Panel to set up medical team to study Apollo documents on late Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa's treatment

According to official sources, the commission headed by retired Madras High Court Judge Justice Arumugasamy has sought the State government's approval to form a medical expert team.

Published: 01st May 2018 12:31 AM | Last Updated: 01st May 2018 12:31 AM |
 


The late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa (File Photo | PTI)

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: With the State government granting approval to set up a medical expert team, Arumugasamy Commission inquiring into the death of the late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa is to set up a four-member doctors' team to scrutinise the documents submitted by Apollo Hospitals.

According to official sources, the commission headed by retired Madras High Court Judge Justice Arumugasamy has sought the State government's approval to form a medical expert team to examine the treatments and medical documents related to Jayalalithaa's death.

"The commission will now pick four medical experts of its own choice and they will be assigned the job of simplifying the details of medical treatments provided to the late Chief Minister. The doctors will also be asked to assist the commission to verify the statements of doctors who treated Jayalalithaa with the medical records," said official sources.

On September 22, 2016, Jayalalithaa was admitted in Apollo Hospitals after she suffered from fever and dehydration. She underwent treatment in the hospital for more than two months and died on December 5.

After the State government set up a probe panel to investigate the circumstances leading to Jayalalithaa's hospitalisation and death a few months ago, Apollo Hospitals submitted copies of her treatment and health records, including medical tests conducted on her.

The examination of a huge volume of medical records is expected to be crucial in the inquiry commission as it will unravel the circumstances that led to Jayalalithaa's death. If required, the commission may also summon the doctors to get more specific information on the health condition, added sources.

SRMC doctors perform DBS surgery

Doctors in the Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre successfully treated a 56-year-old man with Parkinson’s disease with Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), a surgical therapy, recently. According to a release, N

Published: 01st May 2018 04:53 AM | Last Updated: 01st May 2018 04:53 AM |

 By Express News Service

CHENNAI : Doctors in the Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre successfully treated a 56-year-old man with Parkinson’s disease with Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), a surgical therapy, recently. According to a release, Natarajan was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease many years ago. As his condition worsened, his family approached SRMC.

Natarajan was found fit for DBS therapy as brain deep stimulation may not be suitable for all patients.

The therapy involves placing two electrodes into the patient’s brain and connecting them with a battery on the chest wall. The therapy helps the brain cells communicate with each other using electrical signals.

Plea against medical university’s PG courses 

Special Correspondent 
 
CHENNAI, May 01, 2018 00:00 IST

Plea in HC against PG courses of MGR medical varsity

The Madras High Court has sought the response of the Centre, the Medical Council of India (MCI) and Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University to a writ petition filed by the Doctors Welfare Association of Tamil Nadu to declare certain postgraduate diploma and fellowship courses run by the university as illegal.

Justice S. Vaidyanathan ordered notices returnable by the first week of June since the general secretary of the association, K. Srinivasan, 63, in his affidavit, claimed that the courses were being run in contravention of the Indian Medical Council Act of 1956 and the Indian Medical Degrees Act of 1916.

The petitioner wanted the court to prevent the university from offering PG diploma in palliative medicine, MD family medicine course through distance education, one-year fellowship in medical sciences such as HIV medicine, occupational health, clinical immunology, palliative medicine and sexual medicine.

The petitioner association, through its counsel Ebenezer, had claimed that the university had been offering and proposing to offer various courses of study and training in medicine without obtaining prior permission from the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and without the MCI recognition for those courses.

It stated that an advertisement issued by the university on February 11 stated that some courses were not approved by the MCI.

IAS topper alleges harassment by bank to repay education loan 

Aloysius Xavier Lopez
CHENNAI, May 01, 2018 00:00 IST


M.Sivaguru Prabakaran. 

Says wasn’t allowed to withdraw money to attend interview

M. Sivaguru Prabakaran, IAS topper from Tamil Nadu, was allegedly harassed by a leading public sector bank, demanding that he repay the education loan even before he could get a job. The bank even held the Rs. 10,000 in his account under lien, preventing him from withdrawing the money to attend the Civil Services interview in New Delhi.

It was his friends who came to his rescue. “Bank officials did their duty. I accept. But it hurts,” said Mr. Prabakaran, a resident of Tanjavur district.

Mr. Prabakaran, who secured the 101 rank in the UPSC civil services examination, has been facing financial problems for many years, but never missed an opportunity to invest in books in pursuit of his goals.

He completed Plus Two in 2004, worked as manual labourer, saved for his education, took care of his family, even borrowed money and managed to pursue higher education. Those who lent him money thought that it was impossible for him to overcome his problems. But he was steadfast and confident of improving his situation against all odds.

