How can govt. seek money to set up PHC in a village: HC

How can govt. seek money to set up PHC in a village: HC

14/10/2020

Special Correspondent Bengaluru

Is the policy the government compelling the villagers to provide two-acres of land and deposit ₹1 lakh if they want a primary health centre (PHC) in their village is justified when the citizens have right to protection of health? The Karnataka High Court posed this question to the State government during the hearing of a a PIL petition, filed by H.K. Ramchanandra and five others. The petitioners wanted a PHC in their village of Jodihocihalli of Kadur taluk in Chikkamagalur district.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Ashok S Kinagi said the policy of the Government villagers requiring to provide two acres of land and deposit ₹1lakh for a PHC appears to be unjust when the citizens right to health care as per the interpretation the apex court’s judgements on the right to protection of life and personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.

Earlier, Vijayakumar A Patil, a government counsel, in response to Court’s query on whether there exists any policy to establish PHCs, said that the policy framed, in 1987, stated that the residents of a village, having population more than 30,000, were required to deposit ₹lakh and give two acres of land free of encumbrance for constructing a building if they wanted the Government to set up a PHC their village.

The villagers were also required to provide temporary building till permanent building for PHC till permanent building is constructed, it was stated on behalf of the Government while pointing out a sub-centre of PHC is esblished in a place having population of 5,000 and Community Health Centres (CHCs) is established in an having population of one lakh.

Meanwhile, Mr. Patil assured the Court that the Government will reconsider the policy as it was framed several years ago.

Letter to Centre based on my proposal to CM: Surappa

Letter to Centre based on my proposal to CM: Surappa

- The Times Of India  14.10.2020 

Facing fire from opposition parties over his letter to the Centre on Institute of Eminence (IoE) status for Anna University where he had stated that the university can generate ₹314 crore per year (₹1,570 crore for five years) on its own through internal accruals, vice-chancellor M K Surappa on Tuesday told Ragu Raman  that he had presented that proposal to the CM and group of ministers before sending it in a letter to the Centre. “Based on my proposal, the chief secretary sent a letter to MHRD giving in-principle approval for IoE status. I merely followed the implementation of his letter. I am duty bound to follow it,” he said. While the DMK, Congress, AMMK and MDMK demanded the removal of the VC alleging that he had acted without the state’s consent, DMK chief MK Stalin called it an attempt by Surappa and the Centre to saffronise the university. While the opposition said TN had not received any assurances on 69% quota, the VC said the MHRD had assured that IoE status will not change quota policy or the university’s governance structure.

Picture

›Full Q&A: P 4

New cases below 5,000 for second day - The Times Of India

New cases below 5,000 for second day - The Times Of India

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:14.10.2020

Fresh cases in Tamil Nadu dropped below 5,000 for the second consecutive day and deaths too dropped below 60 on Tuesday. The 4,666 new cases pushed the case tally to 6,65,930. The 57 deaths took the cumulative death toll to 10,371. Active cases too dropped to 43,239.

Chennai, the worst affected district, reported 1,164 cases, the highest in the state, followed by Coimbatore (398) and Salem (277). Two other districts that reported cases above 200 were Chengalpet (252) and Tiruvallur (236). Seven districts reported less than 50 cases – Ariyalur and Karur reported 36 cases each, Kallakurichi and Tenkasi 31 each, Ramanathapuram 17, Sivaganga 16 and Perambalur five.

While 17 districts reported zero deaths, Chennai reported 13 and Coimbatore five. Three districts, Chengalpet, Tiruppur and Tirupattur, reported four deaths each; three others, Cuddalore, Krishnagiri and Salem, had three deaths each. Five districts reported two deaths each and six districts reported one death each.

The average case fatality rate was 1.6% in the state, but four districts had death rate above 2% -- Tiruppur (2%), Ramanathapuram (2.1%), Sivaganga (2.2%) and Madurai

(2.3%). The lowest rates were in Nilgiris (.6%), Villupuram (.8%), Tuticorin (.9%) and Dharmapuri (.9%).

The 11 districts in the north together reported 49% of the fresh cases and 33% of deaths. They reported 2,311 new cases and 33 deaths including 1,781 fresh cases and 21 deaths in the Chennai region.

The western districts reported 1388 fresh cases, while the south and central zones reported 492 and 475 cases each. The west reported 18 deaths compared to four in the south and two in the central zone.

The eleven northern districts together had 22,237 active cases, including 18,100 in the Chennai region. There were 12,786 patients under treatment in the west, 4,421 in the south and 3,778 in the central districts.

MBBS quota: Guv still awaits legal opinion -

MBBS quota: Guv still awaits legal opinion -

The Times Of India

Julie.Mariappan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:14.10.2020

It is nearly a month since the state assembly unanimously passed a bill carving out 7.5% of available MBBS seats for government school students, and this year’s NEET results are just a couple of days away. Yet governor Banwarilal Purohit is yet to give his assent to the proposal.

