Dental clinic treats foreign nationals 

Special Correspondent 
 
CHENNAI, May 22, 2018 00:00 IST

Treatment is expensive, not covered under insurance scheme

Two foreign nationals recently underwent an advanced dental implant procedure in the city.

A 72-year-old Australian woman and a 44-year-old Polish woman approached Rajan Dental-Malo Clinic for All-on-4 Zygoma dental implant treatment.

All-on-4 Zygoma is a graftless technique that uses cheek bone (Zygoma bone) instead of the hipbone graft.

The city-based Rajan Dental-Malo Clinic has been using the technique since 2007 and has performed 324 procedures on 168 patients. The procedure is expensive and not covered under health insurance schemes in developed countries such as the U.S. and Australia.

Better planning

Gunaseelan Rajan, medical director, Rajan Dental-Malo Clinic, said patients, particularly those from abroad, could plan for the procedure in advance with doctors through a video chat and share their scans.

This would help in finalising travel arrangements.

Advanced dental implant procedures require a minimum stay of 10 days.

Distance not a criterion for admission to schools: HC 

Mohamed Imranullah S. 
 
CHENNAI, May 22, 2018 00:00 IST

Long distance between a school and the residence of a child for whom admission is sought, cannot be the sole reason to deny admission, since the parents of the applicant could always be given an opportunity to shift to a place closer to the institution, the Madras High Court has observed.

Justice S. Vaidyanathan made the observation while dismissing a writ petition filed by a minor child, represented by her father, seeking admission in Class I in the Kendriya Vidyalaya at the Air Force Station in Sulur in Coimbatore district. The judge rejected her plea on grounds other than the distance.

Though the school’s counsel claimed that the petitioner was residing 16 kilometres away and the petitioner’s counsel rebutted it by stating they have shifted the residence, the judge said: “It is no doubt true that distance may not be a factor to be considered for rejection as parents must be given an opportunity to shift the residence.”

However, when it came to assessing the conduct of the parents, the judge found that they had provided misleading information not only with respect to distance between the school and their residence but also their annual income, profession and community in their anxiety to somehow gain admission for their child. “The applicant had provided incorrect particulars in the online application form, which shows that the petitioner is not entitled to the relief sought for in the writ petition,” the judge said.

Health Secretary allays fears over spread of Nipah virus 
 
Special Correspondent 
 
CHENNAI, May 22, 2018 00:00 IST



J. Radhakrishnan 

There has been no known active transmission alert, officials say

The State health department has put on alert its district officials and increased its surveillance following reported Nipah viral infection in neighbouring Kerala.

Nipah is a zoonotic disease spread by fruit bats and is named after a Malaysian village Sungai Nipahl where the viral infection-caused encephalitis was first reported among pig farmers. Subsequently, it also began to be transmitted from humans to humans.

“Fruit bats are a natural host of the virus, but since they don’t tend to fly long distance, it is a localised outbreak,” said health secretary J. Radhakrishnan, adding, “It is an emerging communicable disease and the literature has been shared by the department. The threat to the State through the Nipah virus is low and there is no cause for alarm. The district health officials have been advised to stay alert.”

According to the World Health Organisation, of the nine fruit bat species in the world found to harbour the virus, five are found in India. But the country has so far reported outbreaks only in a couple of localities – Siliguri and Nadia in West Bengal – on two separate occasions. The report of the infection had come as a surprise as so far there had been no global alert, said Director of Public Health K. Kolandaisamy.

The health department is also awaiting information about the origin of the infection. “There has been no known active transmission alert. We have not heard of any current outbreak so far across the areas where the virus is known to have caused outbreaks earlier,” he said.

The State government has not issued any travel advisory so far but has advised rigorous hygiene.

“As fruit bats are a source of infection, it is better to wash the fruits before eating. Don’t eat bat-eaten fruits. People should maintain the routine of hand-washing and not eat raw fruits or vegetables without washing thoroughly. There is no problem with boiled, cooked food,” Dr. Kolandaisamy added. Since the disease could spread through handling pigs, animal husbandry and forest department officials too had been involved, the official said. On Tuesday, a video-conferencing has been organised by the Chief Secretary Girija Vaidhyanathan. The joint directors of health and animal husbandry departments and forest officials will attend the conference.

