Prince of Arcot Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali. File. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Prince of Arcot Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali, who is also the President of MEASI, spoke to Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami
The Muslim Educational Association of Southern India (MEASI), the parent body of The New College, Chennai, has contributed ₹50 lakh to the Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund towards meeting the challenge of tackling COVID-19 pandemic.
Prince of Arcot Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali, who is also the President of MEASI, spoke to Chief Minister Edapaddi K. Palaniswami over phone on Wednesday, and requested him to accept the offer from a minority educational institution, according to a release.
MEASI honorary secretary T. Rafeeq Ahmed and treasurer Elias Sait assisted Mr. Ali in raising the fund.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News>Cities> Chennai / by Special Correspondent / Chennai – April 23rd, 2020
A homeless man being helped by a volunteer | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
A trust started by a 24-year-old helps bury unclaimed bodies and takes homeless persons with injuries to government hospitals and shelters
A few weeks ago, Suseela, a 60-year-old homeless woman in Gaudiya Mutt Road, sustained a grievous injury on her head, and as she left it unattended, maggots formed in the wound. Similarly, Jeeva, a 70-year-old homeless man in Tambaram, with injuries on his legs, could not get medical attention. Luckily for them, 24-year-old Khaalid Ahmed came to their rescue during the lockdown. He, along with few other volunteers, cleaned their wounds, took them to nearest government hospitals and later, helped them move to shelters run by the Greater Chennai Corporation.
Khalid Ahmed, a mechanical engineering graduate, runs a trust called Uravugal, which helps bury unclaimed bodies after getting proper police and medical clearance. He has been running this trust since 2017 and has buried more than 800 bodies till date. There are around 500 volunteers working for the trust.
“People, who spot injured or dead homeless people, contact us after seeing our social media page. We immediately rush to the spot and co-ordinate with the respective government departments and render the help needed,” Mr. Ahmed says .
During the lockdown period, his team has not only been treating injuries of homeless persons, but have also been burying the bodies of daily wage earners, who are left without any money due to the curfew, and also of pavement dwellers who have no relatives.
“Since March 24, we have conducted final rites for nine persons. Most of the pavement dwellers manage to get food. But many are concerned about if they will get a proper burial once they die. This prompted me to start the trust,” explains Mr. Ahmed.
Apart from this, he has also helped three patients reach their hometowns. “We have our own ambulance for this purpose. Recently we shifted a pregnant woman to Jipmer, Puducherry,” he adds.
A senior police officer said that it was a very good initiative. “But if they do it in co-ordination with government, it will be more efficient,” he added.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Vivek Narayana / Chennai – April 18th, 2020
With help from the police, Dr Syed Moinuddin Shabbir (on bike) goes about attending to patients
Bengaluru :
With OPDs in most hospitals and neighbourhood clinics shut owing to the lockdown, a 46-year-old Bengaluru doctor has emerged a roving healer for thousands of people in Shivajinagar, Pulikeshinagar and Bharatinagar.
Astride a two wheeler converted into a mobile ambulance, Dr Syed Moinuddin Shabbir goes around tending to minor ailments and providing residents essentials like groceries and medicines.
The genial doctor visits 20 to 25 lanes every day and examines residents. He administers insulin shots to diabetics. “Most of the medicines I supply are for blood pressure and diabetes,” says the doctor, who is also vice-principal of a paramedic college at Santosh Group of Institutions. “There are diabetics with gangrene, who need a strong dose of antibiotics on a regular basis. The dressing also needs to be changed.”
Trained by B.Pac as a Civic Leader, Shabbir says he’s been doing his bit since March 25. He initially reached out to people in Shivajinagar. “I was born and brought up in Shivajinagar,” he says.
The doctor, who borrowed the scooter-turned-ambulance from the Santosh group, covers at least 125km every day. He has another two-wheeler for delivering groceries. He pays for the fuel and medicines from his pocket. The groceries he supplies are sponsored by organisations such as Rotary Bangalore Cantonment and Jain Youth Trust.
On house visits, he also spreads awareness on the symptoms of Covid-19 and the need to maintain hygiene and remain indoors. The doctor has also roped in Pulikeshinagar and Bharatinagar police stations to further his endeavor. Patients in need of help or provisions/medicines contact one of the two stations, which alert Shabbir.
So far, the doctor has helped deliver groceries that could last up to one month to 10,000 families, including migrant workers. Shabbir wears a mask to protect himself. “Initially , my family was very hesitant, but eventually they understood it’s a good cause,” he says.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> City News> Bengaluru News / by Mrinilani Bhat / TNN / April 17th, 2020
Gloves attached to a long-sleeve are affixed to the glass cabin through which the doctor can pass his hands to collect the sample.