At the age of 29, he cleared the Civil Services Examination, and is all set to join the Indian Administrative Service.

His is a tale of perseverance, determination and hard work. During his visits to the bank, he says, security personnel used to prevent him from even talking to the bank manager, as he used to request him for more time to repay the loan.

“After a gap of four years, I joined civil engineering in 2008. I had to take an education loan of Rs. 76,000 from the Peravurani Branch of a leading public sector bank. The bank repeatedly asked me to repay the loan even after I assured them that I will do so once I get a job. The officials’ behaviour was rude,” said Mr. Prabakaran.

Invested in books

“I used to buy books of foreign authors for my education in IIT Madras. I never purchased shirts for me. I received a stipend of Rs. 8,000 from the Ministry of HRD. But it was not sufficient to meet my expenses on education. So I borrowed from my friends. At one point, I had to repay Rs. 2.5 lakh to my friends. It was scary. But I remained determined,” said Mr. Prabakaran.

The pressure exerted by bank officials to repay the loan was so high that his parents, who were not educated, borrowed money and repaid a portion of the amount. But bank officials demanded the rest.

“I got a good score in GATE. So, I got job in PSUs. But I did not join as I wanted to serve the country as a good IAS officer. I spoke to the bank, assuring that I will repay the money after August,” said Mr.Prabakaran.

But the bank held the Rs. 10,000 in his account under lien, which he had borrowed from his friend to meet the expenses to attend the Civil Services interview. The bank had apparently used his Aadhaar to trace his other bank account. “They had earlier forced me to take an Aadhaar card,” he said. He has repaid Rs. 75,000 of the loan amount.

Mr. Prabakaran has also been guiding other aspirants in his village to clear competitive examinations.

Bank officials in the Local Head Office in Chennai said the student should have informed the bank officials in writing about his higher studies within the moratorium period of one year.

“The repayment would not have started had the student informed the officials properly. After three months, the loan will become NPA,” said the official.

The bank repeatedly asked me to repay the loan even after I assured them that I will do so once I get a job. The officials’ behaviour was rude

HC frowns upon ‘grace’ marks for medical students 

Special Correspondent 
 
CHENNAI, May 01, 2018 00:00 IST


Says patients will have to dependon God if such practice is allowed

Patients would have to necessarily depend upon the grace of God to recuperate from their illness if medical students are allowed to pass examinations through grace marks, the Madras High Court has said. The observation was made while dismissing a writ petition filed by an MBBS student from Puducherry who failed even in the second attempt in ophthalmology paper and could not clear the third year of her studies due to shortage of three marks.

“Of course, appearing for the same paper again and again will undoubtedly make the candidate well versed in the subject,” Justice S. Vaidyanthan said, taking a subtle dig at the student. He rejected her plea for three grace marks on the ground that the Medical Council of India (MCI) regulations permit grant of grace marks only when a student had failed in one of all the subjects taken at a time and not when he/she fails in a single paper in the second attempt.

The judge pointed out that the petitioner had taken three papers – community medicine, ENT and ophthalmology – in June 2016 and failed in the third paper. She wrote the ophthalmology paper once in November 2017 and could not clear it this time too. She had scored only 29 out of 80 marks though the minimum marks required for clearing the paper was 32. Since university regulations provide for grace marks, she chose to approach the court.

However, opposing the writ plea, MCI’s counsel V.P. Raman brought it to the notice of the court that clause 13(10) of its 1997 regulations clearly state that “grace marks up to a maximum of five marks may be awarded at the discretion of the university to a student who has failed only in one subject but has passed in all other subjects.”

After recording his submissions, the judge said: “She (petitioner) is certainly not entitled to grace marks in view of the above Medical Council of India Regulations cited supra.”

Valentine’s Day is now ‘Mother-Father Puja Day’ 

Mohammed Iqbal 
 
JAIPUR, May 01, 2018 00:00 IST



Feb. 14 will be ‘Matr-Pitr Pujan Diwas’ in Rajasthan schools

All over the world, Valentine’s Day may be synonymous with a celebration of romantic love. But not in Rajasthan, and certainly not from the next year. The Education Department has issued an order declaring that from 2019, all government schools will observe February 14 every year as Matr-Pitr Pujan Diwas (Mother-Father Puja Day).

The stated objective of the order is to counter the growing influence of Western culture among teenagers. The event finds a mention in the Education Department’s yearly calendar, ‘Shivira Panchang.’

Time to interact

The order, issued last week, stated that on this special day, parents would be invited to the schools where their wards would honour them. They would also get an opportunity to spend some time on the school campus and interact with teachers.

Education Minister Vasudeo Devnani had recently said in the Assembly that the decision would promote Indian culture and inculcate a sense of love in students for their parents. “Students should learn to love and respect their parents first before anyone else,” he had said.

