By: Dr. Nishit Sud (Anaesthetics/critical care NHS London)
India today seems to be in the exact same situation that the UK was in mid-December. First an exponential number of people testing covid positive followed a week later by an exponential increase in number of hospitalizations followed 2 weeks later by an exponential increase in Covid deaths. Here are some of the lessons learnt.
99% of Covid positive recover on their own. The only things needed for them are oxygen level monitoring to make sure sats are >93, Paracetamol (Crocin or Dolo) for fever and bodyache and home isolation to make sure they do not pass it on to others. There is no need or benefit in giving plasma, Remdesivir, Ivermectin, Hydroxychloroquine, antibiotics or even steroids, blood thinners or Toclizumab to these 99%. There is NO need for hospitalization as long as oxygen level are above 93%.
Covid is an illness that affects lot of people at the same time. However, it is how severely it affects the 1% who are unlucky enough to have severe Covid which makes it the dreaded illness it is. All our medical resources (hospital beds, oxygen cylinders etc.) need to be saved for these severely affected 1% and not to the 99% with mild illness irrespective of wealth, contact, influence etc.
For the 1% that have severe illness the only medications that have been found to have significant benefit are steroids and blood thinners. Toclizumab also has been found to have benefit ( only 4%) and should be given whenever available. Remdesivir has very minimal benefit (on mortality benefit at all) and should be given if available however, the patient does not loose much if not given. However, it will be wrong to call either of them (Toclizumab/ Remdesivir) life saving in Covid.
Plasma has been extensively studied and found to be of no benefit. This is after painstaking analysis of 11,000 patients given plasma vs 11,000 not given plasma. It should NOT be given. It uses up a significant amount of resources with no benefit.
Hydroxychloroquine/Vermecin: No serious medical organisation is the world found any benefit in giving them and should not be given. However, they are cheap and relatively harmless.
Oxygen shortage: Many hospitals in the UK had to stop admitting patients due to running out of oxygen for short periods of time. We only need to give enough oxygen for levels to be above 93 to 94. There is often a tendency to turn oxygen flows to flows to the highest levels possible. This has to be avoided.
Vaccine: In London, before the vaccine all our ICUs were full, all theatre recoveries were full, all cardiac HDUs etc., were full of intubated Covid patients and we were transferring intubated Covid patients to as far as Scotland, Britsol etc. in helicopters to relieve ICU capacity in London. After the vaccine we have hardly any hospital admissions and almost nil new ICU admission. However this also have been due to the serious nature of the lockdown.
Rationing of resources: In the UK every patient who needed a hospital bed got one and every patient who was suitable for an ICU bed got one. This was only possible as there were strict criteria for hospital admission which meant that the 99% of Covid positive who do not need oxygen were not hospitalised. This needs to be done strictly in India as well.
Once someone has tested Covid positive, there is no need to get retested to see if they are still Covid positive. This unnecessary retesting results in wastage of testing resources. Once 2 weeks of home isolation following date of onset of symptoms is complete a person is considered Covid negative ad non-infectious.
That was and creates them all again and whom, by his rays, consumes the waters, heats them up (into water vapor) and brings them down again as rain.” Naturally I went looking for Vedic references to the hydrological cycle and came across this book which is a veritable gold mine.
14th Dec 2019
The Ṛg Veda, Atharva Veda, Linga Purana, Matsya Purana, Mahabharata, Kishkinda Kanda of Ramayana, etc all contain scientific explanations and elaborate descriptions of the water cycle. For example, here is what the Vayu Purana has to say:
the water evaporated by sun ascends to atmosphere through the capillarity of air, and there gets cooled and condensed. After formation of clouds it rains by the force of air. Thus, water is not lost in all these processes but gets converted from one form to other continuously”
(51. 14-15-16). Similar descriptions of surface and groundwater, hot and cold springs, origins of perennial vs seasonal rivers, weather phenomena, etc. are all described, and Varahamihira’s Vraht Samhita (550 AD) has three chapters devoted to Hydrometeorology.