Representational Image. (Photo | PTI)
Lucknow :
Doctors at the district hospital in UP’s Mahoba have designed their own version of an air tight cabin for collecting swab samples to test coronavirus.
Called the Sample Collection Cabin for COVID-19, the structure has been inspired by one planned by a doctor in Kanpur and also by testing facilities in South Korea.
Behind the designing of the cabin is a team comprising Chief Medical Superintendent of Mahoba district hospital Dr R P Mishra, Dr Gulsher Ahmed, Dr Narendra and Dr Yogendra.
“We modified a structure planned by a doctor in Kanpur, about which we came to know through newspapers. As we worked on it we encountered difficulties and worked on removing them. We also got suggestions from some people,” the CMS said.
The cabin has two holes through which the doctor can pass his hands for collecting the swab sample.
Gloves attached to a long-sleeve are affixed to the glass cabin through which the doctor can pass his hands to collect the sample.
“This cabin was inspired by a photograph of a testing facility in South Korea, which we saw on the Internet. As the idea came to our mind, we spoke to our CMS, explained him the entire concept, and he agreed to it,” Dr Gulsher Ahmed told PTI on Sunday.
The booth was made in two days.
“The person to be tested is outside the booth while the person from the medical team is inside the booth and wearing a complete PPE kit. If a person whose samples are being taken sneezes, then the droplets will fall on the outer walls of the testing booth. After the sample is taken, one member of our medical team sprays the entire booth with sodium hypochlorite solution. The one who is wearing PPE kit sprays alcohol on the gloves of the lab technician (taking sample),” he said.
“The second sample at the Sample Collection Cabin for COVID-19 is taken after a gap of 10 minutes. We are exercising extra caution to ensure that infection does not spread,” Dr Ahmed, who is posted as a master trainer for COVID-19 said.
So far, we have taken 124 samples, and 94 persons have tested negative for COVID-19, Dr Ahmed said.
As many as 6 districts of UP — Pilibhit, Prayagraj, Bareilly, Maharajganj, Lakhimpur-Khiri and Hathras have now been declared as COVID-19 free.
Apart from this, 125 new patients have been confirmed as positive for novel coronavirus in various districts of UP taking the total number of positive cases to 974, of which 582 are related to Tablighi Jamaat.
Total deaths in the state stand at 14 (1 each at Basti, Varanasi, Bulandshahr, Kanpur and Lucknow; 2 each in Meerut and Moradabad and 5 in Agra).
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Nation / by PTI / April 19th, 2020
When CIPLA started producing generic medicine, the US complained of patent-violation. Indira Gandhi stood by CIPLA. It is ironical therefore that the US should now dial India for supply of HCQ
Khwaja Abdul Hamied was a great fan of Mahatma Gandhi
The manner in which Muslims are being demonised in this country by a section of the media and Bhakts of the BJP, here is a story that should uplift the hearts of almost everybody else.
In the 1920s, a rich man in India put his son on board a ship from Bombay to the United Kingdom in order to acquire a law degree and become a barrister, as was fashionable among all privileged families in the country at the time. The boy, however, did not want to be a lawyer; his heart was in chemistry, a pursuit without a seeming future in those days.
But his father gave him little choice, so while he waved to his father as his ship pulled away, Khwaja Abdul Hamied was already running over other plans in his mind while standing on the deck. He jumped ship halfway through the seas to land in Germany which, in the early decades of the last century, was leading in the study of chemistry and chemicals. He acquired a degree, married a German Jew who was also a communist – two communities the Nazis hated the most. But before they could be caught by Adolf Hitler’s Gestapo, they escaped from Germany and safely reached India.
With his vast knowledge of chemicals, Khwaja Hamied set up the Chemical, Industral and Pharmaceutical Laboratories in 1935 which was shortened to CIPLA decades later after Independence.
Khwaja Hamied was a great fan of Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and got down, in true nationalist spirit, to producing cheaply priced generic drugs for the common people. These included not only medicines for malaria and tuberculosis but also other respiratory disorders, cardiovascular diseases as well as routine and mundane ailments like diabetes and arthritis.
Sometime in the 1970s, Cipla (so renamed in the 1980s) began to manufacture a drug called Propranolol, patented by a US pharmaceutical giant from Brooklyn in New York, that was used in treating blood pressure, migraines and heart ailments, among others. In a bipolar world at the time, the US was no friend of India and a real superpower. Unlike Donald Trump, it did not need to issue threats for any country in the world to comply to its diktats.
