Stick to UGC norms in appointment: HC

Madurai:1.7.2019

The Madurai bench of the Madras high court directed the authorities concerned to follow the UGC regulations in appointing assistant professors at government colleges in the state.

A batch of petitioners moved the court to direct the authorities to strictly comply with the UGC in Minimum Standards and Procedure for Awards of MPhil and PhD Degree Regulation, 2009, pertaining to the eligibility criteria for appointment of assistant professors at government colleges.

Justice S M Subramaniam observed that the court is of the opinion that the grievance expressed by the petitioners are undoubtedly a concern and the minimum standards of educational qualifications and other criteria fixed by UGC are to be followed scrupulously.

The judge observed that the nature of degrees, the mode of undergoing the UG and the PG courses are also to be verified before appointing candidates. If any post graduate or other degrees are obtained through open university, then those with such degrees, which are not prescribed under UGC, are not eligible for appointment.

“A teacher must know classroom craft and they must have the experience of witnessing the art of teaching. Thus, the candidates who studied and possess the requisite educational qualifications through regular pattern of education in college alone are to be selected and appointed for the post of assistant professors,” observed the judge. The judge also stated that all those officials responsible for not implementing the UGC regulations are to be punished by initiating disciplinary proceedings. TNN

UGC warns univs against caste discrimination complaints
Action Taken Report To Be Sent Within A Month

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:1.7.2019

As the number of suicide cases reported from institutions due to caste-based discrimination is on the rise, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has directed all universities to direct their employees to be more sensitive while dealing with incidents of caste discrimination.

In a circular to all the vicechancellors of universities, Rajnish Jain, secretary of UGC, has urged the officials and faculty members to desist from any act of discrimination students on grounds of their social origin.

He further directed higher educational institutions to develop a separate page on their websites for lodging such complaints of caste discrimination by SC/ST students and also a complaint register in the office of the principal or registrar. “If any such incident comes to the notice of the authorities, action should be taken against the erring official or faculty members promptly,” the circular said.

The universities and colleges are also directed to constitute a committee to look into the discrimination complaints received from SC/ST/ OBC students, teachers and other staff. It also urged the varsities to send action taken reports within 30 days.

Many professors said caste-based discrimination is still existing on many higher education campuses and welcome the move by the UGC.

“We welcome the move by the UGC as many staff members and students are facing such discrimination even now. The faculty members from particular group are being victimized by the dominant caste groups on the campuses,” said N Pasupathy, president of Association of University Teachers. He also urged the commission to put checks and balances to prevent any possible misuse by the vested interests.

Colleges to develop a separate page on their websites for lodging such complaints

Engg list out, med pending, students in fix

State Medical Rank List Deferred, MBBS Aspirants Have Little Choice

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:1.7.2019

The Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions committee announced on Sunday that the online admission process for engineering in the state will begin on July 3, leaving medical aspirants in a fix as the state medical committee, which was supposed to release the rank list on Tuesday, said the list will not be out till July 4.

Payments for engineering admissions have to be made between July 3 and July 10. Candidates can select their college of choice from July 8 to 10, and they will be given a tentative allotment on July 11.

Students from rank 1 to 9,872 will participate in the first round. A total of 1,01,692 candidates will participate in the counselling for more than 1.5 lakh seats, so the struggle will be for the best colleges. Counselling will be held in four rounds.

Engineering students in the first round get another two days to lock their choices and the final allotment order will be released on July 13.

Likewise, three more rounds will be held before the counselling concludes on July 28. “General category students have to pay ₹5,000 and students from SC, SC(A) and ST category have to pay ₹1,000. The amount will be deducted from their tuition fees,” said TNEA secretary T Purusothaman.

“Hundreds of students who have secured high scores in NEET may end up paying for the engineering counselling as a backup option because they don’t yet know if they stand a chance of getting admissions in medical colleges. They will also be blocking seats in good colleges for meritorious candidates wanting to study engineering,” said R Satheesh, who coaches students for competitive exams.

On Monday, the results of the all-India quota medical admissions will be released by the Directorate General of Health Services.

Students will be given time till July 6 to join the colleges or apply for an upgrade. “We will be releasing our rank list on July 4 because we wanted to schedule it close to the end of round 1,” said selection committee secretary Dr G Selvarajan.

Several parents and students across the state are apprehensive and said they were in the dark about medical admissions.

Students use their rank and the number of undergraduate medical seats available to calculate which college they may land, if they opt for seats for online counselling through the all-India quota or offline counselling for the state quota.

While some states have already released rank lists, Tamil Nadu has not managed to the release the provisional rank list too ahead of the counselling.

“Delaying it further will adversely affect students,” said Senthil N, father of an aspiring medical student. 

NAT’L DOCTORS’ DAY

Guv to felicitate outstanding docs

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:1.7.2019

State governor Banwarilal Purohit will give awards to more than 10 doctors at a function organised by the Tamil Nadu Medical Council on National Doctors’ Day on July 1.

