‘TN to act against med colleges over high fees’ Health Min Tells Panel To Look Into Complaints

‘TN to act against med colleges over high fees’ Health Min Tells Panel To Look Into Complaints 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK  10.10.2024

Chennai : The Tamil Nadu govt would recommend action against medical colleges for charging excessive fees, health minister Ma Subramanian said Wednesday. The selection committee had received two complaints from parents about colleges that demanded “prohibitively high fees”, he said. These complaints would be sent to the fee committee for further action, he said. In July, the committee on the fixation of fees for self-financing professional colleges, headed by Justice R Pongiappan, recommended no increase in tuition fees for MBBS and BDS courses. The committee fixed up to ₹4.50 lakh towards tuition and special fees for students joining through the govt quota in selffinancing colleges, ₹13.5 lakh for students joining through the management quota and ₹24.5 lakh for the NRI quota. 

For private medical universities, the fee is higher. “Colleges asked for a fee increase this year, but the committee declined. The prescribed fee does not include hostel, mess and transportation charges. Colleges can charge separately for this,” Subramanian said. However, colleges could not make a killing out of this, he said. “If the charges are unreasonable, parents can file complaints along with the required evidence and documents. We will urge the committee to initiate action against the colleges,” he said. 

Health secretary, two former state university VCs, DME and a CA are members of the committee. Parents and student counsellors say this may have no effect. “Last year, more than 20 complaints were filed before the committee. We have not heard of any action,” said student counsellor Manickavel Arumugam. “If the state is serious, it must ask colleges to declare the fee in the prospectus and on the webpages. This will allow parents and students to make informed choices during the admission process,” he said.  Most parents agreed. “We expected an additional fee of may be ₹1-₹2 lakh. We were surprised when it was almost equal to the tuition fee,” said a parent whose child was allotted a seat in a medical college in Namakkal. “We paid a prescribed fee of ₹4.5 lakh and an additional ₹4 lakh. They insisted that it should be in cash and haven’t given us any receipt. We paid because we did not want to lose the seat,” he said. Another college in Chennai, which started admissions this year, charged parents ₹3.50 lakh as an additional fee.

NEWS TODAY 9.10.2024

 

Rainfall set to steadily increase, cover most parts of Tamil Nadu this week, predicts RMC

Rainfall set to steadily increase, cover most  parts of Tamil Nadu this week, predicts RMC



The Meteorological department has forecast that Chennai would experience light to moderate rain in some areas till Friday.File photo

The Hindu Bureau

CHENNAI  10.10.2024

Rainfall is set to steadily increase and cover most parts of the State this week, paving the way for the onset of the northeast monsoon, Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Chennai, has said.

While the southwest monsoon has been retreating rapidly, and is expected to completely withdraw in a few days, the RMC has forecast heavy rainfall to continue till October 15 in many districts.

In its extended forecast for two weeks, the India Meteorological Department had predicted that the northeast monsoon would likely set in around October 15. Officials at the RMC, however, said the date of onset would be determined in one or two days after the criteria of monsoon arrival were analysed. Some conditions include complete withdrawal of the southwest monsoon, setting in of the easterly winds close to the Tamil Nadu coast, and a fairly widespread rainfall wherein 50% of the weather stations receive rain.

Multiple weather systems that are prevailing now would enhance easterlies and rainfall over the State. A low pressure area over Lakshadweep and the adjoining Arabian sea, which is one of the weather systems, is likely to gain strength as a depression.

P. Senthamarai Kannan, Director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, said the interaction between various weather systems would influence wet weather. The cyclonic circulation over Sri Lanka and its neighbourhood, which would oscillate its position close to the Tamil Nadu coast, would also influence heavy rainfall in various parts of the State till October 14. The RMC has predicted that large swathes of the region would receive light to moderate rain till October 14. Enhanced rain has been forecast for 10 districts, including Salem, Karur, Tiruchi, and Krishnagiri, with an yellow alert – indicating heavy rainfall of above 6.4 cm – for Thursday.

More districts, including Dindigul, Cuddalore, Virudhunagar and Madurai, would continue to receive heavy rain till October 15. An orange alert has been sounded for Tamil Nadu and Kerala, indicating the possibility of rainfall of very heavy intensity (11.5 cm to 20.4 cm) on October 12, 13, and 14. Very heavy rainfall may lash isolated places in districts in the northern parts and the delta region. In the past 24 hours, ending 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday, several interior places and some coastal places received rainfall. Moderate rain continued till the evening at various places such as Valparai (5 cm), Thuvakudi in Tiruchi district (4 cm) and Ramanathapuram (3 cm).

The Meteorological department has forecast that Chennai would experience light to moderate rainfall in some areas till Friday.

CMC Vellore, Azim Premji Foundation to establish medical college in Chittoor

CMC Vellore, Azim Premji Foundation to establish medical college in Chittoor

Christian Medical College, Vellore, and Azim Premji Foundation  on Wednesday signed a partnership agreement.