The US complained to the Indian government. But unlike Narendra Modi last week, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi did not immediately cave in. She sent for Yusuf Hamied, Khwaja’s son, himself a chemistry graduate from Cambridge, who had by then taken over the running of the company. When Mrs Gandhi asked how he could violate the patent law on drugs and get India into trouble, Yusuf told Mrs Gandhi the story of his father and why he had set up the company – to bring low priced quality drugs to the poor.
When he had handed his company to his son, Khwaja had told Yusuf just one thing – remember why this company was founded. “Unlike other pharmaceutical companies around the world, we are not here to make profits but to bring relief and healthcare to the poor who may otherwise have to die for want of quality drugs.”
That is all he was doing, Yusuf told an impressed Mrs Gandhi who could empathise with the concern for the poor. And she turned down the US’s command to India to stop producing the drug, knowing it could have consequences. Americans hated her for this and other acts of defiance, but she always had the interests of her own fellow citizens on top priority.
On Yusuf’s suggestion she also had the patent law on drugs changed to not include the drug per se, only the process of manufacture as inviolable, so that Cipla could go ahead and produce as many low-priced generic drugs for the poor as possible. Since then Cipla has also produced a low-cost drug to treat HIV and expanded operations into several developing countries, including African nations, where most HIV and poor patients existed at one time.
This then is the company which produces hydroxychloroquine used in the treatment of malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis which now has been exported in such large numbers to the United States under threat by a weaker Trump administration, depriving poor Indians of the same.
Even before Trump had bullied India into exporting the drug, Dr Hamiduddin Pardawala, the infectious diseases specilast at the Saifee Hospital in Bombay, had told some of us to note carefully that countries where malaria (and perhaps tuberculosis) was common were suffering less from Coronavirus than those where malaria was almost non-existent.
So where is malaria almost non-existent? The US, UK, Israel, France, Germany, Spain, Canada etc. In other words, countries which have suffered the maximum infestations. When I think of Germany, I wonder where these nations, who are profusely thanking India now for supplying HCQ to them, would have been today if Khwaja Hamied and his wife had been caught by the Gestapo and sent off to the concentration camps.
That goes even more forcefully for the bigots of this country, who have so demonised the Muslims and communalisedthe disease. There is something like karma in this world, even if not you but your future generations have to pay for it. Many of them might have got malaria in the past and been prescribed with HCQ that would have helped them develop the anti-bodies to resist COVID-19.
Many possible afflictions among them will need treating with this drug. Unknowingly, they may have taken many other generic drugs manufactured by this “Muslim’ company and owe the Hamieds a debt of gratitude for keeping their blood pressure under control and diabetes counts in check.
I would like to call this poetic justice without gloating over the fact. No other company in India, and certainly not the world, has done as much to bring affordable health care to poor Indians as has Cipla – and it has not been stingy about its research, often providing pharmaceutical ingredients and processes to other drug companies in the country to manufacture their own.
When India was partitioned Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who was also a Bombay resident and part of the same social circles as the Hamieds, offered Khwaja an honourable move to Pakistan. The Hamieds were sure where their sympathies lay – with Gandhiji – and chose to stay back in India.
There are Muslims and then there are Muslims like the Tablighee Jamaatis of this particular Nizamuddin meet (not others who cancelled their own meets across the country in wake of the pandemic; even the Tablighi Jamaat was denied permission to hold a similar congregation in Mumbai) just like there are Hindus and Hindus, who kill other Hindus because they do not agree with bigotry.
It is not right to target all Hindus for the acts of a few crazy cult members among them. Similarly, a handful of Tablighi Jamaatis do not a whole community make.
We must stop demonising all for the acts of a few.
source: http://www.nationalheraldindia.com / National Herald / Home> India / by Sujata Anandan / April 12th, 2020
MLA U T Khader with the family of Shree Madhu Bhat at her house in Kulai in Mangaluru. (DH Photo)
Mangaluru MLA U T Khader has helped a PhD scholar, who had arrived in India from Italy, to reach her home at Kulai in Mangaluru from Bengaluru on Sunday.
Shree Madhu Bhat, a PhD student at the University of Turin in Italy, had arrived in Delhi in a special flight arranged by the Government of India.
“After completing the quarantine period in Delhi, she was brought to Bengaluru in a special bus arranged by the central government on April 11. However, she could not reach Mangaluru owing to non-availability of any mode of transportation. Her parents had contacted district administration seeking help and also me through a common friend. When I received the information, I was in Bengaluru and brought her in my car,” Khader said.