It is not news that credit to scientific discovery is highjacked by the west. But despite all the ancient evidence stacked against them, guess who is credited? Frenchman Bernard Palissy is often credited as the “discoverer” of the modern theory of the water cycle, the “pioneer” of hydrology, published Discours admirables, de la nature des eaux et fontaines, tant naturelles qu’artificielles, des metaux, des sels et salines, des pierres, des terres, du feu et des maux (Paris, 1580). Prior to him, Aristotle (384-300BC) is known to have speculated the nature of the water cycle but struggled with explaining how rivers flowed in the absence of rainfall. His predecessors, Anaxagoras and Plato both maintained that the source was fluvial water was a giant cavern within the earth, but Aristotle was the first to reject this notion.
Palissy was also one of the first Europeans who maintained that fossils were once living organisms, and contested the prevailing view that they had been produced by the biblical flood/astrological influence. (note: Padma Purana, Skanda Purana, Garuda Purana etc all state that Salagrama stones, which are Ammonoid/mollusc fossils of the Devonian-Cretaceous period from 400-66 million years ago, are to be worshipped as Lord Vishnu himself, each representing an avatar of Vishnu. it is implied that they have organic origin but not sure if explicitly stated)
Palissy was a Protestant, imprisoned for his beliefs and sentenced to death. He died in a Bastille dungeon during the French Wars of Religion which was a prolonged period of war between the Catholics and Protestants/Calvinists.
Lastly, Newton in 1666 is credited with proving the compostite nature of white light but the Ṛg Veda (II, 12.12), at least 3000 years prior (a conservative estimate) describes sun light containing seven colors of rays. We know pythogoras theorem wasn’t his original work either
Ritu Karidhal, Nandini Harinath, Anuradha TK – Scientists at ISRO
Two years ago, as Indian scientists successfully put a satellite into orbit around Mars, a photograph that went viral showed women dressed in gorgeous saris with flowers in their hair celebrating at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) in the southern city of Bangalore.
It was reported that the ecstatic women were scientists and the photograph challenged the stereotype that rocket science in India was a male preserve.
Isro later clarified that the celebrating women were administrative staff, but it went on to add that there indeed were several women scientists who had worked on the mission and were in the control room at the time of the launch.
The BBC’s Geeta Pandey recently travelled to Bangalore to meet some of the women who have taken India into space.
Ritu Karidhal, Deputy Operations Director, Mars Orbiter Mission
Image copyrightASIF SAUD
As a little girl growing up in the northern Indian city of Lucknow, Ms Karidhal was an avid sky watcher who “used to wonder about the size of the moon, why it increases and decreases. I wanted to know what lay behind the dark spaces”.
A student of science who loved physics and maths, she scoured the daily newspapers for information about Nasa and Isro projects, collected news clippings, and read every little detail about anything related to space science.
After getting her postgraduate degree, “I applied for a job at Isro and that’s how I became a space scientist”, she says.
It’s now been 18 years and Ms Karidhal has worked on several projects at Isro, including the prestigious Mars mission, which has thrust her and her colleagues into the limelight.
Image copyrightAFPImage captionThis photograph of Isro administration staff celebrating the Mars mission went viral
The mission began in April 2012 and the scientists only had 18 months to capture Mars.
“It was a very small window, so the big challenge was to realise the project in that time. We had no heritage of interplanetary missions, so we had a lot to do in that short period.”
Although women scientists were part of the mission right from the time of conception, Ms Karidhal says its success was due to the team effort.
“We used to sit with the engineers, everyone would brainstorm, irrespective of the time, we often worked the weekends.
A mother of two young children, Ms Karidhal says it was not easy to maintain a work-life balance but “I got the support I needed from my family, my husband and my siblings”.
Image copyrightAFPImage captionThe Mars mission was India’s first interplanetary mission
“At the time, my son was 11 and my daughter was five. We had to multi-task, manage time better, but I think that even when I was exhausted at work, I’d go home and see my children and spend time enjoying with them, and I’d feel better and they would also like it.”
It’s often said that “men are from Mars while women are from Venus” but following the success of the Mars mission, many dubbed India’s women scientists the “women from Mars”.
“I am a woman from earth, an Indian woman who got an amazing opportunity,” Ms Karidhal says.
“Mars mission was an achievement, but we need to do a lot more. The country needs a lot more from us so that the benefit reaches the last man.”
And who better than women scientists to do that?
Nandini Harinath, Deputy Operations Director, Mars Orbiter Mission
Image copyrightASIF SAUD
Ms Harinath’s first exposure to science was Star Trek on television.
