India uses some mosques as wards amid health crisis

Overwhelmed hospitals and medical facilities have found an ally in Muslim groups and individuals helping critical patients with oxygen supply and crucial bed space. (AFP)
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Updated 28 April 2021
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India uses some mosques as wards amid health crisis

  • Individuals, groups step up to support overwhelmed health facilities

NEW DELHI: As India endured an alarming surge in coronavirus (COVID-19) cases last week, overwhelmed hospitals and medical facilities have found an ally in Muslim groups and individuals helping critical patients with oxygen supply and crucial bed space.

On Tuesday, India reported 323,144 new infections for a total of more than 17.6 million cases, behind only the US. India’s Health Ministry also reported another 2,771 deaths in the past 24 hours, with 115 Indians succumbing to the disease every hour. Experts say those figures are likely an undercount.

The number of infections has doubled in the past 13 days as several states continue to suffer from an acute shortage of beds and medical oxygen supply at hospitals.

To deal with the uptick in numbers, Muslim groups have converted mosques into COVID-19 care facilities, like the Jahangirpura mosque in the western state of Gujarat’s Vadodara city. It was transformed into a 50-bed facility to treat patients suffering from the virus.

“The COVID-19 situation in the city is not good and people are not getting beds in hospitals, so we decided to open the facility to provide relief to the people,” Irfan Sheikh, trustee of the mosque, told Arab News.

“Within days of opening the facility, all 50 beds were occupied so you can imagine what kind of pressure the hospitals are under.”

Sheikh said the facility could add 50 more beds if the oxygen supply was dependable.

Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is one of the worst affected states in India. It reported close to 1,500 cases and more than 150 deaths on Tuesday.

Other major cities also witnessed chaotic scenes at hospitals while dozens of ambulances waited in queues for hours outside the facilities.

“We are facing difficulties in oxygen supply and the mosque has opened its space to serve the suffering humanity,” Sheikh said.

The Darool Uloom mosque in the same city also opened its doors to 142 beds fitted with oxygen as 20 nurses and three doctors are on site.

“We can make 1,000-bed COVID-19 facilities, but the oxygen supply is a constraint,” Ashfaq Malek Tandalja, a member of the mosque’s managing committee, told Arab News.

FASTFACT

To deal with the uptick in numbers, Muslim groups have converted mosques into COVID-19 care facilities, like the Jahangirpura mosque in the western state of Gujarat’s Vadodara city.

While these facilities are located in a predominantly Muslim area, patients from all faiths are admitted.

“Out of 50 at my center, around 15 are non-Muslims,” Sheikh said. “We serve humanity, not religion.”

The move is of particular significance in this city as it was one of the worst affected areas in 2002 when clashes broke out between Hindus and Muslims during religious riots. The unrest engulfed several cities in Gujarat while thousands — mostly Muslims — were killed in the attacks.

“Humanity knows no religion,” Sheikh said. “Common people understand each other and want to live in peace.”

Individuals such as Pyare Khan, of Nagpur, a city in the western state of Maharashtra, have come forward to help India emerge from the health crisis, too.

Khan, a billionaire transporter, reportedly spent close to SR506,271 ($135,000) to deliver 400 metric tons of medical liquid oxygen to government hospitals in and around the city when the crisis started. 

“My city was in trouble and I had resources, so I mobilized cryogenic tankers and oxygen from different parts of the country to support the city,” Khan told Arab News.

“Religion teaches us to be compassionate. I thought I must support people in this hour of crisis.” 

Khan also urged others to make use of their resources.

“A shroud does not have a pocket,” he said. “We leave everything behind when we die.”

Maharashtra is the worst affected state in India as it reported 65,000 cases and 500 deaths every day over the past week. Its capital of Mumbai, home to the globally famous Hindi Film Industry and Bollywood, is overwhelmed with critical cases.

To address the crisis, Shahnawaz Sheikh and his team of 20 volunteers have worked tirelessly to support the needy while establishing a “COVID-19 war room” where volunteers resolve issues on calls.

“We help people get hospital beds, oxygen supply if they need it and also support their family with our own resources,” he told Arab News.

Last year, Shahnawaz said he sold his personal SUV to raise money for oxygen cylinders in the city, which helped hundreds of people.