She is the daughter of Shivaram Bhat and Shailaja Bhat.
After completing the quarantine period, she along with others were sent in a special bus to their respective states on April 8.
The bus had travelled via Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and reached Bengaluru on April 11.
The MLA had shared a photograph of the family of Shree Madhu Bhat on his Facebook page.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State> Mangaluru / by Naina J A / DHNS, Mangaluru / April 13th, 2020
The pencil sketch of a Spanish street during the COVID-19 epidemic drawn by Shehana Fathima.
Work depicted an ‘eerie’ locality during the pandemic
For Shehana Fathima, a 20-year-old engineering student from Thrikkakara, the evening of March 24 will always be memorable.
Just an hour before the Prime Minister announced a 21-day nationwide lockdown, the budding artist posted on Instagram a pencil sketch that portrayed two artistes serenading an eerily empty Spanish street from their balconies even as quarantined neighbours emerged on their balconies to enjoy the music.
The video of noted Spanish pianist Alberto Gestoso and saxophone player Alex Lebron Torrent performing Canadian singer Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On in the middle of March had gone viral.
Musicians take notice
The youngster was on cloud nine when hardly a couple of hours later she posted the image, both the musicians praised her work, with Mr. Torrent even promising to repost it from his Instagram account.
Shehana Fathima working on her latest picture.
Later, the partner of one of the artistes also personally messaged her.
“The video was going around for a while, and that inspired me. It took me a day to complete the picture. Actually, I don’t know how to draw buildings, and I simply replicated the scene from the video,” said Ms. Shehana, a self-taught painter who is still basking in the glory of completely unexpected adulations.
Hoping to go further in the world of arts, she is now using the lockdown period to master digital drawing tools.
Other mediums
Having started with painting two years ago, the youngster has since then moved on to other mediums and a wider canvass.
“I plan to conduct an exhibition and even a workshop once I have enough collection of works,” Shehana Fathima said.
source: http//www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Kerala / by M. P. Praveen / Kochi – April 10th, 2020
Kerala blasters E player Zakeer Mundampara is an inspiration for the people to be part of the initiatives to help the health workers and other people affected by Covid-19.
Zakeer Mundampara with his wife and daughter Mariyom. (File Photo)
Malappuram :
Kerala Blasters E player Zakeer Mundampara is an inspiration for the people to be part of the initiatives to help the health workers and other people affected by COVID-19.
The young footballer has offered his two-storey residence at Areekode for COVID-19 care and leads an initiative to distribute food kits to the families affected by the infection.
“I’m going to stay with my seven-months pregnant wife at our house in Edavannappara. We will not be using the house at Areekode for at least next couple of months. So, my wife and I have decided to provide the vacant house for COVID-19 quarantine purposes or to accommodate the medical workers in the area. The house has three bedrooms and three bathrooms. Anyone who wants to use these facilities can contact me,” the India Super League (ISL) player said.
Mundampara announced his willingness to lend the house for COVID-19 care for free through his Facebook page recently. The former Santosh Trophy player is also active in helping the people hit by the pandemic.
“Our club, Areekode Chakkamthodu FC, in association with Al Sabah FC Dubai and FC Trikkaripur, has so far distributed 133 food kits to the families affected by the pandemic in the area. We will continue with such efforts to help the people affected by COVID-19 till this crisis ends,” he adds.
Though he will be active with his volunteering activities, Mundampara has decided to spend more time at his house at Edavannappara with wife Fasila and five-year-old daughter Mariyom. “I’m going to spend most of this lockdown time with my family. I will also be finding some time for football practices and small exercises at home. Other than that, not thinking of any busy football practice schedule during this lockdown,” he says.
The 28-year-old had played for Chennaiyin FC and Mumbai City FC in the ISL before becoming a part of Kerala Blasters. Mundampara had also played for Chirag United Club Kerala, Churchill Brothers and Mohun Bagan.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by Vishnu Prasad K P / Express News Service / April 08th, 2020
Humanity comes first for a family of doctors who volunteered to treat coronavirus patients in Hyderabad.
Unmindful of their own safety, Dr. Mahboob Khan, his wife Dr Shahana Khan and daughter Dr. Rashika Khan have dedicated themselves to serve the poor and needy.
Dr. Mahboob Khan is currently posted as Medical Superintendent of the Chest Hospital, while his wife Dr. Shahana Khan is working as Assistant Professor at the Gandhi Hospital.
