Patna Feb 26 PTI The historic Patna Medical College and Hospital PMCH founded as the Prince of Wales Medical College has turned 97 with the college authorities and its alumni association issuing a fresh plea to the Bihar government to preserve key heritage landmarks of the institution undergoing renovation Old buildings of the PMCH are being demolished in phases to make way for modern high-rise structures on its sprawling campus Amid a fall in COVID-19 cases in Patna the 97th anniversary of the foundation of Bihar and Odishas first medical college was celebrated on Friday and 74 students were awarded gold medals in different subjects PMCH Principal V P Choudhary said The institution originally christened as the Prince of Wales Medical College was established in 1925 to perpetuate the memory of the visit of the then Prince of Wales later King Edward VIII to Patna in December 1921 It was renamed as PMCH a few decades after Indias Independence The anniversary event was held on the campus and attended by Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey and a few eminent doctors As proud alumni we would request you Bihar health minister to take care of few heritage sites so that they be left intact for future generations to witness what it was in the early part of the last century when this great institution was functioning All great societies preserve heritage buildings PMCH Alumni Association president Dr Satyajeet Kumar Singh said The Administrative Building which houses the historic plaque installed on the formal inauguration of the institution in 1927 and the iconic oldBankipore General Hospital Building should be preserved as memories of its glorious past he said The PMCH Alumni Association had earlier appealed to preserve and restore Administrative Building which houses the Principals Office and the old Bankipore General Hospital Building equipped with a British-era lift housing the Hathwa Ward and the old operation theatre which was visited by Mahatma Gandhi in May 1947 Principal Choudhary also an alumnus of PMCH when asked about the fate of Administrative Building and the old Bankipore General Hospital Building said We have also sent an appeal to the government authorities and our hope is that while creating a new state-of-the-art medical infrastructure on the campus the key heritage landmarks will be preserved for next generations The foundation stone of the mega redevelopment project of the PMCH was laid by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on February 8 2021 on the campus As part of the revamp plan a 5462-bed hospital complex will come up at the site at a cost of Rs 5540 crore and the project is expected to be completed in seven yearsPTI KND SMN SMN

New Delhi Feb 19 PTI Delhi on Saturday reported 635 fresh COVID-19 cases and two deaths while the positivity rate dropped to 113 per cent according to data shared by the city health department With this the national capitals case count increased to 1855409 and the death toll climbed to 26097 the latest health bulletin stated The number of COVID-19 tests conducted a day ago stood at 56199 it said Delhi had on Friday reported 635 cases with a positivity rate of 122 per cent and four deaths On Thursday the national capital reported 739 cases with a positivity rate of 148 per cent and five deaths The number of daily cases in Delhi has been on the decline after touching the record high of 28867 on January 13 The city had recorded a positivity rate of 306 per cent on January 14 the highest during the ongoing wave of the pandemic Amid the decline in daily cases of COVID-19 in Delhi the number of patients under home isolation has also significantly fallen in the last two weeks The number of home isolation cases on February 1 had stood at 12312 and on February 18 it had dipped to 1860 and further down to 1721 on February 19 The number of containment zones which were also slowly falling in this period came down to 9742 on February 19 from 10868 on February 18 according to official figures shared by the health department The surge in Covid cases in Delhi during the third wave of the pandemic was largely due to the Omicron variant of the virus which is highly transmissible There are 15306 beds for Covid patients in Delhi hospitals and 301 or 197 per cent of them were occupied A total of 301 Covid patients were in hospitals Fridays health department bulletin statedPTI KND SMN SMN

New Delhi Nov 23 PTI The minimum temperature in the city rose slightly on Tuesday to settle at 144 degrees Celsius officials saidThe minimum temperature on Monday was recorded at 12 degrees Celsius normal for this time of the yearThe national capital on November 17 had recorded a low of 96 degrees Celsius the lowest of the season by farIn 2020 the lowest minimum temperature in the month of November was recorded on November 23 at 63 degrees Celsius officials saidThe maximum temperature on Tuesday is likely to settle around 27 degrees Celsius the weather office has forecastThe air quality index AQI of Delhi was recorded in the poor category in the morning data from CPCB showedPTI KND DV DV

New Delhi Oct 23 PTI Delhi on Saturday recorded zero death due to COVID-19 and 40 fresh cases with a positivity rate of 007 per cent according to data shared by the city health departmentOnly five fatalities due to coronavirus infection were reported last month -- one each on September 7 September 16 and September 17 and two on September 28 according to official figuresFour fatalities due to the infection have been recorded so far this month in Delhi -- on October 2 October 10 October 19 and October 22The death toll due to the coronavirus infection in Delhi stands at 25091On Saturday 40 cases were recorded with a positivity rate of 007 per cent according to the latest health bulletinOn Friday 38 cases were recorded with a positivity rate of 007 per cent the data saidOn Thursday 22 cases were recorded with a positivity rate of 005 per cent The number of cumulative cases on Saturday stood at 1439566 Over 1414 lakh patients have recovered from thevirusA total of 61152 tests -- 44836 RT-PCR tests and 16316 rapid antigen tests -- were conducted a day ago the bulletin saidOn Monday 15 cases were recorded with a positivity rate of 003 per cent This wasthe lowest daily cases count since March 28 last year when nine cases were logged it saidThe daily case count had dropped to 17 on September 13 with no death being recorded while the positivity rate stood at 004 per cent according to official figuresPTI KND SRY

