By: Jahangeer Ganaie

Srinagar: Health experts on Saturday said that Covid patients can contract black fungus disease two to three weeks after their recovery from the Covid and that such patients should avoid self-medication.

Dr Parmod Kalsotra and Dr Padam Singh, two prominent doctors at Shri Maharja Gulab Singh (SMGS) hospital Jammu, said that on Friday another suspected case of black fungus was admitted at the hospital while one patient has already died of the black fungus.

“Cases of black fungus were reported earlier here as well but such cases were very rare. But cases have increased manifold in India and the whole world,” the doctors said. “The symptoms of mucormycosis depend on where in the body the fungus is growing and patients must contact doctors if they have symptoms related to mucormycosis.”

They said that symptoms of mucormycosis include one-sided facial swelling, headache, nasal or sinus congestion, black lesions on nasal bridge or upper inside of mouth that quickly become more severe, fever, abdominal pain,  nausea, vomiting, gastrointestinal bleeding, cough, chest pain and shortness of breath.

The doctors said that whenever anybody develops any symptoms, they should avoid self-medication as early detection of mucormycosis is a must. “Otherwise its fatal rate is very high. Patients should not waste time in self-medication,” they said.

The patients, who are at high risk are those using steroid drugs for long-term, uncontrolled diabetes, cancer, have gone through transplantation and other immunocompromised patients, the doctors said. “Patients, who are on oxygen must use distilled water in the oxygen pump and change oxygen tubes frequently,” the doctors said. (KNO)

Jammu: Head of Medicine at Government Medical College & Hospital, Dr Vijay Kundal has said, “The age old adage ‘prevention is better than cure’ has the greatest relevance to Covid-19 infection as there is no better protection against it than to adopt Covid appropriate behaviour.”

The appropriate behaviour, he explained, includes wearing a mask, frequent hand sanitisation and keeping social distance and avoiding crowded places.

The doctor reiterated the government’s instructions of going out only if necessary, self hygiene, wearing a mask and avoiding crowds. He also requested the people to ‘teach social distancing to others around’. Timely vaccination is another major defence against the virus, he added.

So what if one is already infected, To this, the doctor said, ‘Still there is no need to panic as most of the Covid cases fall under the mild category who recover easily. Such people develop symptoms like cough and cold’. They should immediately isolate themselves and eat healthy food, he advised.

Elaborating further, Dr Kundal said that Covid patients without any comorbidity recover easily in most of the cases. ‘In any case’, he reminds, ‘if one’s oxygen saturation level falls below 94 percent, the patient, whether comorbid or not, should immediately consult a doctor’.

The Head of Department warned against self medication, use of anticoagulants and steroids without a doctor’s prescription and said the Steroids are ‘two edged swords’. ‘On one hand they help Covid patients, and on the other they may weaken one’s immunity’, said Dr Kundal.

Dr Kundal suggested taking the Six Minute Walk Test, a rudimentary exercise to judge if one needs medical help or not. In the test, the subject walks for six minutes, and if his oxygen saturation level falls, either by three percent or below 94, it is time to consult a doctor. Such patients must lie in a prone position to restore oxygen saturation quickly, he advised.

In prone-position the patient is made to lie facing down, with arms bent comfortably at the elbow and positioned forward.

In any case, if Covid symptoms persist even after four to five days, one must immediately seek medical help. ‘Please do not delay hospitalization.  Many of Covid deaths are due to delay in reporting by the patients’, informs Dr Kundal.

The public is informed that all Covid-related queries and doubts can be cleared on helpline number 0191 2571616. Public can also call the Divisional Control Room at 0191-2520982, 2549676, 2674444, 2674115, 2674908. Moreover, J&K Government has started a live phone-in health programme on Gulistan channel which is aired twice daily- from 8:30 am to 9 am and 8:30 pm to 9 pm and can be reached through the Divisional Control Room numbers.

Srinagar: Heart disease is very common among severe covid patients said Dr  Irfan Ahmad Bhat, Consultant Cardiologist Government Medical College, Srinagar while speaking about the impact of covid infection on heart health.

He said patients with heart problems and uncontrolled blood pressure are susceptible to infection and conversely covid patients also develop heart problems.