Dr. Shahana completed her MBBS from Kakatiya Medical College in Warangal before completing MD in Dermatology from Gandhi Medical College. Stepping into her mother’s shoes, Dr. Rashika completed her MBBS from Gandhi Medical College. She is currently serving as House Surgeon at the Kornati Hospital.
Being the Superintendent of Chest Hospital, Dr. Mahboob Khan is at the forefront of fighting coronavirus. Dr. Shahana Khan although being a dermatologist has been deputed to treat COVID patients. Similarly, Rashika has also joined in to treat positive cases from March 26.
“These are testing times. We have got the opportunity to serve mankind. I feel we are collectively working towards a common goal of serving poor and needy. We have an 18-year-old son. Had he been a doctor, he too would have joined us in serving the needy,” said, Dr. Mahboob Khan
source: http://www.newsmeter.in / News Meter / Home> Hyderabad> Must Read / by Anurag Mallick / April 03rd, 2020
The increase in Covid19 cases is wreaking havoc in India with about 1251 confirmed cases as on March 31. While Maharashtra grapples with one of the highest number of positive cases in the country, neighboring Goa has also registered five positive cases as some suspects are reportedly quarantined under medical supervision.
There can be no more overlooking the fact that a major share of the nation’s working population are daily wage laborers who have now started suffering more due to the 21 days lockdown than the dangers of contracting the disease. Fear, uncertainty and hunger has led this weaker section to now walk on foot in the absence of transport facilities as they lay stranded miles away from their home states. While there can be no proper planning seen from the government’s sides, it is a ray of hope from civil societies and individuals who are taking the lead in caring for the needs of these weaker sections at such an hour of distress. These heroes, who feel the pain of the workers in unorganized sectors are collaborating sources and coming forward to provide basic meals and necessities to the poor.
“I am doing this for the sake of Allah,” says one such hero, 33-years-old Sarfaraz who is a social activist and member of Valpoi Municipal Council. Sarfaraz Sayed from Goa has set an example before more influential personalities sitting silent at this time by identifying a cluster of about 200 migrant laborers employed across north India where along with his team, are working day and night to provide basic meals. Sarfaraz is on duty voluntarily since day 1 of the lockdown, extending help and support tirelessly to the residents of his town by distributing meals to daily wage workers. In order to keep the infection from spreading for these workers – many of whom are homeless or are away from their home towns – his team has sealed an entire block meanwhile providing all the essential commodities to the residents at their door step.
“We should not forget our poor neighbors and other marginalized as have no sources and money to feed themselves and their family members,” he said, speaking with Twocircles.net. Sarfaraz opines that since this has emerged as a global pandemic, it is a threat to the whole humanity and it is in fact, the responsibility of all the citizens to together fight against the disease. “I am thankful to him for helping my family and making essential commodities available and taking care of working class,” said Mohammad Ibrahim, a beneficiary of Sarfaraz’s free meals programme.
In the same state, another cluster of about 400 families, of whom 40per cent are migrant laborers, are being provided meals, shelter and other essentials by a team of 40 youths who are on their toes since March 15, delivering services 24 hours. “Our schedule is hectic and our distribution work is risky during this time but we are satisfied that Allah has chosen us to serve humans,” expressed a jubilant Saddam Shaikh who is volunteering to serve daily meals to the daily wage laborers. He added that the Deputy Collector and Municipal Councils, in association with the local police have issued passes to these volunteers for allowing them to fetch groceries for distribution.
“Our team personally visits him or her and sends them to quarantine for further medical observations,” said Akib Shaikh, a health care worker from the community health centre. Akib and his team are also frontliners in the country’s Corona battle. Visibly stressed, he refused to talk much about his duties and informed that since past 15 days they are keeping a strict eye on travelers who have come from other states or countries. When asked about government involvement in extending help to the poor, these heroes at the time of Corona distress expressed that as responsible citizens we must all strictly follow guidelines issues by both Central and State governments, adding that the health minister of Goa is doing a fantastic job to control the Covid19 outbreak.
A known social activist from the town Zubair Aga praised Akib and Sarfaraz’s nonstop contribution in this huge countrywide crisis. He added that these are real leaders devoting themselves to humanitarian causes as a real warrior. All praises for the health care workers, delivery service agents, and others, Zubair said, “We salute all of them who are doing commendable jobs even in such unfavorable circumstances.”
source: http://www.twocircles.net / TwoCircles.net / Home> Indian Muslim> Lead Story> Pandemic / by T.I. Inamday, TwoCircles.net / April 04th, 2020
