Hyderabad: 50 per cent medics posted without internship

DECCAN CHRONICLE. | DURGA PRASAD SUNKU

Published  Jan 15, 2019, 12:43 am IST

One is able to register with the Telangana State Medical Council (TSMC) only after successful completion of a year’s internship.

The Osmania General Hospital superintendent received a complaint against some MBBS graduates who were absent from internship and yet received postings.

Hyderabad: Many MBBS students in the state, in both government and private colleges, are allegedly bypassing internship, which is compulsory for a year.

Sources said almost 50 per cent of government medical college students are not doing their internship in one or other department after being able to get their internship certificate forged.

Recently, the Osmania General Hospital superintendent received a complaint against some MBBS graduates who were absent from internship and yet received postings.

One is able to register with the Telangana State Medical Council (TSMC) only after successful completion of a year’s internship.

But many interns are not underdoing the compulsory internship. Some of the reasons for this is to prepare for a post-graduation seat through NEET or to practice medicine in the United States.

“As there are fewer number of post-graduation seats, there is intense competition among graduates to clear NEET,” said a professor on the condition of anonymity. “As a result, many of them use the time meant for internship to prepare for competitive examinations. Many of them also prepare for the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE).”

Telangana Junior Doctors JAC chairman P.S. Vijayender Goud said interns who are doing internship are also affected. “For example, if 20 members are posted in a department, and only 8 to 9 members report for internship, then the workload on them increases. After all, those 8 to 9 interns will be doing the work of 20 members.”

Recently, the superintendent of Osmania General Hospital received a complaint against interns pursuing unfair means of getting internship certificate without actually doing it. According to the complaint, interns who had to report at the orthopaedics and other departments have not reported for the month of December.

Allegedly, some of them have even got their attendance signatures without actually completing internship.

“We have got the complaint. Reportedly, some students were absent. We have appointed three professors to investigate the issue,” Osmania General Hospital superintendent Nagendra said. “In Osmania General Hospital, students undergo only five months internship. After getting signature from concerned professor only the process of getting internship certificate will be initiated. We are investigating the case.”

Pongal season: Chennai private buses fleece commuters, charge up to Rs 1,800 extra
The ticket fares of non-AC buses from Chennai to Madurai ranged between Rs 1,100 and Rs 1,500 against the usual Rs 600 to Rs 700.

Published: 14th January 2019 05:03 AM | 

Government buses stationed at the Dr MGR Koyambedu bus stand ahead of Pongal | Nakshatra Krishnamoorthy

By B Anbuselvan

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Despite the government arranging 11,000 special buses from Chennai to various parts of the State to deal with the extra Pongal rush, this year too, commuters were taken for a ride by private omni-buses and exorbitant fares. Private bus operators are charging an additional fare ranging between Rs 800-Rs 1,800 per ticket this year.

The ticket fares of non-AC buses from Chennai to Madurai ranged between Rs 1,100 and Rs 1,500 against the usual Rs 600 to Rs 700. The cost of non-AC sleeper tickets was Rs 1,800 to Rs 2,200 on the same route. Similarly, ticket fares on routes such as Chennai-Bengaluru, Chennai-Coimbatore, Chennai-Tiruchy, Chennai-Thanjavur, Chennai-Mayiladuthurai, Chennai-Karur ranged between Rs 1,500-Rs 1,800.

Commuters to southern districts were among the worst affected. Fares to Tirunelveli, Kanniyakumari, Nagercoil, Thoothukudi, Thiruchendur peaked up to Rs 2,000-Rs 2,500 in seater buses. “Fares increased from January 9. I paid Rs 2,200 for a semi-sleeper seat to Nagercoil on Saturday. The usual fare is around Rs 900,” says K Mahesh, a native of Nagercoil.


The Transport Department has washed its hand off the issue, refusing to intervene citing lack of legal provisions. A few tourist buses operating from Koyambedu, though, were penalised for permit violations by RTOs. “The Union government had to amend the Motor Vehicles Act authorising State Transport Departments to act against erring omni buses,” said a senior transport official.

“More than Rs 30 lakh has been collected from private tourist buses for permit violations,” he said. Road traffic in Chennai, which usually gets messy during festival days, remained smooth. Officials attributed the same to extended public holidays. “Unlike last year, day-time buses to Villupuram, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Salem and nearby towns were fully loaded,” said a transport official.

“Due to continuous holidays, people who leave Chennai in two days have left over a span of four days. The demand for overnight buses has come down which is why the city traffic has not been affected,” the official explained. According to official records, about six lakh commuters have travelled by government buses in the last three days.

Omni bus industry sources denied any overpricing of tickets. They said that more than 15,000 spare buses have been pulled in to operations to meet the festival season demand. Tamilnadu Omni Bus Owners Association (TOBOA) president, A Afzal blamed the hike in prices on smaller transport companies. “It is they who hike prices, not bigger companies like us,” he said.

