‘Need more docs & PHCs to face health challenges’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:04.08.2019

WHO chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan cycles very often in Geneva, but in her hometown in Chennai she dreads taking her bicycle out, except on weekend mornings, she told a handful of audience, here on Saturday.

The audience comprising senior doctors, health activists and legal experts laughed, but that line summed up the panel discussion, ‘Is India’s vision on healthcare holistic?’, organized by the Chennai International Centre. Insufficient primary health care (PHC) services, scanty human resources and public health policies that don’t meet current needs are some of the challenges facing the healthcare in India, experts said.

“India is ill-prepared to take on the burden of diseases,” she said in her opening remarks. “In Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the shift of burden from communicable disease to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) happened in the 1990s. In Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, Odisha, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the number of deaths due to NCDs is more than 50%. Yet. many states are not prepared for the new challenge,” she said. “Countries, including Sri Lanka, Bangaldesh, Nepal and Brazil, have better longevity compared to India,” she added.

Former Union health secretary Kesav Desiraju said scarcity of human resources – doctors, nurses, mid-wives and allied health workers – across the country is affecting healthcare services. “We have fewer human resources than we need, and they are not in places where we need them most,” he said. Although more than 70,000 people pass out of medical colleges, not many join government service. “Many mid-wives aren’t able to conduct deliveries. We need innovative policies. The syllabus for nurses hasn’t changed in more than 60 years,” he said.

Health economist and researcher Shailender Swaminathan said the government should monitor outcomes of treatment in private hospitals empanelled under insurance schemes. “Many countries, including the US, monitor performances,” he said. The out-ofpocket expenditure on healthcare too hasn’t come down substantially in many states, he added.

Experts said government’s focus on healthcare should be beyond hospitals. Pointing out the Thailand health model promoting home dialysis, Dr Swaminathan said states here are outsourcing dialysis units in district hospitals to private sector. “There is growing evidence to show that this isn’t making a difference,” she said.

At the end of the session, moderated by Reach director Dr Nalini Krishnan, panellists said India should think of innovative policies such as providing healthy food through PDS system, levying tax on sugar, tobacco and alcohol for health awareness, improving data collection and research, and providing better environment for better lifestyle.

End strike or you may lose jobs, govt tells docs

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:04.08.2019

As doctors of AIIMS and Safdarjung, two central government hospitals, continued to boycott work for the third consecutive day on Saturday in protest against the National Medical Commission Bill, the Union health ministry warned them of punitive action, such as suspension or even termination of service, if they didn’t report to work immediately.

Following the ministry’s direction, the two hospital administrations also issued stern memorandums to the resident doctors asking them to promptly resume work at their respective departments.

In the past three days since the protests over the Bill began, more than 1,000 routine surgeries have been postponed or cancelled across the city’s public hospitals, according to health officials. No new patient is being admitted; doctors are taking care of those already admitted and attending to emergency cases only.

“All members of Resident Doctors’ Association (RDA) and student union are hereby directed to resume their duties in their respective departments with immediate effects, failing which strict disciplinary action like suspension/termination of services, vacation of hostel accommodation, etc may be taken,” AIIMS administration said in the memorandum. This was echoed by Dr Sunil Gupta, medical director at Safdarjung Hospital, in another memo random.

Patients and their families are helpless. “What is our fault in all this? I travelled with my 70-year-old father from Dilshad Garden to AIIMS at 7am on Friday because we had an appointment. But when we reached, the doctors simply told us to come on August 14,” Sanjay Paswan, a 34-year-old man, said.

UGLY SCENES: The ongoing protest by doctors outside AIIMS, New Delhi, turned violent on Saturday after a scuffle broke out between them and the cops, injuring a few of them

Athi Varadar: Autos with rate cards to help devotees

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:04.08.2019

Municipal administration minister S P Velumani on Saturday said rate cards have been displayed in autorickshaws plying around the Devaraja Perumal Temple in Kacheepuram to prevent fleecing of the huge number of devotees visiting for the Athi Varadar festival.

Apress release said the minister chaired a review meeting regarding work to provide basic amenities at the temple. So far, 44 lakh devotees have visited Athi Varadar, with weekends witnessing the highest footfalls of close to three lakh.

Briefing reporters after the meet, Velumani said the number of devotees visiting the temple town is likely to rise in the coming days. “In view of this, 11 two-wheeler parking lots with drinking water and toilet facilities have been set up at a cost of ₹35 lakh. As many as 45 small buses are being operated to ferry devotees from the temporary bus terminuses to the temple,” he said.

