At a time when health workers are working day and night to stem the spread of the virus, the government of India is making persistent efforts to meet the demand for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for them. However, there have been cases of attacks on medical workers while they visit the affected areas. The government therefore passed an ordinance protecting health workers. Complete Coverage: Coronavirus
Crux of the Matter
Why the Ordinance? Union Health Minister Prakash Javadekar announced that the cabinet has given nod to the ordinance that would amend the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897. In India, health workers were attacked, abused, spat on, and sometimes treated violently while treating COVID-19 patients. When the government began contact tracing of people who attended the Tablighi Jamaat at New Delhi, medical staff and police faced witnessed acts of resistance from the potential COVID-19 patients. A number of cases of stone-pelting and various forms of violence against health workers and police force emerged from Ahmedabad, Indore, Hyderabad, etc.
Indore has 76% of MP's #COVID patients, but after Ranipura again locals attacked health officials @ChouhanShivraj @DGP_MP @ndtvindia #COVID19Pandemic #CoronaKoDhona #COVIDIOTS pic.twitter.com/GPDMqEfBaM — Anurag Dwary (@Anurag_Dwary) April 2, 2020
Safety to Health Workers The Ordinance makes acts of violence health workers and medical staff a non-bailable and cognizable offence. Under the amendment, anyone violating the law may be imprisoned for 6 months to 7 years and a fine up to Rs 5 lakh. Anyone damaging any property or asset would be fined double the amount of market price of the asset.
Health workers who are trying to save the country from this epidemic are unfortunately facing attacks. No incident of violence or harassment, against them will be tolerated. An ordinance has been brought in, it’ll be implemented after President’s sanction. Prakash Javadekar, Union Health Minister
Ray of Hope Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) announced that 5 vaccines have undergone the human trial phase in just 3 months of the outbreak of a new kind of virus, marking the progress of science. ICMR also stated that all the test kits will be tested and validated by the on-ground team itself from now onwards. This advisory comes after there have been issues of faulty Chinese testing kits and antibody kits. However, the early phase of the human trial of the Coronavirus vaccine does give hope to India that has more than 21,000 cases and 600+ deaths as on 23rd April 2020.
It is a new disease, in the last 3 and half months science has progressed & developed PCR tests, 5 vaccines have gone into human trial phase out of 70 vaccine candidates. It has never happened before in case of any other disease: R Gangakhedkar, ICMR #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/tuECCqRpnn — ANI (@ANI) April 21, 2020
Curiopedia
Flipkart has pledged to donate Rs. 46 Crores in providing PPE to healthcare workers in India. Flipkart was acquired by Walmart in 2018.
The first usage of the principle of vaccine dates back to the 17th Century when Asian physicians gave children dried crusts from the lesions of people suffering from smallpox to protect against the disease. The first official vaccine was introduced by British physician Edward Jenner, who in 1796 used the cowpox virus (vaccinia) to confer protection against smallpox, a related virus, in humans.
Recently an image went viral in which graphic artist BossLogic reimagined the famous sequence of “Avengers Assemble” from Avengers Endgame as Medical and Healthcare workers. Later he released another graphic of COVID-19 as Thanos.
Curated Coverage
Comentários