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A 50-year old COVID-19 patient allegedly committed suicide in a hospital, which the Health Department has categorised as "death due to non-COVID cause".

28 Apr 2020

Karnataka reported its 20th COVID-19 related death on Monday, and nine new coronavirus cases were confirmed in the state, taking the total number of infections to 512. As of Tuesday morning, as many as 193 people had been recovered.

While a 50-year old COVID-19 patient allegedly committed suicide at a hospital, the Health Department has categorised it as "death due to non-COVID cause".

Confirming the 20th COVID-19 death in the state, Medical Education Minister Sudhakar said the 57-year-old person was a resident of Aland and had tested positive on April 21.

"The person suffering from breathing problem was admitted to GIMS (Gulbarga Institute of Medical Sciences). [...] With this, five COVID related death have happened in Kalaburagi district," he said in a tweet. The patient was also suffering from severe liver-related ailments.

According to the health bulletin in the state, 11 patients have been discharged after recovery in the state. It includes five from Mysuru and six from Vijayapura.

Regarding the alleged suicide of a COVID-19 patient, sources at the Victoria Hospital, where the incident occurred, said he was admitted in the ICU on the sixth floor of Trauma Care Centre. Victoria Hospital is a government-run hospital affiliated with Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute. He was reportedly dialysed on April 25 and was due for another dialysis on Monday. The patient allegedly jumped from the trauma centre building, police said, adding that further investigations are on.

"Apparently, he was alright the previous night. He had breakfast in the morning today and requested for more. The doctor and nurse who were on duty at that time were attending to another critical patient in the ICU," Bangalore Medical College & Research Institute Dean Dr C R Jayantih said in a statement.

"By the time the second round of breakfast came, he slipped out of the ICU, opened the fire exit and took the fatal step by jumping off from the 6th floor staircase and fell on the roof of the patient attenders waiting area, and he died on the spot at around 8:15am," it said.

According to the hospital, the patient had the history of chronic renal failure and Hepatitis C infection. Psychiatrists opined this incident could have been due to an impulsive decision by the patient, as he did not have any symptoms of depression earlier.

Meanwhile, six out of nine cases newly confirmed positive are contacts of patients already tested positive while one is with Influenza Like Illness (ILI), and the other is with a travel history to Mumbai.

Among the patients two each are from Vijayapura, Dakshina Kannada, Mandya and Jamkhandi in Bagalkot, while one is from Bengaluru (urban).

In the state, most number of infections have been reported in Bengaluru (urban) with 134 cases, followed by 89 in Mysuru and 54 in Belagavi.

Out of a total of 193 patients discharged, maximum are from Bengaluru (57), 43 from Mysuru, 11 each from Dakshina Kannada and Chikkaballapura.

Among the dead, five are from Bengaluru (urban), five from Kalaburagi, two each from Chikkaballapura, Dakshina Kannada and Vijayapura, and one each from Belagavi, Bagalkot, Gadag, and Tumkur.

A total of 45,685 samples have been tested so far, out of which 2,721 were tested on Monday alone. So far 43,791 samples tested negative, and out of them, 2,639 were reported negative on Monday.

ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) has released the list of 15 government and seven private COVID-19 laboratories in the state.

Karnataka ordinance dilutes central government ordinance, says a PIL in HC

On the other hand, a PIL before the High Court of Karnataka challenging the 0rdinance passed by the state government on April 22, The Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Ordinance, 2020, to protect health workers from physical attacks amid the COVID-19 crisis says that it dilutes the central government ordinance.

The PIL has been filed on the grounds that the state ordinance dilutes the stringent punishments imposed by way of the central government's ordinance on the issue. Recently, the Central Government passed an Ordinance making attacks against doctors, nurses and medical staff non-bailable offences, punishable with up to seven years imprisonment, through an amendment to the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897.

(With Inputs from PTI)