Bijbehara in Anantnag district, the DGP added.

A case was registered under relevant sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (Amendment 2012) in Sadar police station in Amritsar.(PTI)

While addressing his monthly radio programme Mann Ki Baat, the Prime Minister also said the coronavirus pandemic has changed the way festivals are being celebrated in India and across the world.

PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged people to turn the month of Ramzan into a symbol of patience, harmony, sensitivity and service and follow norms of social distancing to break the chain of coronavirus infections.

While addressing his monthly radio programme Mann Ki Baat, the Prime Minister also said the coronavirus pandemic has changed the way festivals are being celebrated in India and across the world.

“The holy month of Ramzan has also begun. While celebrating Ramzan last time, no one has thought that we will have face such a big crisis during Ramzan this time,” Modi said while speaking during the 64th edition of his monthly radio programme Mann Ki Baat.

“But now when the whole world is facing this problem, it provides us with an opportunity to make this Ramzan a symbol of patience, harmony, sensitivity and service. We should pray even more this time so that the world is rid of corona by the time of Eid and we celebrate with the same fervour and enthusiasm as before,” he said.

Modi’s message came a day after the Muslim holy month began and when prayers in mosques have been stopped and religious gatherings banned across India to contain the spread of Covid-19.

The Prime Minister also said that he was confident that by following the guidelines of the local administration, people will strengthen the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

“It is essential right now to follow physical distance on the streets, residential areas and markets. I also express my gratitude to all those community leaders who are making people aware of maintaining a two-yard distance and staying home,” he said.

Ramadan started on Saturday morning and is expected to end on May 24. Muslims fast during the daylight hours, a practice seen as one of the five pillars of Islam, over 30 days. They eat before sunrise and break their fast after dusk each day.

The Union ministry of home affairs had on April 10 directed all states and the Union territories (not to allow any social or religious gathering and ensure strict compliance of lockdown ahead of various festivals like Baisakhi, Ambedkar Jayanti, Ramadan and others.

The Congress released a short video of an online meeting of the party’s consultative group, headed by the former Prime Minister
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that without aggressive testing facilities, India would find it difficult to ‘conquer’ the challenge posed by COVID-19, the Congress said on Sunday.

The party released a short video of an online meeting of the Congress consultative group, headed by Dr. Singh, where senior leaders and former Union Ministers discuss different aspects of the pandemic every alternate days.

“There are problems with regard to the inadequacies of the testing facilities. Without aggressive testing facilities, we are not going to conquer this menace,” Dr. Singh.

Former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said India had the capacity to triple the amount of testing. “If we have to have reach the threshold of 1% of population, we should do something like 10 million tests,” Mr. Ramesh said.

Protecting migrants

Former party chief Rahul Gandhi said there should be a policy of protecting the migrants and the State governments should drive the fight against novel coronavirus.

“Our migrant strategy should include 100% protection. The idea that you can tell the migrant to forget it or it’s his problem, that has to be censured. The movement of the migrant should depend on and done through States and they should have a conversation,” Mr. Gandhi said.

Agreeing with Mr. Gandhi, former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said that the Centre should leave it to the States, from where the migrant workers originally came, to find ways to take them back.

“But the bulk will remain where they are and they need to be given cash and food grains,” Mr. Chidambaram said.

While party chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the government’s first financial assistance plan was inadequate and needed to step up, Lok Sabha member Manish Tewari stressed on an exit plan from the lockdown.

“It is incumbent upon us to collectively apply our minds and see if we can suggest a smart plan as to how do we transition out of this lockdown because of all the issues which have been flagged specially the economic issues,” Mr. Tewari said.

With inputs from The Hindu