The Hindu Bureau

Chennai  10.10.2024

Christian Medical College, Vellore, has planned to set up a medical college in Chittoor with support from Azim Premji Foundation.

The Foundation will provide ₹500 crore grant to set up a college and upgrade the existing 120-bed hospital into a teaching hospital with 422 beds.

Director of CMC Vellore Vikram Mathews said the new medical college would replicate the model of medical education, healthcare delivery, research and outreach. The hospitalis celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2025.

Azim Premji Foundation’s chief executive officer Anurag Behar said it was a privilege to set up an institution with CMC Vellore, which was an exemplary institution with a deep social commitment for high quality education and healthcare.

CMC Vellore’s Principal Solomon Sathishkumar said the Chittoor campus had begun with allied health science courses and a College of Nursing five years ago. He hoped the new medical college would evolve into a resource for advancing the discipline of primary-cum-secondary healthcare. The two organisations have been collaborating since 2020.

RGGGH rolls out tags for patients’ attendants to ease crowding

RGGGH rolls out tags for patients’ attendants to ease crowding

1 of 2 Colour-coded: A staff strapping an identification tag on the wrist of a patient’s attendant at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai on Wednesday.

 B. JOTHI RAMALINGAM prevnext

Every patient admitted to the hospital to receive two attendant tags; in view of the rape and murder of a doctor at Kolkata’s R.G. Kar hospital, the Chief Secretary had instructed healthcare facilities to take measures to restrict number of attendants and visitors in a phased manner, say RGGGH authorities; restricting crowding would help in infection-control as well, says dean Theranirajan

The Hindu Bureau

CHENNAI  10.10.2024

The Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) has introduced a tag system for patient attendants to restrict crowding and ensure safety of healthcare professionals on the hospital premises. From now, every patient admitted to the hospital will receive two attendant tags.

In the light of the rape and murder of a post-graduate medical student at Kolkata’s R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, the Chief Secretary had instructed healthcare facilities to take measures to restrict the number of attendants / visitors in a phased manner to ensure the safety of healthcare professionals, according to RGGGH authorities.

In a step towards this, RGGGH had put up boards specifying visiting time (7 a.m. to 9 a.m., 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.) in many places, including the admission counter, emergency and outpatient department, a month ago. On Wednesday, the hospital rolled out a tag system to allow two attendants per patient, E. Theranirajan, dean of RGGGH, said.

“Every day, there are about 400 to 450 admissions at the hospital, and nearly 350 discharges. In many instances, each patient has about 10 to 15 visitors. This leads to crowding at the hospital. We have now introduced three colour tags — yellow for attendants of patients admitted to the Intensive Care Units, green for attendants of patients admitted to super speciality departments, such as vascular surgery and nephrology and blue tags for attendants of those admitted to the general wards, such as general medicine and general surgery,” he explained.

The tags would be given at the admission counter. As of now, the names of the patients are being written on the tag. “Each patient can have two attendants. This is because sometimes, one attendant may have to accompany them during investigations and they may require help in other circumstances,” he further said.

“Restricting crowding would help in infection-control as well. We will review the tag system after 15 days to see if any course corrections are essential,” he said.

Ratan Tata, a titan of Indian industry, takes his final bow

Ratan Tata, a titan  of Indian industry,  takes his final bow

The Hindu Bureau

MUMBAI  10.10.2024

Tata Group’s chairman emeritus and veteran industrialist Ratan Naval Tata passed away at the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai late on Wednesday. He was 86.

“It is with deep sorrow that we announce the peaceful passing of our beloved Ratan,” his family said in a statement.

“We his brothers, sisters, and family take solace and comfort in outpouring of love and respect from all who admired him. While he is no longer with us in person, his legacy of humility, generosity and purpose will continue to inspire future generations,” the family said.

Mr. Tata is survived by his younger brothers Jimmy and Noel and stepmother Simone.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid rich tributes to Mr. Tata, describing him as a visionary business leader and an extraordinary human being. “One of the most unique aspects of Shri Ratan Tata Ji was his passion towards dreaming big and giving back. He was at the forefront of championing causes like education, healthcare, sanitation, animal welfare to name a few,” he said on X.

OpenAI's ChatGPT 4.0 Canvas explained: This new feature will change how you use AI chatbots

OpenAI's ChatGPT 4.0 Canvas explained: This new feature will change how you use AI chatbots

Canvas essentially turns ChatGPT into a full workspace rather than just a chatbot. Whether you’re writing, coding, or managing a project, Canvas keeps everything organised and makes the process smoother

Danny D'CruzeNew Delhi,

Updated Oct 08, 2024, 8:29 PM IST

ChatGPT

OpenAI has launched a new tool called Canvas powered by GPT 4o that changes how users interact with AI chatbots. Canvas is designed to make working with AI simpler and more productive by giving you a dedicated space to create, edit, and manage documents and code—all within ChatGPT. Canvas keeps you focused by eliminating the need to switch between tools or repeat commands, allowing you to make real-time changes and keep everything seamless.