“This time, the intensity of the wave is very high and we are overwhelmed with calls. Every day we receive 500 distress calls and we try to address as many as possible,” the 32-year-old contractor said.

Shahnawaz said his team has faced a resource crunch because many of the people who donated last year have fallen ill or had families suffering.

“We will really appreciate any support,” he said.

On Monday, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat met with PM Modi and recalled medical personnel from the armed forces who had retired in the past two years to help facilitate health workers in the country.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it would send help to India as well.

“The situation in India is beyond heart-breaking,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “WHO is doing everything it can. It is providing critical equipment and supplies, including thousands of oxygen concentrators, prefabricated mobile field hospitals and laboratory supplies.”


Polish police say one killed in axe attack at Warsaw University

Updated 56 min 41 sec ago
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Polish police say one killed in axe attack at Warsaw University

  • "Police have detained a man who entered the University of Warsaw campus," Warsaw Police said
  • Gazeta Wyborcza daily reported that the attacker was a third-year law student

WARSAW: Police said on Wednesday they had detained a 22-year-old Polish man after he killed one person with an axe at Warsaw University, in an attack the institution described as a "huge tragedy".
"Police have detained a man who entered the University of Warsaw campus. One person died, another was taken to hospital with injuries," Warsaw Police said in a statement on X.
They said the incident occurred at around 6:40 p.m. (1640 GMT), when the man attacked people on the campus with an axe, adding that the detainee was a 22-year-old Polish citizen.
Gazeta Wyborcza daily reported that the attacker was a third-year law student.
Private broadcaster Polsat News reported that a woman's severed head and an axe had been found at the university.
A spokesperson for the district prosecutor's office declined to comment on whether a severed head had been found.
The spokesperson said that a female administrative employee of the university had been killed at the scene and a security guard was injured and was taken to hospital in critical condition.
He said that the attacker had entered an auditorium at the university.
Reuters reporters at the scene saw police vans and a cordon around the auditorium where the attack took place.
The Rector of the University of Warsaw said in a statement that May 8 would be a day of mourning at the institution, calling the attack a "huge tragedy".
"We express our great sorrow and sympathy to the family and loved ones," the statement read.


Belgian teens found with 5,000 ants in Kenya given option of fine or sentence

Updated 07 May 2025
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Belgian teens found with 5,000 ants in Kenya given option of fine or sentence

  • Authorities said the ants were destined for European and Asian markets in an emerging trend of trafficking lesser-known wildlife species

NAIROBI: Two Belgian teenagers found with 5,000 ants in Kenya were given a choice of paying a fine of $7,700 or serving 12 months in prison — the maximum penalty for the offense — for violating wildlife conservation laws.

Authorities said the ants were destined for European and Asian markets in an emerging trend of trafficking lesser-known wildlife species.

Belgian nationals Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, both 19 years old, were arrested on April 5 with 5,000 ants at a guest house in Nakuru county, which is home to various national parks. They were charged on April 15.

Magistrate Njeri Thuku, sitting at the court in Kenya’s main airport on Wednesday, said in her ruling that despite the teenagers telling the court they were naïve and collecting the ants as a hobby, the particular species of ants they collected is valuable and they had thousands of them — not just a few.

The Kenya Wildlife Service had said the teenagers were involved in trafficking the ants to markets in Europe and Asia, and that the species included messor cephalotes, a distinctive, large and red-colored harvester ant native to East Africa.

“This is beyond a hobby. Indeed, there is a biting shortage of messor cepholates online,” Thuku said in her ruling.

The illegal export of the ants “not only undermines Kenya’s sovereign rights over its biodiversity but also deprives local communities and research institutions of potential ecological and economic benefits,” KWS said in a statement.

Duh Hung Nguyen, a Vietnamese national, told the court that he was sent to pick up the ants and arrived at Kenya’s main airport where he met his contact person, Dennis Ng’ang’a, and together they traveled to meet the locals who sell the ants.

Ng’ang’a, who is from Kenya, had said he didn’t know it was illegal because ants are sold and eaten locally.


Bill Gates meets Indonesian leader to discuss development initiatives

Updated 07 May 2025
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Bill Gates meets Indonesian leader to discuss development initiatives

  • Gates’ foundation is developing a tuberculosis vaccine that’s planned to be tested in Indonesia

JAKARTA: Bill Gates was in Indonesia on Wednesday to discuss health and sustainable development initiatives with the leader of the world’s fourth most populous country.