Dr Irfan said that Covid patient having history of any heart problem like heart attack,  cardiac stent or any other  chronic heart problem shall continue to take their prescribed medicine at optimal time and  further added that no change in medicine shall be made during Covid infection. He advised heart patients to remain in touch with their personal and concerned doctors for suggestions in this regard.

He also asked Covid patients having heart issues not to pay heed to rumours regarding the ill effects of prescribed medicines during Covid infection seriously.

While emphasizing on vaccination for heart patients, he said that vaccination is very important for such patients who are  taking blood thinner drugs like warfarin, aspirin or acitrom and there is no need to panic.

He also said that it has been observed that covid virus initially affected lungs then directly or indirectly affects heart and asked people to protect themselves from catching infection.

Meanwhile, Dr Irfan said that internal stable disease of some patients gets unstable due to Covid infection which increases the chances of heart attack.

Cardiologist also stressed on observance of Covid appropriate behavior strictly to be safe from infection.

Srinagar: National Investigation Agency (NIA) Saturday chargesheeted three Hizbul Mujahideen militants in connection with the Kishtwar conspiracy case.

A spokesman said that NIA filed Charge-Sheet before the NIA Special Court, Jammu against three Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militants namely Jaffer Hussain s/o  Mohd. Ashraf Butt r/o Hunjalla,Kishtwar, Tanveer Ahmed Malik s/o Late Jamal Din Malik r/o Village Tantna, Doda, and Taraq Hussain Giri son of Ghulam Hussain, Village Pochhal Kishtwar in RC-08/2019/NIA/JMU.

“Charges will be abated against other three militants involved in the crime namely Osama Bin Javed alias Osama; Haroon Abbas Wani and  Zahid Hussain alias Zahid, who have been killed in encounters with Security Forces,” the statement said.

It further said that the case was initially registered as FIR No. 31/2019 dated 08.03.2019 at Police Station Kishtwar, District Kishtwar, J&K relating to the snatching of service weapon of the escort in-charge of DC Kishtwar. NIA had re-registered the case as RC-08/2019/NIA/JMU on 02.11.2019 and taken over the investigation.

“Investigation has revealed that the instant case was one of the several militant acts committed by Hizb-ul-Mujahideen during the years 2018 – 2019 in Kishtwar. The objective of all these acts was to revive militancy in Kishtwar by looting arms and targeting prominent persons of a particular community to create terror among the members of that community,” the statement said.

It said that the accused persons Osama Bin Javed alias Osama, Haroon Abbas Wani alias Haroon and Zahid Hussain alias Zahid were killed in encounters with security forces at different places in the years 2019 and 2020. “They were militants of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) in Doda-kishtwar belt and were involved in many militancy acts in Kishtwar.  Accused Jaffer Hussain, Tanveer Ahmed Malik and Taraq Hussain Giri were providing logistics support and organising shelter for the HM militants involved in the multiple militancy incidents,” the statement said.

Srinagar: Sentry of CRPF on Saturday evening fired few round after hearing gun shots nearby a camp of the paramilitary at Mominabad Anantnag in south Kashmir, officials said.

They said that at around at 2035 hours, the sentry heard fire shots and fired few rounds. “There was no loss of life or any injury. The situation is normal,” a police officer said. (GNS)

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir government on Saturday ordered transfer of two officers in the interest of administration with immediate effect.

Rajesh Sharma, JKAS, Additional Secretary in the Lieutenant Governor’s Secretariat, has been transferred and posted as Additional Secretary to the Government, General Administration Department, according to an order issued here.

Shabir Hussain Keen, JKAS, Additional Secretary in the J&K Public Service Commission, has been transferred and posted as Additional Secretary to the Government, General Administration Department, reads the order.

Kupwara:  Jammu and Kashmir police Saturday disengaged two SPOs from their services after brown sugar was recovered from their possession in a vehicle, they were traveling in, at Drugmulla area of North Kashmir’s Kupwara district.

A senior police official said that around 14 grams of Brown Sugar was recovered from the possession of the duo Drugmulla and were arrested on the spot.

He said that duo was habitual absentees and have not attended their regular duties for the last one month. “Soon after the duo was named in First Information Report (FIR), they were disengaged from their services immediately,” the official said.