HC talks tough on medical admissions 

Special Correspondent 
 
CHENNAI, May 22, 2018 00:00 IST


Not an option:Simply because candidates have been admitted in other States, they cannot say they should be considered under State quota, the court held.M. PRABHU 

Says All India PG quota allottees have no right to seek admission under State quota too

Doctors who had been allotted postgraduate degree or diploma seats under the all India quota cannot claim a right to participate in the counselling held for State quota seats too in an attempt to gain admission into a better course and a better institution in their home State, the Madras High Court has held.

Justice S.M. Subramaniam passed the ruling while dismissing a batch of 17 writ petitions filed by candidates who were aggrieved against non-inclusion of their names in the State merit list for the academic year 2018-19 since they had already been allotted seats in other States under the all India quota.

After finding that regulations governing the subject do not confer any right on candidates to select a course or institute of their choice, the judge said: “Choice/option can neither be claimed as a matter of right nor such a choice granted to the students be construed as a legal right so as to claim a PG medical seat based on such a choice before the court of law.”

Extracting the dictionary meaning of the term ‘choice,’ the judge said: “Thus, choice is a chance and can never be a legal right. Choice of a branch or choice of a medical institution is subject to the availability of seats in a particular branch and subject to the availability of such a branch in a particular medical institution. “It is not as if admission to PG medical courses has been denied to these batch of writ petitioners... Simply because they have been admitted in other States, they cannot say that once again they must be considered for the admission under the State quota in courses and institutions of their own choice and as per their wishes.”

‘Open more colleges’

Though counselling for the all India quota as well as the State quota seats ought to have taken place contiguously, the judge accepted the explanation offered by government advocate K. Karthikeyan that this year there was a delay in releasing the State list due to the interim orders passed by the court in another batch of cases related to grant of incentive marks to government doctors.

At the same breath, observing that meritorious students should not get disillusioned due to their inability to gain admission into a better course and institute, Mr. Justice Subramanian reminded the Centre as well as the State government of their duty to establish adequate number of medical colleges. “The intellectual calibre of the young minds of our great nation are undoubtedly vibrant, and numerous students are now aspiring to secure seats to undergo medical courses in distinct branches... This court is of an opinion that starting more medical institutions is imminent on account of the current needs of our nation,” he concluded.

Don’t presume grandparents are babysitters, says court

Swati.Deshpande@timesgroup.com

Mumbai: 21.05.2018

Parents ought to steer away from a presumption that grandparents are meant to be babysitters, a family court has said, adding that grandchildren should not become their burden in old age.

“It is the primary duty of the parents and not the grandparents to take care of their infant children. Grandparents may be there to support, guide and assist in raising the children. However, they should not be burdened to babysit grandchildren as their primary duty, by compromising their relaxation, entertainment and travel plan,” said the court in Pune while passing final orders in a woman’s plea for maintenance for herself and two children. The court said the woman’s tone in holding her in-laws responsible for having to place her children, when infants, in a creche, was ‘absolutely wrong’. “Grandparents cannot be blamed, if a child needs to placed in a creche,’’ said the court.

Observing that with more women getting educated, employed and working, like their husbands, the family court judge Swati Chauhan said, “It is not an unusual scene that their children are kept in creche for their care.” “It is the prerogative of the old and aged grandparents to willingly accept the task to babysit their grandchildren considering their own age, health, strength, engagement in extracurricular activities and other plans,’’ she said in a recent order.

The estranged couple, now in their 40s, had married over two decades ago. The wife had moved the family court for maintenance for herself and the children in 2012 when both were minors, the youngest was 10 years old. She alleged that her husband neglected their financial needs resulting in her having to resume her job four months after the birth of their first born. She also alleged that a few months after taking care of her infant child, her inlaws had gone travelling and also to visit their other son. So she had to keep her children in a creche and paid for it. She had alleged that her husband never took responsibility for the children’s expenses for the past decade.