Sources told TOI that Purohit is awaiting legal opinion on the matter. “Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami made specific requests to the governor during his recent meeting. The governor is said to be expecting legal opinion from Delhi to enact the law. The government is positive to get assent by this week,” said a source. Palaniswami, his colleagues, C Ve Shanmugam (law) and K P Anbalagan (higher education) along with officials visited Raj Bhavan on October 5 and briefed him about the Bills. Another key academic initiative of the state government — the bifurcation of the Anna University into two institutions — too is awaiting the governor’s nod.

The state has been pushing for the NEET quota for government school students to ensure about 300 seats to them this year. Under the NEET regime only 0.15% seats in the state quota of 4,043 seats went to government school students, bringing enormous discomfiture to the EPS dispensation. The state cabinet had cleared a proposal in June to provide horizontal reservation following retired high court judge justice Kalaiyarasan commission’s report on the huge disparities between private and government school students gaining access to medicine. Due to cognitive gap created by socio economic factors the committee had concluded that “government school students form a separate class and are in a disadvantageous position as compared to private school students.” It recommended 10% of seats in the medical admission on a preferential basis to students who studied from Class VI to higher secondary in government schools. After sending the proposal to the governor to promulgate ordinance, the state cabinet met in July and tweaked the original proposal. The revised proposal allowed RTE students, who studied in government schools from Class XI onwards also eligible to avail the quota. Attempts to contact governor’s secretary Anandrao Vishnu Patil were futile.

12 MBA students of MKU get placement

12 MBA students of MKU get placement

15/10/2020

Staff Reporter

Twelve Masters in Business Administration students of Madurai Kamaraj University got placed in ICICI Bank at a campus recruitment.

A total of 40 students attended the recruitment process. Three levels of evaluation process — an online exam, group discussion and personal interview — were held. Twelve students were selected, a release said.

Vice-Chancellor M. Krishnan congratulated the students and gave away offer letters to them.

V. Chinnaiah, Professor and Head, Department of Management Studies, MKU, thanked the bank for conducting the campus recruitment.

Nodal Placement Officer P. Kannadas and other faculties of MBA department coordinated the conduct of the recruitment process.

HC issues guidelines for conducting post mortem

HC issues guidelines for conducting post mortem

15/10/2020

B. Tilak Chandar MADURAI

Passing a series of directions with respect to conduct of post mortems and issue of certificates, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has ruled that doctors should follow Article 621 of the Tamil Nadu Medical Code by sending the post mortem certificate, as soon as it is over, to the judicial magistrate concerned.

A copy of the certificate should be sent to the head of the department on the same day, failing which departmental proceedings should be initiated against them, the court said, and directed the Health Secretary to issue a circular directing the doctors to strictly follow Article 621.

The court directed the State government to appoint Scientific Officers at all Government Medical College Hospitals for providing assistance. Biometric attendance for staff should be followed at hospitals. A web-based medico-legal examination and post mortem reports system should be followed at all hospitals from January 1, 2021, the court said.

The court was hearing the public interest litigation petition filed by advocate R.M. Arun Swaminathan, who complained of lacuna in the procedures followed in conducting post mortem at government hospitals. There was no transparency and the procedure prescribed under the Tamil Nadu Medical Code was not followed, he said.

A Division Bench of Justices N. Kirubakaran and S.S. Sundar took cognisance of the fact that there were several irregularities in the conduct of post mortems, and sometimes even unauthorised people were conducting them. Also, preparation of the certificate was not in the format prescribed by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

The court said there was a failure on the part of the doctors and forensic experts to send the post mortem certificates immediately to the Judicial Magistrate and to the head of the department. These were the reasons to suspect malpractice and meddling with the findings of the autopsy at the instance of third parties.

Besides, these post mortem reports were handwritten and not legible. Unless they were legibly written, it would not be possible for non-medical people to understand the writings of the doctors and forensic experts. The certificates had to be read and understood for conducting investigation and deciding cases.

The court said the NHRC format should be followed in issuing post mortem certificates. The post mortems should be videographed whenever requests were made by families or friends of the deceased, it said.

Minister rules out re-opening of schools anytime soon

Minister rules out re-opening of schools anytime soon

15/10/2020

K. A. Sengottayan

Special CorrespondentDharmapuri

Minister for School Education K.A. Sengottaiyan ruled out the possibilities of re-opening schools anytime soon. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event here, Mr. Sengottaiyan said as long as the pandemic continued there was no possibility of re-opening schools. Citing the Andhra Pradesh experience of re-opening schools causing infection to over 26 students, the Minister said any plan of re-opening schools will be a consultative and a collective decision at a later stage. According to the Minister, 60% of the syllabus was being covered through online classes without any glitches.