MPhil admissions in Tamil Nadu to drop further as universities adopt 2016 UGC norms

The regulations restrict the maximum number of students a faculty can guide --- however, the quality of research and researchers will improve significantly, say, educationalists.

Published: 15th September 2018 06:07 AM 

UGC head office at New Delhi.(Photo | PTI)

By Sushmitha Ramakrishnan

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Enrolment of total number of MPhil students in the State dropped significantly in 2017-18 and is expected to come down even further in 2018-19, as more universities have recently started adopting University Grants Commission Regulations 2016.

The regulations restrict the maximum number of students a faculty can guide. However, the quality of research and researchers will improve significantly, say, educationalists.

There was a reduction of nearly 3,500 MPhil candidates from 2016-17 to 2017-18 in State. With more universities adopting the regulations, the figure may even halve in 2018-19, said P Duraisamy, V-C of University of Madras. “So far, every MPhil guide, was in charge of about eight students,” he said.

According to the 2016 regulations, a research supervisor or co-supervisor who is a Professor, at any given point of time, cannot guide more than three M.Phil and 8 Ph.D scholars. An associate professor as research supervisor can guide up to a maximum of two M.Phil and six Ph.D scholars and an assistant professor as research supervisor can guide up to a maximum of one M.Phil and 4 Ph.D scholars.

The number of M. Phil students in Tamil Nadu rose from 12,832 in 2011-12 to 20,661 in 2016-17 and dropped to 17,179 in 2017-18, after the regulations was passed.

The low enrolment of M.Phil students in Tamil Nadu is likely to reduce the total figure at the national level. This is because the State contributes to nearly half of the enrolments.

Though Tamil Nadu Government College Teachers Association, opposed the regulations stating that it would affect the welfare of first generation graduates, many universities adopted the regulations in the recent past.

“The status of M.Phil courses have become pathetic in the recent past. After NET and SET became mandatory for teaching, MPhil became less attractive for students to pursue. When finding the right faculty becomes difficult, even lesser students will opt for it,” said R Dhamodharan, TNGCTA general secretary. He, however, said he recognised the benefit of the regulations in the long-run, he said.

The norms were designed to improve the amount of time, a guide spent on a student’s research and to prevent guides taking undue credit for students’ work. “Sought after professors often end up guiding a large number of students. But, the regulations will prevent this from happening, said M Anandakrishnan, a former V-C of Anna University.

He said that the impact of regulations may take time before it reflects on the strength of Ph.D students as the tenure is longer. According to the regulations, any regular professor with at least five research publications in refereed journals and any regular associate assistant professor with a Ph.D degree and at least two research publications in reputed journals may be recognised as research supervisor. “These stringent regulations may cause shortage of guides briefly, but will soon improve the quality of research,” he said.

Chennai hospital saves 60-year-old using unique stent graft

In 2016, a stent graft was placed to fix a leak.

Published: 16th September 2018 04:54 AM |


For representational purposes (Express Illustrations)

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: A 60-year-old patient from Vijayawada got a new lease of life thanks to a special team of doctors at Kauvery Hospital here who plugged an aneurysm leak in the patient’s aorta using a unique method.

The surgery which was performed over six to seven hours by a team of 16 specialists from various departments used a specially designed stent graft created in the hospital’s cardiac cath lab to close the 10-cm wide leak in the aorta. “The graft was devised in the shape of a candy wrapper to perfectly fit into the groin vessel. This was then navigated into the neck of the aneurysm leak,” said A B Gopalamurugan, senior cardiologist who performed the surgery on September 7.

The patient, Sathyanarayana Kolla, was declared to be untreatable by many hospitals that he had approached previously in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai as the risk of death was above 40 per cent, said his family during a press meet conducted by the hospital on Saturday. “When he came to us he was in a very critical condition. His haemoglobin level was five points below the normal. He was suffering from severe renal failure and blood loss due to the leak caused by the abnormal swelling of the aorta’s wall,” said Gopalamurugan.

A team consisting of cardiovascular, vascular, plastic surgeons, cardiac radiologists, urologists and cardiologists closed the leak using the graft through an endovascular surgery after closely assessing the damage through 3D reconstructed scans. “The patient has a history of aortic ruptures since 2011. In 2016, a stent graft was placed to fix a leak. But three months ago, his blood vessels started weakening again and he showed all symptoms of an Aortic aneurysm,” he added.