“My mother is a maths teacher and my father is an engineer with a great liking for physics and as a family we were all so fond of Star Trek and science fiction and we would sit together and watch it on TV.”
Of course, at the time, she never thought of becoming a space scientist and for her, Isro “just happened”.
“It was the first job I applied for and I got through. It’s been 20 years now and there’s been no looking back.”
Being part of the Mars mission was a high point of her life.
“It was very important for India, not just for Isro. It’s put us on a different pedestal, foreign countries are looking at us for collaborations and the importance and attention we got was justified.
Image copyrightAFPImage caption“The government recognised the mission, and there’s no bigger honour than that”
“It was also the first time Isro allowed the public to look at what was happening inside, we were on social media, we had our own Facebook page, and the world took notice.
“I feel proud of our achievement. Sometimes, I feel honoured and flattered, but sometimes I’m also embarrassed,” she says, laughing. “But now the way people look at you, it’s very different. People recognise you for being a scientist. And I’m enjoying it thoroughly.”
Ms Harinath says she takes “immense pride” in Mangalyan and was “really thrilled” to see it’s photograph on the new 2,000 rupee notes.
But it was not an easy assignment and the work days were long.
In the beginning, the scientists worked about 10 hours a day, but as the launch date came closer, it went up to 12 to 14 hours.
Image copyrightAFPImage captionThe scientists on the Mars mission worked long hours to meet their deadlines
“During the launch, I don’t think we went home at all. We’d come in the morning, spend the day and night, probably go home for a short time the next afternoon to eat and sleep for a few hours and come back. But for an important mission like that which is time bound, we needed to work like that.
“We spent many sleepless nights. We encountered lots of problems as we progressed, in the design as well as in the mission. But it was coming up with quick solutions, innovation that was brought in that was key.”
To make matters worse, her daughter’s crucial school leaving exams fell right in the middle of the mission.
“Those few months were very demanding at work and at home. It looked like a race at the time. I’d wake up at 4am with my daughter to give her company while she studied. But now, we look back on that time with fondness. She did extremely well in her exams, scoring 100 in maths. Today, she’s in medical school and is doing really well so I think it was all worth the effort.”
I ask if we can call her the “woman from Mars”.
“I want to be grounded to earth. It’s important to remain so, to bring out the best in a person,” she says.
“The Mars mission was a huge achievement, but that’s past now. We need to look into the future, to see what more we can do. We have the entire cosmic neighbourhood waiting to be explored. There are so many planets, so it’s time to venture out.”
Anuradha TK, Geosat Programme Director at Isro Satellite Centre
Image copyrightASIF SAUD
For this senior-most woman officer at Isro, the sky is the limit – she specialises in sending communication satellites into space that sit at least 36,000km from the earth’s centre.
The scientist who has worked with Isro for the past 34 years first thought about space when she was nine.
“It was the Apollo launch, when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon. We had no television in those days, so I heard about it from my parents and teachers. It really ignited the imagination. I wrote a poem on a man landing on the moon in Kannada, my native language.”
Considered a role model by other women scientists at Isro, Ms Anuradha disagrees that women and science don’t gel.
“I never liked subjects where I needed to remember a lot and science looked logical to me. I don’t believe that Indian girls think science is not meant for them and I think maths is their favourite subject.”
Image copyrightAFPImage captionMs Anuradha believes that there is nothing holding girls back from science
When she joined Isro in 1982, there were only a few women and even fewer in its engineering department.
“In my batch, five-six women engineers joined Isro. We stood out and everyone knew us. Today, more than 20-25% of Isro’s over 16,000 employees are women and we no longer feel special,” she laughs.
At Isro, she says, gender is not an issue and the recruitment and promotional policies are all dependent on “what we know and what we contribute”.
“Sometimes I say that I forget that I’m a woman here. You don’t get any special treatment because you’re a woman, you’re also not discriminated against because you’re a woman. You’re treated as an equal here.”
She laughs at the suggestion that her colleagues consider her an inspiration, but agrees that having more women in workplace can be a motivating factor for other women.
“Once girls see that there are lots of women in the space programme, they also get motivated, they think if she can do it, so can they.”