Noting that nearly 500 temporary toilets have been established across Kancheepuram for the convenience of visitors, he said about 25 tonnes of solid waste is being cleared on a daily basis. This is apart from the 70 tonnes of waste generated at the town. He further said about 200 lakh litres of water is being distributed at Kancheepuram town everyday.


Minister Velumani said 200 lakh litres of water was being distributed at Kancheepuram town everyday

Despite online system, pregnant women made to visit PHCs for regn

Assigned Nurses Don’t Visit Patients

Komal.Gautham@timesgroup.com

Chennai:04.08.2019

R Rathi*, who wanted to register her pregnancy with the state government, thought the system was simple when she filled the online form in the government website under Pregnancy and Infant Cohort Monitoring and Evaluation (PICME). She was allotted a temporary number and an urban health nurse was allotted to her who was supposed to visit her within seven days. However, days turned into weeks and the nurse was not in sight. She was not available over the phone. Finally, she had to go to the urban primary health care centre (UPHC) where she was asked to bring her documents. Later, she registered her pregnancy.

This is the situation for most pregnant women despite an online system in place. In some cases, nurses call up women and force them to visit the UPHC for registration even if they had registered online.

There are 140 primary health care centres in Chennai and as per norms, for every 10,000 people one nurse is recruited. After Chennai expanded, in some areas for 20,000 people there is one nurse. On an average, every nurse has to register at least 15 pregnancies every month and each PHC has about three to five nurses. However, due to staff shortage, most times only two or three nurses are available and they have other duties such as tuberculosis control programme, vector control programme and other camps.

One nurse who did not want to be named told TOI that she got an allowance of ₹500 for travel but in a city like Chennai, if she had to make at least three visits every day, it took her the whole day and the travel amount wasn’t sufficient.

Dr K Kolandasamy, director of public health department, said PICME was made compulsory to avoid fake pregnancies, fake birth certificates and to keep track of pregnant mothers.

Dr M S Hemalatha, chief medical officer, Greater Chennai Corporation, said they would look into the issue. “We brought the online system to ensure that working women who cannot visit the PHCs between 8am and 3pm get better services. But there are problems as people are not available at the residences and nurses find it difficult to travel,” she said.

*(name changed)

IN RISK OF LOSING SEAT

Prove Indian citizenship in 3 months: HC to med aspirant

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:04.08.2019

For many Indians it might be a dream of their lifetime to get citizenship of the United States of America, but for a Chennai-based teenage girl who is a US citizen by birth, her citizenship has become a roadblock in achieving her dream to pursue medicine in India.

Abirami Anbalagan, who was on the verge of lossing her hard-earned admission to MBBS in ESIC Medical College, KK Nagar, has got some solace after intervention of the Madras high court. Justice G Jayachandran granted her 12 weeks time, as against August 8 deadline fixed by the selection committee, to prove her Indian citizenship and secure her admission. If she fails, with denial of admission, she would be compelled to pay ₹10 lakh to the institution as per the terms of the prospectus.

According to the petitoner, her father was was deputed in the US for over a year while employed in an information technology company. Her mother too accompanied him during his deputation. During their stay her mother gave birth to the petitoner in the US on June 30, 2001. Therefore, the petitoner became the citizen of the country by birth.

In February 2002, the family returned to India and thereafter continued their residence in Chennai. The petitoner completed her entire schooling in Chennai,

qualified NEET 2019 with 455 marks. As she belongs to MBC, she applied for the MBBS counselling in that category and simultaneously applied for Indian citizenship on completion of 18 years.

However, in the first round of counselling her request for MBC quota was rejected since she had not submitted her Indian citizenship certificate. She was treated as overseas citizen of India and assigned only OC category.

When she approached the selection committee, they instructed her to get the transfer certificate from her school with the nationality status as ‘Indian citizenship applied’. After the submission of the certificate, she was alloted a seat in the ESIC medical collage in the second round of counselling.

But she was not allowed to make the payment for the seat and further informed that her allotment would be confirmed once she submits the order passed on her application for Indian citizenship and till then her allotment would be withheld. The committee further infringed her that her citizenship status should be cleared before the mop-up counselling (August 8), failing which the allotment would be cancelled and the seat would be allotted to other eligible candidates during mop-up counselling.

Aggrieved, she has moved the court seeking more time to produce her citizenship certificate. When the petition came up for hearing on Friday, Justice G Jayachendran granted her 12 weeks time to comply.

Customary divorce can never be approved: Madras high court 

DECCAN CHRONICLE.