Mr. Devnani, who pointed out that a similar event to felicitate parents was already being held annually in Chhattisgarh, had earlier courted controversy by his decisions to ‘revise’ the contents of school textbooks. It was reported that these ‘revisions’ included the removal of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s name from the textbook for Classes six to eight, and the insertion of a chapter on the Emergency.

Educationists have expressed outrage over the move. “This amounts to a forcible imposition of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s agenda under the pretext of promoting Indian culture,” said Rajiv Gupta, a retired professor of Sociology of Rajasthan University. He said the government wanted to control the mindset of youngsters by enforcing a value system opposed to democratic culture and freedom of choice.

M.I. Siddiqui of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind said the teenagers studying in schools should be free to celebrate the day as they wish.

A LAUGH RIOT ON SCREEN
Lack Of Scripts Featuring Humorous Roles Give Upcoming Actors No Opportunity To Hone Talent

Neeraja Ramesh & Srimathi S TNN 01.05.2018

The 1968 blockbuster ‘Thillana Mohanambal’, starring Sivaji Ganesan and Padmini in the lead roles, was a love story with a battle of egos, but thousands of film buffs also remember it for warm-hearted Jil Jil Ramamani who lifted the cloud of seriousness every time she appeared on screen. It is etched in the minds of cinemagoers as one of actor Manorama’s best performances. But comic flavour in films, a hallmark of the black and white and Eastman-colour era, seems to be slowly fading away.

Word play, comic timing and intonation in dialogue delivery, ingredients that would pepper scripts and lighten up screens, have dwindled especially for women, since the time of Manorama and Sowcar Janaki. Laughter today seems to be limited to caricatures, rib-tickling humour replaced by stereotypical slapstick and witty repartees by women characters with vulgar demeaning jokes.

With hardly any screenplay venturing beyond the main plot to infuse perceptive levity, the absence of comic brilliance in women characters may be felt for a long time. “To break the monotony of watching the main characters, writers earlier would have 15 to 16 scenes just for comedians,” points out actor-director and playwright T S B K Moulee.

Over the years, the demands of commercial cinema and shorter run time have resulted in such scenes being chopped off. Today, comedy is about body shaming women and putting down their intelligence, feels Moulee. “The hero’s friend(usually a comedian) and the hero tease the heroine and this is what we are told is comedy.” While male comedians are still popular as the hero’s confidante, a heroine no longer has such companions. “A male comedian has created a strong image in the market that in comedy a woman should only be teased for her appearance. Charlie Chaplin made me laugh by showing his sufferings, but in Tamil cinema, the actor makes the audience laugh by making fun of the women with misogynistic jokes,” says actor Maya Krishnan, who feels very few scripts are written with woman comedians in mind.

Ruing that cinema per se has denigrated women, Sowcar Janaki feels intelligent comedy is out these days and cinema no longer has space for women comedians. “Comedy now is all about body shaming and delivering vulgar dialogues. There can’t be another Manorama,” says the actor who began her career as a tragedy queen. She later realised the comic streak in her and made the transition that made such gems as ‘Bhama Vijayam’, ‘Thillu Mullu’ and ‘Ethir Neechal’ sparkle.

Apart from her inherent talent, she credits the change to directors like K Balachander, who helped her reach her potential. “What can I say? I was there at the right place and with the right people. My theatre background helped a lot in shaping my comic streak,” says Janaki, who feels actors today are no longer given the space to explore comedy.

While the industry has made way for the Santhanams, Karunas, and Viveks, it seems to have lost the plot midway with regard to women comedians. This absence is further felt when upcoming actors limit themselves to the typical heroine’s role. Today, if women cannot make it as heroines, they fade away since they do not have the opportunity to hone their talent in comic roles. A change should happen and veterans must take the lead by urging actors to explore offbeat roles, say experts.

In the 1980s, actors like Sripriya, Radikaa and Revathi were not only popular for portraying the love interest in blockbusters but were also known for their bubbly heartwarming characters with great comic timing.

The torchbearer among women comedians, in recent times, is probably actor Kovai Sarala. Having acted in more than 750 films, she has been able to portray different characters in movies like ‘Cheena Veedu’, ‘Karagattakaran’, and ‘Kaalam Maari Pochu’, and is an example of how an actor, harbouring dreams to play the heroine, could still become a star by cashing in on her comic timing.

But does this mean the end of quirky comebacks by women? Actor andplaywright ‘Crazy’ Mohan is positive that the tide will change. “The popularity of comic roles comes in cycles. The requirement for female comedians will come again. The industry needs more women writers and that can bring about a change,” he says.