Between the costly bus and flight tickets, the premium tatkal service of trains was also in demand. Suvidha train fares to Tirunelveli reached between Rs 3,200 and Rs 3,600 per ticket. The fully unreserved Tambaram - Sengottai Antyodaya Express has been going fully loaded for the past two days.

Chennai book fair records footfall of eight lakh visitors

The book fair this year has been a huge success, say organisers, with Monday alone recording around 60,000 visitors.

Published: 15th January 2019 06:47 AM 

The organisers of Chennai Book Fair, at YMCA, Nandhanam, are expecting almost twice the number of visitors as last year | 

ASHWIN PRASATH

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: The book fair this year has been a huge success, say organisers, with Monday alone recording around 60,000 visitors.

“Sales have gone up since last year and so has the footfall. We are expecting to see almost twice the number of visitors as last year,” said S Vairavan of Kumaran Pathippagam, who is also the president of the Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI), that organises the annual fair.

So far, a total of eight lakh people have visited the fair this year, he added.

With another week to go, it is expected to clock another 10 lakh. Last year the fair closed at an ‘all-time-high’ of 12 lakh visitors. The fair, with 812 stalls, is to go on until January 20.


This year, Madurai Sarvodaya Ilakkiya Pannai’s ‘Sathya Sodhanai,’ a translation of Gandhi’s autobiography ‘My Experiment with Truth’ has emerged as the top seller so far, already having sold one lakh copies.

Meanwhile, last year, it was Vidiyal Publishing’s ‘Ambedkar: Indrum, Endrum’, which recorded a sale of 3,000 copies in the first five days of the fair. This year too, the book is having a good run, according to A Udhaya of Pa Ranjith’s ‘Neelam’ that has made its debut at the book fair this year.

With 26 plaster busts of Dalit leaders on display at Neelam’s stall and the bust of Ambedkar taking centrestage, the stall seems to have attracted a sizeable crowd in its first year.

While this year, Neelam has on display a collection of books from various publishers, it also plans to publish in the near future.

“Works for publishing are underway. Our aim is to unite all avenues available to us to achieve the goal and we will make the most of it,” said Udhaya. The ‘Collected Works of Periyar’ was also a hit at the stall.

Order not applicable to defect-free buildings of educational institutions built before November 2011: Madras HC

Granting the relief while passing orders on the petitions, Justice Raja also clarified that if any building is constructed even prior to enforcing Sec.

Published: 15th January 2019 06:43 AM 

Madras high court (File photo | PTI)

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has made it clear that the buildings of schools or colleges constructed before November 1, 2011, that is, prior to the introduction of Sec. 47-A to the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, 1971 and after obtaining valid and lawful permission from the competent authorities, would not come under the purview of the GO, dated June 14, 2018, of the Housing and Urban Development department.

Justice T Raja gave the clarification while passing final orders on a batch of writ petitions from the Association of All India Private Educational Institutions, represented by its general secretary K Palaniappan of Saligramam and others, recently.

The petition from the Association sought to declare the June 14 GO and the consequential letters of the directors of Town and Country Planning and School Education departments, as illegal and unconstitutional and passed without legislative sanction.

As per the amendment made in 2018 to Sec. 47 of the 1971 Act, Sec. 47-A was introduced and it had become the duty of the local authority granting permission to any development on any land in the non-plan area to obtain prior concurrence of the director under the 1971 Act. As a result, the approval for the buildings, even in the non-plan area under the control of the local authority, is also subjected to the permission to be obtained by the local authority.


Granting the relief while passing orders on the petitions, Justice Raja also clarified that if any building is constructed even prior to enforcing Sec. 47-A, that is, before November 1, 2011, leaving any deficiencies to be rectified and not carried out even today, such buildings will be covered by the GO. In any event, if the three months’ time given in the GO had already expired, the Town and Country Development director is entitled to take appropriate action against all those buildings, which had not obtained planning permission and which were put up even prior to November 1, 2011 and whose deficiencies were not rectified till November 2, 2011.

Lastly, in respect of the one-time levy and collection of `7.50 per sq.ft. on the FSI/plinth area of the buildings, the judge said that if any application is made during the relevant period, that is, before the expiry of the three months, the T&CP director shall consider the same to grant the benefits, quashed the June 14 GO and all other consequential letters and allowed the writ petitions with the observations and directions.

Over Rs 43 lakh awarded to SETC bus accident victim’s family in Chennai
In a petition, the family had sought adequate compensation for the death of the techie, caused by the rash and negligent bus driving.

Published: 15th January 2019 06:44 AM |

For representational purposes

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Three years after an SETC bus killed a 22- year-old man along the East Coast Road, the Motor Accidents Tribunal awarded a compensation of over Rs 43 lakh to the family members of the deceased.

The SETC bus plying from Chennai to Pondicherry hit V Sesank, who was working in a prominent IT firm and riding the pillion of a bike, on August 16, 2016. The victim sustained fatal injuries and died in the hospital on the same day.

In a petition, the family had sought adequate compensation for the death of the techie, caused by the rash and negligent bus driving.

