Daily News Dose: Kerala to provide free medical help to Ukraine returnees | Mar 3, 2022

Hello listener, this is your daily dose of news from Onmanorama. I'm your host, Ajish Jimmy George. These are the major news stories of the day

1. Kerala to provide free medical help to Ukraine returnees
2. US move to end Russia's status as permanent UNSC member gains steam
3. Congress seeks to defuse rift over party restructuring
4. The Kerala High court said that services of doctors fall within ambit of consumer protection act
5. Amazon and Future Group agree to talks after the US retailer offers olive branch

Let’s get into the details.

1) Kerala Health Minister Veena George on Thursday announced free medical help to students returning from Ukraine.

The state has intimated the Centre that there are 2,320 Kerala students in Ukraine, of which around 500 have arrived and the remaining are also expected in a few days.

A team of medical professionals have been stationed at the four airports in the state and would reach out to those needing immediate medical attention.


2) The US State Department may try to find a way to boot Russia from its permanent seat on the UN Security Council, shaking up the international body's balance of power amid outrage over the war in Ukraine, RT reported.

Washington is "investigating the prospects" of expelling Russia as one of the five permanent Security Council members, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told American lawmakers on Wednesday.

No decision has been made on whether to try to achieve such an outcome, which would likely require changes to the UN's charter.

Sherman's comments came after the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to condemn Russia for last week's invasion of Ukraine and demand that Moscow withdraw its forces from the country immediately.

3) Hectic efforts are on to find a consensus on the party restructuring move, which has sparked a crisis in the Kerala State Congress unit.

The party high command's intervention has added pace to the efforts to clear the deadlock over restructuring, and to hold organisational elections according to the party calendar.

The All-India Congress Committee or the high command ordered a stay on the reorganisation process a couple of days ago after a section of MPs from Kerala complained about the partisan manner in which new functionaries are being shortlisted by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee.

4) The Kerala High Court has stated that the medical profession, which includes the services of doctors, falls within the ambit of the Consumer Protection Act.

The issue pertains to Kannur native T P Ambujakshi, who lost sight in her left eye following cataract treatment, approaching the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, seeking a compensation of Rs 32.52 lakh.

Although the doctors argued that such complaints do not come under the jurisdictions of the consumer commissions, the district and state commissions had rejected this contention. Dr Vijil and the other doctors then filed the petition in the HC against this.

The petitioners contended that medical services will be affected if the doctors have to defend cases at various places. But the court pointed out that the Medical services that are not free of charge will come under the purview of the Consumer Protection Act.

5) Amazon and India's second-largest retailer Future Group have agreed to talks proposed by the US e-commerce giant, seeking to resolve legal wrangles at the heart of a battle for supremacy in the country's vast retail sector.

The unexpected olive branch extended by Amazon comes days after rival Reliance, the country's biggest conglomerate, began a de facto takeover of Future's assets, seizing control of some 500 stores.

Now, let’s check out the covid update

6) India's COVID-19 case tally rose to 4,29,45,160 with 6,561 people testing positive for the infection in a day while active cases declined to 77,152.
The death toll has climbed to 5,14,388 with 142 fresh fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated at 8 am on Thursday.
The daily positivity rate was 0.74 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 0.99 per cent.

That brings us to the end of this episode! Be sure to come back tomorrow. As always, thanks for listening to Daily News Dose.