Additionally, the hospital also launched its 24-hour Aortic Department which will tend to all medical conditions concerning the aorta with the help of a special team of doctors specialised in Aortic interventions.

Health minister inaugurates baby screening programme

Chennai: Health Minister C Vijaya Baskar on Saturday launched Neuberg Ehrlich’s Molecular Diagnostics and Genome lab in the city and inaugurated Neuberg Ehrlich new born screening facility at the Children’s Hospital, Egmore. Over 500 children can be screened at the facility per day. Children from Vellore district will be screened for Congenital Hypothyroidism and Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia on a pilot basis. GSK Velu, Chairman Neuberg Diagnostics Pvt. Ltd. said “Tamil Nadu has seen much advancement in healthcare and I’m happy to announce this new cutting edge facility in Chennai”. Minister of State for External Affairs & Overseas Indian Affairs Vijay Kumar Singh also took part in the event.

“Integration of psychiatry and neurology important”

Chennai: Psychiatrists and neurologists must work in tandem to identify effective treatment for complex epileptic problems, said Kousuke Kanemoto of Aichi Medical University, Japan, on Saturday. He was speaking at the 16th MV Arunachalam Endowment Lecture titled ‘Brainstorms and the Mind: Exploring the Borderlands Between Epilepsy and Schizophrenia’, orga-nised by Chennai-based Neurokrish and Trimed Therapy.

“Epilepsy and psychotic disorders like schizophrenia are often associated in many pati-ents. To treat such cases, a holistic treatment should include both mental care and brain care,” he said emphasising that both psychiatrists and neurologists have to come together to cure such cases.

Doctors move court against MCI’s age cap on assistant professor posts
When post graduation is a necessary qualification for posts of senior Resident or Assistant professor, any such restriction will lead to lack of requisite number of faculty, the petitioners said.

Published: 16th September 2018 04:49 AM 

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: The amendment to Medical Institutions Regulations, prescribing 40-year as upper age limit for appointment as senior resident/assistant professor in government-run medical institutions by Medical Council of India, has been opposed by a section of doctors who have moved the Madras High Court terming it “unconstitutional, ultra vires, discriminatory and illegal”.

The high court has ordered notice to Medical Council of India (MCI) on the public interest litigation seeking interim injunction restraining Clause 6 of Schedule -I of amended Minimum Qualification for Teachers in Medical Institutions Regulations, 1998 and declare restriction imposed by MCI fixing 40-years as upper age limit for appointment to the post of senior resident/assistant professor in government-run medical Institutions as illegal.

A division bench of Justices S Manikumar and Subramanioum Prasad adjourned the hearing to September 19. According to petitioners, MCI amended the Medical Institutions Regulations, 1998 with effect from June 8, 2017 prescribing 40-years as upper age limit for appointment as senior resident in medical institutions.

“Any such prescription of age limit for a government doctor in medical service for appointment to the post of senior resident in teaching medical institutions would be against the object sought to be achieved under the provisions of Indian Medical Association Act and Minimum Qualification for Teachers in Medical Institutions Regulations, 1998, petitioners submitted.

When post graduation is a necessary qualification for posts of senior Resident or Assistant professor, any such restriction will lead to lack of requisite number of faculty, the petitioners said.

HC says rlys tribunal can’t insist on tickets for accident relief

TNN | Sep 15, 2018, 01.07 AM IST

Chennai: Non-production of a railway ticket cannot be cited to deny compensation to the kin of a person killed in rail accidents, said the Madras high court, directing Southern Railway to pay Rs 8 lakh compensation to the family of a deceased person.

“It is reiterated that the apex court as well as this court had time and again held that the burden of proving that the victim is not a bona fide passenger lies on the railways and that non-production of railway ticket is not fatal to the case of the claimants. Therefore, the Railway Tribunal should not have dismissed the petition on that ground,” Justice M V Muralidaran said, while setting aside the order of the tribunal.

The issue pertains to appeal moved by the family of Srinivasan, a passenger in a suburban train travelling from Tambaram to Chennai Beach station. During the travel, he accidentally fell down from moving train between Saidapet and Mambalam railway stations and sustained injuries, and later died.

Their application for due compensation was rejected by the tribunal on the ground that the family had failed to produce a valid ticked possessed by the deceased to prove that he was a bona fide traveller.