Gates met President Prabowo Subianto at the colonial-style Merdeka palace in Jakarta to discuss global health, nutrition, financial inclusion and public digital infrastructure, Indonesia’s presidential office said in a statement ahead of the meeting.

The co-founder of Microsoft and Gates Foundation praised Indonesia’s adoption of vaccines against Rotavirus for diarrhea and Pneumococcus for pneumonia and the country’s efforts in reducing child mortality.

He said 10 million children under the age of five worldwide died when his foundation launched in 2000, with 90 percent of the deaths due to diarrhea, pneumonia or malaria. That number has now been cut in half to below 5 million, Gates said.

“It’s been an amazing time period. And there’s many new tools coming,” he told the meeting, which was also attended by prominent Indonesian businesspeople and philanthropists.

Gates’ foundation is currently developing a tuberculosis vaccine that’s planned to be tested in Indonesia, Subianto said.

“This is crucial because TB is still a deadly disease in the country,” he said.

Gates said that because rich countries don’t have tuberculosis, “it just doesn’t get hardly any money for diagnostics or drugs or vaccines.”

Gates has granted more than $159 million to Indonesia since 2009.

Much of it was allocated to the health sector, especially for vaccine procurement, Subianto said. 

Thanks to the funds, Subianto said Biofarma, a state-run pharmaceutical company, now can produce 2 billion doses of its polio vaccine every year, benefiting more than 900 million people in 42 countries.


France says Algeria has issued arrest warrants for writer Daoud

Updated 07 May 2025
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France says Algeria has issued arrest warrants for writer Daoud

PARIS: Algeria has issued two arrest warrants for acclaimed French-Algerian writer Kamel Daoud, the French Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, as tensions surge between the two countries.

The Algerian judiciary informed France of the move, the Foreign Ministry said.

“We are monitoring and will continue to monitor developments in this situation closely,” he said, stressing that Daoud was “a renowned and respected author” and that France was committed to freedom of expression.

In 2024, Daoud won France’s top literary prize, the Prix Goncourt, for his novel “Houris,” centered on Algeria’s civil war between the government and radicals in the 1990s.

The novel, banned in Algeria, tells the story of a young woman who loses her voice when a hard-liner cuts her throat as she witnesses her family being massacred during the war.

In November, the woman, Saada Arbane, told Algerian television, using a speech aid, that the main character in the book is based on her experiences. Daoud, 54, has denied his novel is based on Arbane’s life.

Arbane says she told her story during a course of treatment with a psychotherapist who became Daoud’s wife in 2016. 

She has accused Daoud of using the details narrated during their therapy sessions in his book.


UN appoints special envoy to combat Islamophobia

New position will be filled by Miguel Angel Moratinos of Spain. (File/AFP)
Updated 07 May 2025
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UN appoints special envoy to combat Islamophobia

  • Former Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos will serve in new role
  • UN observes International Day to Combat Islamophobia on March 15

NEW YORK CITY: The UN has appointed a special envoy to combat Islamophobia in a bid to fight anti-Muslim hatred around the world.

The new position will be filled by Miguel Angel Moratinos of Spain, who also serves as high representative for the UN Alliance of Civilizations, an initiative to combat extremism.

Moratinos previously served in the Spanish government and worked closely with the UN during his time as foreign minister from 2004 to 2010.

He also served as EU special representative for the Middle East peace process from 1996 to 2003.

In that role, he promoted peace agreements and attempted to foster dialogue between Israel and the Arab world.

He also served as Spanish ambassador to Israel in 1996.

The UN marks International Day to Combat Islamophobia each year on March 15. The day was first observed following a resolution put forward by Pakistan that was unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2022.

The document was sponsored by the 60 member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

This year on March 15, Moratinos spoke out against the “bigotry and dehumanizing rhetoric” that Muslims “have to quite often face in many parts of the world.”

“Hate speech drives wedge between communities, sparks fear and anger and may often lead to violence which threatens peace and stability in societies,” he said.

“All forms of hate should be rooted out wherever and whenever it occurs. This means pushing for policies that fully respect human rights and protect religious and cultural identities, particularly of minorities.

“This means investing in social cohesion by encouraging initiatives that promote dialogue, mutual respect and protects human rights and the dignity of all.”