The family’s counsel argued that it was due to the negligence of the bus driver that their son, the family’s sole bread-winner, who was earning `30,000 a month, was killed.


The SETC counsel argued that the motorcycle dashed against a car from behind and was thrown away to the left-side wheel of the bus which ran over the victim.

However, the tribunal headed by K Ayyappan, based on the reports, observed, “No evidence is available to prove that the bus driver is not responsible for the accident except the interested testimony of the driver of the government bus.” Hence the tribunal came to the conclusion that the accident occurred only due to the rash and negligent driving of the bus driver and awarded the family a sum of `43,40,153.

Patients at Kancheepuram PHC told to buy syringes from private shops
The 24-hour Urban PHC was also functioning without doctor on the busy day. Some of the regular cases were attended by the nurse and the pharmacist there. Some patients were send back.

Published: 15th January 2019 06:52 AM 

Image used for representational purpose only

By Sinduja Jane

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Patients at the Urban Primary Health Centre at Mangadu in Kancheepuram district were made to buy syringes from private medical shops around the centre on Monday as the doctor also stayed away from attending the patients.

In the absence of a duty doctor in the 24-hour health centre, a nurse and a pharmacist were attending to patients who were queued up in one of the busiest centres. “I was told to buy a syringe at a private medical shop, so I went and bought a syringe at a nearby pharmacy,” said a 60-year-old woman in the area.

When asked about it, the officials claimed it happened only on Monday as insulin syringes stock was over just then and the nurse had no other option but to make the patients buy from a medical shop.


Speaking to Express, Dr T Senthil Kumar, Deputy Director of Health Services, said, “The patients were asked to buy only insulin syringes as that stock was over. Usually, we make local purchase and stock it, but I was told by the nurse when I inquired that the regular supplier didn’t come for the last two days as it is festival time or so. So, as there was no stock, the nurse said she asked the patients to buy. However, there are enough stocks at the nearby Block Primary Health Centre in Kundrathur.

The nurse could have sent someone and got from there, but she failed to do that.” He denied it was a regular business at the centre.

The 24-hour Urban PHC was also functioning without doctor on the busy day. Some of the regular cases were attended by the nurse and the pharmacist there. Some patients were send back.

“My daughter is having fever for the last three days. I came here to check with the doctor and thought of doing a blood test. But, I was told only the doctor can prescribe the test and so, there was no point waiting here,” said a mother who visited the centre.

When asked about absence of doctor, Senthil Kumar said, “On an average, the PHC gets close to 400 cases every day. So, we posted two medical officers. One senior medical officer went on leave, and the other medical officer who lives close by kept visiting the centre now and then due to some personal commitments,” he added.

Regular affair in PHSs?

A medical officer, who worked in a PHC in the State, said that nurses attending patients is a regular affair in many of the PHCs. “In the absence of doctors, the nurse will just distribute tablets and administer injection to old patients, who come with their previous treatment history record at the centre,” he said

A 24-hour health centre

The local people said that since the Mangadu Urban PHC is a 24-hour centre, the lone medical officer has to take care of the affairs in the night also. Deliveries are also conducted in the centre and it is a busy centre, they said

Big stores happily violate plastic ban in Chennai

When Express visited T-Nagar Saravana Stores on Sunday, staff were seen handing out plastic bags of varying sizes depending on purchases.

Published: 14th January 2019 06:46 AM 

A customer walking away with her purchases packed in a plastic cover from T-Nagar Saravana Stores, in Chennai on Sunday | P Jawahar

By SV KRISHNA CHAITANYA & NIRUPAMA 

VISWANATHAN

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Does the plastic ban apply only to small and medium scale vendors? While the city Corporation is taking smaller stores to task for not following the ban, retail giants such as Saravana Stores and Jeyachandran Stores are distributing plastic bags generously to their customers.

When Express visited T-Nagar Saravana Stores on Sunday, staff were seen handing out plastic bags of varying sizes depending on purchases.

When asked about the ban, senior staff at the store said: “This is only for today... We are giving away plastic bags to clear off stock. After that we will use 100 per cent compostable bags that are organic,” the staff said. Similarly, a senior staff of Jeyachandran stores in Usman road said that he has received orders from superiors to give away plastic bags until today. Pongal shopping rush was high on Sunday.


"We will be switching to cloth bags after this. The plastic bags are being used only for one day today," the staff said. Single-use, non-biodegradable plastic bags have been banned in the State since January 1.

The stores giving out plastic bags were counting on an exemption from strict enforcement owing to Pongal shopping rush. “We have requested officials for some leeway during Pongal sales and they have agreed,” claimed the Saravana Stores store manager.

Corporation officials denied the claims. "No such exemptions have been given to anyone. Inspections are going on in the premises of violators," said a senior Corporation official.

The Corporation, on Thursday alone, seized 5,121 kg of banned plastic from all 15 zones. A senior Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) official said that the onus was on the civic body to carry out strict enforcement of the ban. Can they rein in the big stores?