New Delhi Sep 21 PTI India has achieved complete self-reliance in missile technology and the most advanced missiles can now be developed in the country DRDO chairman G Satheesh Reddy said on TuesdayDelivering a lecture during an online event hosted by the JNU he also asserted that if a country has to become prosperous and Atmanirbhar self-reliant we need to work on advance technology and that is where the role of academic institutions will come in a big wayReddy recalled the decades of 1980s and 90s in the evolution of the Defence Research and Development Organisation DRDO and hailed the role of scientists including former president APJ Abdul Kalam known as the Missile Man of India who worked on missile technologies that provided a quantum jump in development of advanced systems and platformsHe mentioned the five missiles -- Prithvi Agni Akash Trishul and Nag -- developed by India under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme IGMDPWe developed Prithvi Agni Akash Trishul Nag under the IGMDP Agni was also a technology demonstrator for the country in going out of the atmosphere and returning to the atmosphereAnd then we joined a select club of countries with ballistic missiles which can intercept an enemy missile and kill it And then many more missiles with long-range and more capabilities he saidToday I can confidently say that we are having complete Atmanirbharta in the missile technology and we can develop the most advanced missiles in the country Reddy saidHe also spoke about the anti-satellite A-SAT test that India conducted in March 2019 shooting down one of its satellites in space with an A-SAT missile to demonstrate this complex capability joining the elite club of countries -- the US Russia and China -- which have such capabilitiesThe lecture on Defence Technologies for Indias National Security was organised by the School of Engineering of the JNU and its vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar several faculty and students also attended the online eventReddy who is the secretary in the Department of Defence RD underlining the importance of indigenous technology said the IAF had recently ordered 83 LCA Tejas aircraftOn a question on drone technology he said as these technologies are coming up asymmetric warfare is gaining an upper handDrone technology is coming up in a big way and drone-based weapons is also taking a big shape It had been seen that in the recent conflict also drone-based technology played a role Lot of players in the industry are working on it and a lot of systems being developed particularly by the youth the DRDO chief said adding that anti-drone technology has been demonstrated by the organisationIn his address Reddy asserted that in the last six-seven years he has seen students and innovators going beyond ICT and choosing subjects like material science and laser technology which will be important in the sector of defence technologies adding that the ecosystem has undergone a changeHe pitched for academic institutions to play a larger role in achieving the vision of Atmanirbhar BharatToday if our country has to be self-reliant if we have to become Atmanirbhar and prosperous we need to work on advance technology and that is where the role of academic institutions will come in a big way Reddy saidHe spoke of the centres of excellence that have come up at various IITs IISc and the Jadavpur University among others and opportunities for students to work as a junior research fellow and a senior research fellow at the DRDOReddy added that the DRDO is working on various projects with more than 300 academic institutionsIn the advanced technology domain he said some of the areas in which DRDO is working on include anti-drone system artificial intelligence AI cyberspace secure systems and communicationsReddy emphasised on the synergetic links needed between the DRDO the academia and the industry saying the landscape is so huge it cannot be done alone and added that industry sector is coming up as a development partner for the organisationThe DRDO along with the All India Council for Technical Education AICTE has also launched an MTech course in defence technology More than 40 engineering institutions are offering this course which has six subjects Besides BTech elective courses also there he saidThe DRDO together with the higher education department is also sponsoring PhD programmes on defence technology-related subjects for students who will also work at its labs and about 40 have already joined he added PTI KND IJT

New Delhi Aug 24 PTI Medical infrastructure being ramped up and 37000 beds in total dedicated for COVID-19 patients are being set up to tackle the anticipated third wave of the pandemic in the city Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain said on TuesdayHe also underlined that though the positivity rate has shown a downward trend and the number of fatalities has been zero in the past few days the Delhi government is not dropping its guardJain on Tuesday inspected the healthcare facilities to see preparations being done for the prevailing COVID-19 situation in the national capitalThe positivity rate in the capital stood at a low of 004 per cent on Monday with 17 Covid cases and no deaths being reported for the past three days he saidOn Tuesday too no fresh death was reported according to the latest health bulletinHe said 37000 beds including 12000 ICU beds dedicated for COVID-19 patients are being prepared and medical oxygen capacity along with essential drugs supply are also being appropriately boostedSpecial arrangements are being made for children and the elderly as well and the Delhi government is monitoring the COVID-19 situation closely he was quoted as saying in the statement issued by the health departmentEven though the positivity rate is very low the Delhi government has not dropped its guard and is consistently working to avoid a possible outbreak of the third COVID-19 wave in Delhi he saidThe Kejriwal government is concerned about the health and safety of children and elderly We are constantly monitoring the COVID-19 situation in Delhi and also observing the situation of other states that have reopened schools he addedThe Delhi government is determined to provide a safe and healthy environment to the people of Delhi he assertedThe second wave swept the city during April-May periodWe are making all necessary arrangements but our focus is on ensuring that an outbreak of the third wave doesnt arise in Delhi However vaccination is the prime key to make the situation better With each passing day the supply of vaccines should be increased and vaccinations should be done expeditiously to make the prevailing COVID-19 situation better in Delhi Jain addedHe also said the Kejriwal government has asked the manufacturers to boost manufacturing of drugs being used for the treatment of COVID-19 and that no company should charge an extra amount for any drugWe are working with all our might to ramp up the medical infrastructure and prepare it for a possible outbreak of the third wave in Delhi We are working on all fronts but our primary focus is to ensure that a third wave doesnt even arise in the first place he added Delhi had reeled under the brutal second wave of the pandemic that swept the country recently claiming a massive number of lives daily and the oxygen supply shortage issue at various hospitals had added to the woesPTI KND KJ