Image copyrightAFPImage captionThe Mars mission has been an enormous source of national pride in India
Although the numbers of women staff has been consistently growing at Isro, it is still way below the halfway mark.
That’s because “we are still carrying cultural loads on our backs and many women think their priorities lie elsewhere, at home”, she says.
Her advice to women who want to be rocket scientists is simple: “make arrangements”.
“Once I had made up my mind that I needed a purposeful career where my passion lay, I created a good set up at home. My husband and my parents-in-law were always cooperative, so I didn’t have to worry much about my children.
“And I owe my success to the arrangements I made. You have to give something to get something. But life is like that. So when there was work to do, when I was needed at the office, I was here, working with passion. And when there was an absolute need for me to be at home, I was there.”
In its thirty ninth flight (PSLV-C37), ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle successfully launched the 714 kg Cartosat-2 Series Satellite along with 103 co-passenger satellites today morning (February 15, 2017) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota. This is the thirty eighth consecutively successful mission of PSLV. The total weight of all the 104 satellites carried on-board PSLV-C37 was 1378 kg.
PSLV-C37 lifted off at 0928 hrs (9:28 am) IST, as planned, from the First Launch Pad. After a flight of 16 minutes 48 seconds, the satellites achieved a polar Sun Synchronous Orbit of 506 km inclined at an angle of 97.46 degree to the equator (very close to the intended orbit) and in the succeeding 12 minutes, all the 104 satellites successfully separated from the PSLV fourth stage in a predetermined sequence beginning with Cartosat-2 series satellite, followed by INS-1 and INS-2. The total number of Indian satellites launched by PSLV now stands at 46.
After separation, the two solar arrays of Cartosat-2 series satellite were deployed automatically and ISRO’s Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Bangalore took over the control of the satellite. In the coming days, the satellite will be brought to its final operational configuration following which it will begin to provide remote sensing services using its panchromatic (black and white) and multispectral (colour) cameras.
Of the 103 co-passenger satellites carried by PSLV-C37, two – ISRO Nano Satellite-1 (INS-1) weighing 8.4 kg and INS-2 weighing 9.7 kg – are technology demonstration satellites from India.
The remaining 101 co-passenger satellites carried were international customer satellites from USA (96), The Netherlands (1), Switzerland (1), Israel (1), Kazakhstan (1) and UAE (1).
With today’s successful launch, the total number of customer satellites from abroad launched by India’s workhorse launch vehicle PSLV has reached 180.
With the successful launch of PSLV-C30 carrying six foreign customer satellites (one each from Indonesia and Canada and four nano satellites from the USA) along with India’s Multi Wavelength Astronomical Observatory ASTROSAT, ISRO crossed the 50 international customer satellite launch mark. All the 51 satellites from abroad launched by India so far have been placed in orbit by India’s workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). During 1994-2015 period, PSLV has launched a total of 84 satellites of which 51 are for international customers.
Though PSLV was designed to launch Indian remote sensing satellites into polar sun synchronous orbit, the vehicle has repeatedly proved its reliability and versatility by successfully launching satellites into a variety of orbits including polar Sun Synchronous, Geosynchronous Transfer and Low Earth orbits of small inclination, thereby repeatedly proving the robustness of its design.
ISRO offers launch services to the international customers through PSLV. ISRO entered the commercial launch services market by launching KITSAT-3 of Republic of Korea and DLR-TUBSAT of Germany along with IRS-P4 (OCEANSAT) onboard PSLV-C2 on May 26, 1999. So far, International customers satellites from 20 countries (Algeria, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and USA) have been successfully launched by PSLV during 15 of its launches.
Antrix Corporation Limited (Antrix), incorporated in 1992, a wholly owned Government of India Company under the administrative control of Department of Space (DOS) and the commercial arm of ISRO has already entered into a number of agreements for launching satellites for international customers onboard PSLV. Antrix promotes and commercially exploits the products and services emanating from the Indian Space Programme. In addition to providing launch services for international customer satellites, Antrix provisions communication satellite transponders for broadcasting and telecommunication services, markets data from Indian Remote Sensing(IRS) satellites, builds and markets satellites and satellites subsystems and extends mission support services for satellite launches.
The outlook for commercial launches is promising for ISRO/Antrix with many other proposals from international customers under active discussion and consideration.
Arise Bharat 