The family court said it was “a very prevalent presumption of majority Indian families that grandparents are a substitute for nannies.”


SETTING THINGS STRAIGHT:

The court held that grandparents cannot be blamed if a child needs to placed in a creche

Nurse taking care of Nipah patients dies, toll rises to 10 
 
I Can’t Meet You, Take Care Of Our Children, Says Lini

TNN & AGENCIES  21.05.2018

Kozhikode: Lini (31), the nurse at Perambra Taluk Hospital who died on Monday after possibly getting exposed to the deadly virus while tending to a Nipah virus infected patient, died without even getting a chance to bid adieu to her loved ones, including her two kids and husband. With Lini’s death, the toll has now gone up to 10.

On Sunday, the toll had risen to nine with the death of six more people who had shown symptoms of the disease. Of this, two deaths were reported from Kozhikode and four from Malappuram district.

The stamp of sacrifice was there at her funeral as well. Her family from Chembanoda region near Peruvannamuzhi allowed the health department to conduct her cremation at an electric crematorium in the city without taking the body home to avoid the spread of the virus.

“In her last days, she realised she had contacted a possibly-fatal infection after the youth from Changaroth — whom she had attended to in the initial stages — died. She lived to help others and her death has become a sacrifice,” said her maternal uncle V Balan.

Her two children, Sidharth (5) and Rithul (2), couldn’t give their mother one last kiss. On hearing that Lini was sick, her husband Sajeesh had come home from the Gulf two days ago.

Rajeev Sadanandan, additional chief secretary, department of health & family welfare, told TOI the virus was confirmed in tests conducted at the Pune institute on samples of the three deceased from a family at Changaroth panchayat. He said the department has not been able to ascertain the extent of the spread of the disease as the virus has an incubation period of four to 18 days.

Tourism minister Kadakampally Surendran condoled her death and shared on Facebook the final letter she wrote to her husband. “I don’t think I’ll be able to meet you. Please look after our children. Take them with you to the Gulf; don’t be all alone like our father, please.”

Lini who was working as nurse at a private hospital in Kozhikode was appointed to Perambra Taluk Hospital last September on a contract basis.

“Lini had told me that she had attended to a patient from Changaroth, who had initially sought treatment for fever at Perambra hospital. After the patient’s death was reported at a Kozhikode hospital, she was sad as she had felt that the symptoms shown by the patient was unusual,” said Avalam Hameed, her neighbour.

United Nurses Association (UNA) state vice-president Suneesh AP said that Lini died while doing her duty and government should step in to offer help to her family. “UNA representatives will visit her house and provide support. The government too must provide aid,” he added.

The staff of Perambra Taluk Hospital came to work on Monday wearing black badges to mourn her demise. 


Passengers on a bus on Kozhikode-Kuttiyadi route on Monday

Delhi-Vizag Exp train catches fire 
 
Passengers Were Safely Evacuated

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bhopal/Agra: 21.05.2018
On Monday afternoon, two coaches of the Visakhapatnam-bound Andhra Pradesh AC Superfast Express train caught fire just 3km from Gwalior junction. No injuries were reported among the passengers, including 40 deputy collectors of Madhya Pradesh, who were travelling from Delhi’s Nizamuddin station.

The fire occurred in the B6 and B7 coaches of the train. While train services along the route were affected, all the passengers were safely evacuated and taken to Gwalior in specially arranged buses.

Sanchit Tyagi, divisional commercial manager of Agra division said, “The fire broke out at around noon and railway fire tenders doused the flames by 1pm. Though the actual cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. The incident occurred at Birlanagar junction.”

Tyagi added, “A total of 81 passengers boarded the train from Agra Cantt station, but only seven had reserved berths in B6 and B7 coaches. All the passengers alighted safely from the train. After detaching the affected coaches, the train departed from Birla Nagar at 2.30pm and arrived at Gwalior junction at 2.53pm.” An inquiry has been ordered by the ministry of railways and senior railway officials are investigating the incident. 


LUCKY ESCAPE: Smoke billows out of the two bogies of Andhra Pradesh AC Superfast Express which caught fire near a station in Gwalior on Monday