Challenging the order, the family moved the high court. Pointing out that Rs 2,510 was recovered from the body of the deceased, the court said, having had the money, deceased would have definitely purchased the train ticket for his travel.

Hospital told to pay Rs 58 lakh to kin of man who died after surgery

TNN | Sep 15, 2018, 06.02 AM IST

CHENNAI: Holding a city-based hospital and its doctors liable for death of a 29-yearold man due to medical negligence, the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission directed the hospital to pay Rs57.65 lakh as compensation to his family.

“The hospital and the doctors concerned have failed to prove that the deceased, Abani Kumar Padhi, had not died due to any negligence on their part. This leads us to the conclusion that the complainant’s son Padhi died of medical negligence exhibited by hospital and its doctors,” said the commission comprising K Baskaran, judicial member, and S M Murugesshan, member.

The issue pertains to a complaint filed by Narasingh Paddhi and Kuri Padhi, parents of the deceased. According to them, their son underwent haemorrhoidectomy (piles operation) in 2003 in the hospital. On October 15, 2003, he came to the outpatient department of the hospital for routine check-up after which the hospital informed his parents that he was unconscious and was admitted in ICCU for recovery.

Till November 2, 2003, none of the family members or friends of Abhani was allowed to see him but they were informed that he was kept on artificial ventilator. When the medical bill reached Rs3 lakh, the maximum insurance cover available, the hospital informed the complainants that the patient had suffered brain death. Once all other pending bills were settled, he was later declared dead, the complainants said.

Claiming that their son died due to the negligence on part of the hospital, they approached the commission seeking Rs96 lakh compensation for the monetary loss and mental agony suffered.

Partly allowing the complaint, the commission said, “No reference from any medical literature could be produced by the hospital to the effect that general anaesthesia should be preferred to other modes such as local anaesthesia, spine anaesthesia for post-operative check-up after piles operation. Hence, we are of the view that administration of general anaesthesia for a simple piles post-operative check-up is totally unwarranted and in the present case that wrong choice had proved to be fatal.”

After 10 extensions, ‘temporary’ officials finally shown door

TNN | Sep 15, 2018, 07.02 AM IST

CHENNAI: Nearly 40 deputy, under secretaries and section officers, who were appointed on temporary basis and received 10 extensions, have finally been removed.

“The mandate of the recently constituted staff rationalisation committee is to evaluate the staff structure so as to identify the non-essential posts in various categories to reduce the expenditure,” a government dated September 5 said. It ended services of 40 officials from Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC).

These officials received a salary of Rs15,000 to Rs40,000 per month. The state government has directed TNPSC to engage daily wage persons to fill up the vacancies.

TNPSC — state government’s recruiting agency — in August 2013 appointed 190 officials on a temporary basis to carry out pre and post examination works relating to massive recruitment and counselling to posts of Group-IV services examination.

Though they were appointed only for three months, they were goven extension for another three months in December 2013, six months in March 2014 and in September 2014. Of the 190 staff, 115 were again given multiple extensions between March 2015 and August 2018.

Against this backdrop, TNPSC on July 31 had requested the state government to sanction further continuance of the said 115 posts for another year. State's Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department examined this proposal and accorded sanction for further continuance to only 75 posts.

“It is evident that the existing staff pattern has not been properly utilised,” S Swarna, secretary to the government, said in the order .

Relationship insecurity linked to spending too much time on social media, says research

TIMES SOF INDIA 16.09.2018

Being insecure about one’s close relationships is associated with using social media platforms in problematic ways, according to a new research. The study was based on attachment theory, which describes how people form relationships with others. People can be secure or insecure in their attachments to others, and insecure individuals can be either anxious or avoidant. The study found that attachment anxiety was associated with using Facebook to compare oneself to others, create a false impression of oneself, over-share personal information about oneself, and using the site at the expense of other activities. The researchers also found that the association between attachment insecurity and these maladaptive behaviours was stronger among those with low self-esteem and high psychological distress.

“It is important to stress that the research does not suggest that there is something damaging about Facebook or other social media services, but rather, some people network online in ways that could be considered maladaptive, exacerbating distress and vulnerability. We would hope that as a result of this research, people will become more mindful regarding how they engage with social media platforms, perhaps monitoring how they feel before and after using the site, and if necessary, adapting their use accordingly,” said researcher Sally Flynn.

— Agencies