The list of awardees include obstetrics and gynaecologist Dr T Radha Bai Prabhu, paediatrician Dr Chitra Ayyappan, neurologist Dr R Lakhsmi Narasimhan, physician Dr P S Nagendran, surgical gastroenterologist and liver transplant surgeon Dr Jaswanth S, plastic surgeon Dr Ramadevi, orthopedician

Dr R Sivakumar, ENT, head and neck surgeon Dr C N Raja, TN consultant Dr Capt M Kamatchi and surgeon Dr Chinnadurai Abdullah.

Medical council president Dr K Senthil said a panel of doctors went through profiles of all nominees and selected the winners based on the contributions they have made. “One of them has done the first hand transplant,” he said.

DOCTORS’ DAY

For 90-plus docs, age is just a number

Pushpa.Narayan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:1.7.2019

For nearly seven decades, Dr M Natarajan has been listening to patients, not lab reports. The 94-year-old dermatologist is one of the oldest medical practitioners listed in the Tamil Nadu Medical Council registry and he continues to see patients every day between 10am and1.30pm at his clinic in Kilpauk.

“The medicine I practice is man-toman and soul-to-soul. I talk to my patients and do a thorough examination. I trust my stethoscope and my intuitions more than any other instrument,” said Dr Natarajan. The doctor who graduated from the Madras Medical College in 1947 joined medical service in the same college. A few years later, he travelled to London to do his post-graduation. He continued to work in the government sector after returning with a degree. “I don’t do cosmetology because I am not trained in it. I tell my patients that. But I have kept up with advances in medical sciences. I even do tele-consultations as follow-up for many of my patients who live abroad,” he said.

A few kilometres away, 93-year-old Dr V L Rangan, an ENT specialist, says he sees anywhere between 30 and 50 patients between 9.30am and 1.30pm. “Most of my patients come to me because I prescribe medicine only for the disease I diagnose. I believe it’s not worth it to make your patients invest on a broad spectrum of drugs just because you can’t make the diagnosis right,” he said.

Until some years ago, most patients did not raise their voice against doctors or even go for a second opinion because they never doubted their doctors. Doctors’ profession was considered noble and violence against a doctor or hospital was never heard of. “Things have changed,” Dr Rangan said. Cases of violence against doctors have increased and many states have a special legislation to protect doctors and hospitals.

That’s one of the reasons why, the state’s oldest doctor, Salem-based Dr A J Arunagiri, 99, hung up his boots in April this year. In 2018, Tamil Nadu Medical Council had asked doctors over the age of 70 to update their credentials by March 31. Dr Arunagiri sent his credentials and prefered to remain on the active medical list. “But he has a small clinic and he may not be able to fulfil the new norms mandated by the clinical establishments act. So, he has decided not to practice,” said his daughter Jayanthi Visanathan.

He continues to meet some of his patients and medical representatives, reads medical journals and sometimes offers expert opinion.

The oldest doctors in Tamil Nadu trust their instincts, are sure of their diagnoses and don’t prescribe a battery of tests and medicines

Vellore doctor parks his cars over 60K litres of water

Kamini.Mathai@timesgroup.com
1.7.2019

Hit by the water crisis in 2015, Dr Kandasamy Subramani decided he was not going to be caught off guard again. So the professor and head of intensive care at Christian Medical College, Vellore, got started on building a sump under his car park. And now, says Dr Subramani, the car park supplies the water his family needs for at least nine months of the year, while allowing for two cars to be parked in the space.

“In 2015 we had to buy water. In our gated community, we started rainwater harvesting to recharge the groundwater. And that’s why I decided to increase the amount of rainwater conserved at my house,” says Dr Subramani. “We have 100sqm of roof area, and according to the research I did, I found that for every 1sqm of roof area you get 1 litre of water if there is 1mm of rain. The average rainfall in Vellore is 800 to 900mm a year, which means I get 70-90,000 litres a year,” he says.

“We use this water for eight to nine months a year. Even when we have a lot of guests staying over,” says his wife Sathya, a professor of physiology.

Drainage pipes from the roof and gutters over the car shed are connected to the 60,000-litre capacity tank under the car park. Dr Subramani uses a two-step filtration method. “We have two separate tanks at different heights. One has charcoal and the other has gravel and river sand. The first removes the organic matter and the second filters the water further,” says Dr Subramani who also uses solar power and grows a roof top garden. 



HIDDEN TREASURE: The car park of Vellore resident Dr K Subramani has a sump below it

Bird-hit delays Vaigai Express by 40 minutes

Trichy:1.7.2019

In a strange bird-hit, the Chennai-bound Vaigai Express on Sunday was held up for 40 minutes at the Trichy junction due to technical snag after a peahen got stuck to the pantograph, an equipment mounted on the locomotive to draw power from an overhead line, of the engine.

Railway Protection Force sources said the loco pilot of the train coming from Madurai sensed that something had got stuck to the engine after the train crossed Manapparai station in Trichy district. By the time the train arrived at Trichy station, the engine had started developing trouble. The loco pilot halted the train and informed his higher-ups and the RPF. Some RPF personnel later climbed atop the train and removed the carcass of the bird, which was handed over to the forest department. TNN