He also said that a case under relevant sections of law stands registered and further investigation was underway. (KNO)

Srinagar: The University of Kashmir has extended the last date for admission to 1st-2nd Semester Choice Based Credit System Scheme for BA/B.Sc/B.ScH/B.Com/BCA /BBA/B.M.M.M.C/OCMIL (General/Honors) programme at Under-Graduate level (in respective colleges) up to and including May 31, 2021.

The eligibility and all other conditions for admission can be ascertained from the already-issued detailed notification available on the University website www.kashmiruniversity.ac.in.

JAMMU: Strongly countering the news article titled “J&KSSB fails to declare result of fast-track recruitment of class IV posts even after two months”, published by one of dailies of Kashmir yesterday, the Jammu and Kashmir Service Selection Board (JKSSB) today clarified that the written examinations for UT, Divisional and District cadre class-IV posts was conducted on 27th, 28th February and 1st March, 2021 in multiple batches in which 3.28 lakh candidates appeared.

The Board further explained that subsequently it called upon these candidates to indicate their order of preference for allotment against UT, divisional and district cadre vacancies up to 1st of April, 2021 which was extended multiple times up to 2nd May, 2021 due to extremely poor response of the candidates. Despite giving multiple opportunities, only 1.37 lakh candidates opted to give preferences after which the Board decided to proceed further. It was absolutely necessary to give adequate opportunity to candidates at this juncture, to avoid legal complicacies later, at the time of allocation of cadres/posts.

Also, due to poor response of candidates in indicating their order of preference for allotment against said vacancies, surge in COVID-19 cases across the UT, imposition of Corona lockdown and Health considerations, seamless working of the Board, including finalization of result for Class IV posts, got affected. Besides, it is a complex template being operationalized first time and the sheer number of the candidates is also prohibitive, which are bound to take reasonable time even in best of the circumstances. Moreover, the Result preparation is being carried out at multiple locations beyond the borders of J&K which were severely affected due to COVID-19 pandemic. All these factors have to be taken into consideration before jumping to any conclusion.

The Board has strongly condemned those vested interests who use social media platforms and other digital modes to propagate and promote false and misleading information against the Services Selection Board.

All such vile attempts to sully the image of a credible and reputed institution like JKSSB will be dealt with suitably as per law as the Board and its officers reserve the right to seek legal action against any unsubstantiated, false, misleading and derogatory information that is being spread through any media. Needless to mention that the Services Selection Board and its Chairman on multiple occasions have made fervent appeal to public as well as the aspirants to beware of unscrupulous elements and also bring any such attempts immediately to the knowledge of the Board authorities for necessary action under law.

The Board has set highest standards of transparency and probity in recruitments in recent times, by conducting largest ever written examinations in the history of Jammu and Kashmir in a hassle-free and successful manner. We may err but not exploit, is the dictum being followed by the Services Selection Board.

It is also important for general public and aspirants to appreciate that after the constitutional changes of 5th August, 2019, and subsequent amendments carried out in March 2020, in the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Decentralization and Recruitment) Act, 2010, we have transitioned to a new legal framework wherein radically reformed templates of recruitment, with new methods and procedures have been introduced. A natural corollary of these legal changes is the need to make variety of new rules and statutory provisions by various authorities in the Government, which by nature, is a time-consuming process. Lots of amendments in rules/orders have already been notified by various Government Departments, particularly the General Administration Department, and some more are in the pipeline and shall be notified in due course.

As a consequence, thereof, on many occasions, the Services Selection Board has to operate within grey area, till the necessary amendments in statutory provisions and rules take place.

The Board in this new and reformed environment is doing a trendsetting work which will be easier to follow in the days to come.

The Board also termed the comparison made in the news with result of PM Package posts saying that it is totally baseless and uncanny manipulated just to mislead the readers. The result of Class IV posts is under process and will be notified at appropriate time, the Board affirmed.

Further, the Board has appealed the aspiring candidates not to fall prey to the propaganda of such vested interests and mischievous elements and share any information relating to unfair means/malpractices with due evidence and proof with the Board authorities, for appropriate action.

Srinagar: An army man allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself at Airforce station in Srinagar on Saturday.

Official sources told KNO that the soldier from Kotli Kalan area of Haryana committed suicide by hanging himself in his room at Airforce station Srinagar.