Guj HC issues notice to Centre, state govt on black fungus data plea
The Gujarat high court on Tuesday issued a notice to the central and state governments over a PIL seeking direction that the data on mucormycosis cases and deaths be made public.
The court of Justice Biren Vaishnav issued a notice to the state and central governments in a PIL seeking transparency in the Gujarat government’s reporting of the rising cases of mucormycosis or black fungus.
Based on the information gathered from media reports, families of patients and volunteers, the PIL claimed that the state government had “miscalculated and underreported the statistics about mucormycosis patients”.
The PIL, filed by Maitree Mazumdar and Khush Vachharajani, stated that the opacity surrounding the situation has led to an acute shortage of Amphotericin B, an injection used to treat the fungal infection.
To make the process more transparent and accountable, the state government should make the information about the cases of mucormycosis free and available, it said. The plea sought “a standard procedure for dissemination of information” to ensure that the data regarding the disease remains freely available. The government should put out in the public domain an urgent count of cases in government and private hospitals, and information about patients who have not been admitted or are being treated at home, it said.
The plea sought a separate mechanism to monitor and make public mucormycosis deaths, and a real-time public dashboard displaying the availability of injections and beds to treat black fungus cases at all nodal hospitals and other treatment facilities.
The Centre’s allocation of injections based on the number of mucormycosis cases in Gujarat is much lower and does not even cover the demand of the underreported figures, it said.
The matter has been kept on June 15, to be heard along with a suo motu and other petitions on pandemic and related issues. rashtra and Gujarat, where agriculture is largely rain-fed. In the monsoon core zone, monsoon rain is likely to be above normal over 106%.
IMD said the monsoon is likely to be well distributed spatially across the country. “Most parts of the country are expected to receive normal to above-normal rainfall during the season,” IMD said in a statement.
Normal to above normal rain is likely in June at 92% to 108% of LPA. The spatial distribution for June suggests above normal rainfall probability over most areas of eastern parts of central India, along the planes of the Himalayas and east India. Below normal probability is likely in northwest India and southern parts of the peninsula and some areas of northeast India.
IMD said La Niña conditions, which are associated in India with strong monsoon and aboveaverage rains and colder winters, turned neutral in April end. The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a periodic fluctuation in sea surface temperature and the air pressure of the overlying atmosphere across the equatorial Pacific Ocean, is neutral. It is likely to continue over the equatorial Pacific Ocean through the monsoon.
ENSO has a major influence on weather and climate patterns such as heavy rains, floods, and drought. El Niño has a warming influence on global temperatures. In India, El Niño is associated with drought or weak monsoon.
The 2020-2021 La Ninã event has ended and neutral conditions (neither El Niño nor La Niña) are likely to dominate the tropical Pacific in the next few months, World Meteorological Organization said on Tuesday. Air temperatures are expected to be above average between June and August, especially in the northern hemisphere. There is very little chance of El Niño conditions developing now.
Mohapatra said ENSO neutral conditions are associated with normal monsoon years. “We are also expecting above average rains in the core monsoon zone and over central India. This happens when the monsoon trough is active and low-pressure areas develop over the Bay of Bengal. We have to see if that is happening. From models, it appears to be a good year.”
G V Ramanjaneyulu, executive director, Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, Hyderabad, said good rains in the Kharif season are good news. He added but because of the lockdown and the second pandemic wave of the pandemic getting labour and inputs for sowing has become difficult. “We have also seen prices of various farm produce have come down in many rural areas. Health costs have increased because of Covid-19. Farmers will need support to repay loans. It is a good sign that at least rains will be normal during this distressing period.”
uled. In such cases now the beneficiary shall not have taken a fresh appointment. The beneficiaries shall also receive an SMS informing them about rescheduling of their session. The system still provides the option of rescheduling/ cancellation of an appointment to the beneficiaries, the ministry said.
States and union territories have been advised that they should publish vaccination slots based on the availability of vaccines, the statement said. The Union Government has also instructed all states and UTS to give preference to beneficiaries with online appointments than to on-site registrations. The Government of India has been supporting the efforts of states and UTS towards vaccinating all people aged 18 years and above with priority being given to the health care and frontline workers, the statement said.
COWIN has been developed as a platform to manage vaccinations across the country.