With 8 new cases, dist count rises to 335

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 25

With eight new Covid-19 cases being reported on Monday, the total count of positive cases in the district has increased to 335. The new patients include one person each from the Batala Road and Palm Garden areas who tested positive on Sunday night.

District health officials stated that two family members of the Palm Garden patient, including his wife and son, also tested positive on Monday. Meanwhile, four family members of the Rani Ka Bagh patient, who had tested positive three days ago, also tested positive. These included his mother, father, son and nephew.

Civil Surgeon Dr Jugal Kishore said reports of 91 samples were awaited from the laboratory at Government Medical College. He said at present, the district had 28 active cases, 301 recoveries and six deaths due to the disease so far.

After reports of a number of cases from Rani Ka Bagh area, Congress MLA Raj Kumar Verka said a door-to-door survey of the area was being conducted which would be completed by tomorrow evening. He said people in the area should stay home and cooperate with the visiting medical teams.

Tarn Taran: One more Covid-19 positive case was reported in Tarn Taran district on Monday. Working in merchant navy, the patient is a resident of Kacha Pakka village. Civil Hospital Senior Medical Officer Dr Inder Mohan Gupta said the 32-year-old patient, along with his three colleagues, had returned to his home recently.

He said all four were screened at the Harike check-point and their samples were collected. While three of the reports came out negative, one came positive. The patient has been admitted to Covid care centre at the Civil Hospital. At present, the district has two active cases.

Earlier, a few days ago, a total of 161 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospital in the district.

8 foreign returnees quarantined at Khadoor Sahib hostel

Tarn Taran: Eight more foreign returnees were kept under isolation at Sri Guru Angad Dev College, Khadoor Sahib hostel, 25 km from here, on Monday. They had returned from Australia, Canada and Malaysia and gone on tourist visas. They were stranded due to coronavirus threat and the lockdown imposed in the country. Lovejit Singh of Mianwind village said they were stranded at Malaysia Airport for days together, but the Indian embassy didn’t come to their rescue. Social organisations served food and gave them shelter at the airport, he said. There were total 23 persons, including these eight persons, who were kept under isolation at the Khadoor Sahib hostel. The Health Department collected their Covid-19 samples and sent these for testing. OC

Resident doctors demand hike in stipend

Amritsar: In a letter written to Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, junior resident doctors-cum-post graduate students at Government Medical College have demanded a hike in stipend being paid to them. Members of the Resident Doctors Association (RDA) stated that while they were working for same hours and performing the same duties as junior residents in other states, they were being paid less. The junior resident doctors said they had paid around Rs2 lakh annual fee for around four years which is higher than that charged by Haryana, Delhi and PGI. They were being paid Rs49,000 as monthly stipend, they said, adding that members of the RDA said even senior resident doctors were being paid a stipend of Rs55,000 per month which in neighbouring states is Rs1 lakh. RDA president Jaspinder Partap Singh said junior residents and senior residents bear the maximum workload at hospitals and in the Covid-19 fight, they are at the forefront. He said an increase in stipend would motivate the doctors. TNS