Category:

Non-Life

India will need 5 lakh ICU beds, 3.5 lakh medical staff in next few weeks, says Dr Devi Shetty

While most of the newspaper headlines and prime time television coverage has been over the lack of oxygen for the patients in ICUs, “I am having sleepless nights for the next headline, which is going to be that patients are dying in ICUs because there are no nurses and doctors to take care of the patients. And this is going to happen. I do not doubt it now,” said Dr Devi Prasad Shetty, the chairman and founder of Narayana Health, a chain of 21 medical centres in India, in his online address at the Symbiosis Golden Jubilee Lecture Series in Pune recently.
At present, India has only 75,000 to 90,000 ICU beds and almost all are already occupied – when the second wave of the pandemic hasn’t even reached its peak yet, he said. India is reporting about 3.5 lakh cases a day, and some experts say the number could go up to 5 lakh cases daily at its peak.

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IRDAI panel makes various suggestions on retail engineering insurance products

On sum insured definition for retail segment for engineering products, it said: “Considering a near unanimous view from all stakeholders, the panel suggests Sum Insured limit of up to Rs 50 crores is recommended for retail segment”.

The group, as per the report, opined that the retail products with standard wordings with uniform coverage of a good range of essential covers are needed to give a comprehensive protection boost to the SME and MSME sector entities and units.

The products should be offered by all Indian insurers without any changes or modifications, it said.

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Levels of air pollutants on rise in Indian cities, says study

“We were surprised to see the increase in formaldehyde above Delhi, Kanpur and London” a clue that emissions of other volatile organic compounds may be changing, potentially driven by economic development and changes in domestic behaviour. Our results emphasise the need to monitor our air for the unexpected, and the importance of ongoing enforcement of measures for cleaner air, the study’s co-author Professor William Bloss, also from the University of Birmingham, said.

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Tackling climate change through emerging hydrogen industry: Managing complex risks

Driven by climate change, the possibilities of energy storage, use as a fuel and the long-term intention to replace reliance on coal and oil, hydrogen has the potential to morph from a niche power source into big business.
New bulletin from Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) highlights operational risks that need to be addressed in hydrogen projects, including fire and explosion hazards, impact of embrittlement and business interruption exposures.
AGCS sees increasing demand for insurance coverage for hydrogen solutions in future.

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India’s COVID-19 emergency is wake-up call to Africa -AU health chief

African nations generally do not have sufficient numbers of health care workers, hospital beds, oxygen supplies, and the continent of 1.3 billion would be even more overwhelmed than India if cases surged in a similar way, said John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We are watching with total disbelief…What is happening in India cannot be ignored by our continent,” he told reporters.

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Chubb and Marsh partnership to provide $150 million cover for the COVAX Program for 92 low and middle-income countries

Through Chubb’s and Marsh’s collaboration, up to $150 million in insurance is provided for the COVAX No Fault Compensation Program to cover compensation payments to eligible individuals in the 92 lower-income countries and economies, known as the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) eligible economies.

Insurance broker Marsh led the global placement of the bespoke solution. Chubb is the lead insurer, supported by a further 10 insurers located in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and Bermuda.

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Insurers have to settle cashless Covid-19 claims in 1 hr:IRDA

The IRDAI’s direction to the insurers has come following the Delhi High Court’s direction to  the insurance regulator to advise insurers to communicate their cashless approvals to the concerned hospitals/establishments within a maximum time period of 30 to 60 minutes so that there shall not be any delay in discharge of patients and hospital beds do not remain unoccupied,

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