Published Aug 3, 2019, 2:04 am IST

The officials of New India Assurance Company submitted that no enquiry was conducted with reference to the complaint given by Bama.

Madras high court

Chennai: The Madras high court has said, “Customary divorce can never be approved nor recognized by law. The Hindu Marriage Act, which was enacted in the year 1955, recognized such customary divorce and now, after a lapse of 64 years, the practice of granting customary divorce can never be adopted nor be followed and the courts should not approve any such customary divorce granted by few men from the community or the relatives of the husband or wife”.

Justice S.M.Subramaniam gave the ruling while disposing of a petition from Bama (name changed), which sought a direction to the New India Assurance Company Limited to initiate departmental proceedings against her husband for violating the conduct rules.

According to petitioner, the marriage between her and her husband Pandian (name changed) was solemnized on June 9, 1976 at Madurai. Out of the wedlock, she had a girl. While so, her husband had developed an illegal intimacy with one Janaki (name changed), who was a married woman with a living spouse and three children.

Subsequently, he deserted her and her child. She came to understand that the name of Janaki was entered as the wife of her husband. Her litigations for various reliefs went in vain. Finally, she filed the present petition.

The officials of New India Assurance Company submitted that no enquiry was conducted with reference to the complaint given by Bama. However, they had accepted the judgment of the Family Court (Dismissing her petition against entering the name of Janaki as the wife in all his service records based on the customary divorce obtained by her husband) and permitted him to retire from service during the year 2015 and all his terminal and pensionary benefits were also settled. Now, he was receiving pension also, they added.

Holding that the customary divorce obtained by Pandian was null and void, the judge said the judgment of the family court cannot be accepted as a valid dissolution of marriage between the petitioner and her husband. The petitioner was at liberty to approach the competent court for the purpose of claiming maintenance from her husband, the judge added.

Deprecating the act of the officials of the New India Assurance Company in not taking any action on the complaint given by Bama for over 7 years, the judge directed the Regional and Branch (Madurai) Manager of New India Assurance Company to initiate all suitable actions against the officials/employees, who all were accountable and responsible for their negligence, lapse and dereliction of duty in the matter of dealing with the complaint and allowing Pandian to retire from service with all terminal and pensionary benefits.

The judge also directed the two officials to issue circular to all the branches to initiate action against all such complaints or information regarding bigamous marriage etc., and conduct enquiry and institute appropriate actions under the Discipline and Appeal Rules as well as to file criminal case before the competent authority. They were also directed to verify the genuinity or otherwise of the nominations given by the respective employees of the corporation before entering the same in their service records and pension records, the judge added.

பொருளாதாரத்தில் பின்தங்கிய பிரிவினர் சான்று பெற வழிகாட்டி விதிகள் வெளியீடு

By DIN | Published on : 03rd August 2019 02:29 AM


பொதுப் பிரிவினரில் பொருளாதாரத்தில் பின்தங்கிய பிரிவினர் சான்று பெறுவதற்கான வழிகாட்டி விதிகள் வெளியிடப்பட்டுள்ளன.
வருவாய் நிர்வாக ஆணையர் சத்யகோபால் மாவட்ட ஆட்சியர்களுக்கு எழுதியுள்ள கடிதத்தின் விவரம்:-

பொருளாதாரத்தில் பின்தங்கிய வகுப்பினர் சான்றிதழைப் பெறுவதற்கு சம்பந்தப்பட்ட மாணவர் அல்லது நபரின் குடும்ப ஆண்டு வருமானம் ரூ.8 லட்சத்துக்குக் கீழ் இருக்க வேண்டும். அதே சமயம், 5 ஏக்கர் விவசாய நிலம் அல்லது அதற்கு அதிகமாக இருந்தாலோ, ஆயிரம் சதுர அடிக்கு அதிகமாக அடுக்குமாடியில் வீடு சொந்தமாக வைத்திருந்தாலோ சான்றிதழ் பெற முடியாது.

இந்தச் சான்றிதழை பெற விரும்பும் மாணவர் அல்லது மாணவியின் வயது 18-க்கு குறைவாக இருக்க வேண்டும். இந்தச் சான்றிதழைப் பெற நினைக்கும் குடும்பத்தினர் கிராமத்திலோ அல்லது நகரத்திலோ இருந்தால் அவர்கள் குறித்து கிராம நிர்வாக அலுவலர் தீவிரமாக விசாரிக்க வேண்டும் என்று தனது கடிதத்தில் சத்யகோபால் தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.