News across India, Month of July,2010

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...bly-over-medical-bill/articleshow/6230211.cms

Storm in assembly over medical bill
TNN, Jul 29, 2010, 01.00am IST

KOLKATA: Assembly speaker Hasim Abdul Halim on Wednesday yielded to the demand of the opposition and deferred by a day discussions on The West Bengal Clinical Establishment (Registration and Regulation) Bill 2009.

Congress legislature party leader Manas Bhunia accused the government of succumbing to the pressure of the "private hospital lobby" and hastily moving 42 amendments that would "alter the entire spirit of the original bill". The bill will regulate activities of clinical establishments and create provisions to address patients' grievances.

 

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...colleges-by-next-year/articleshow/6230213.cms

3 more medical colleges by next year
TNN, Jul 29, 2010, 01.00am IST

KOLKATA: The state government will continue with direct recruitment of doctors till May 2011. Health minister Surjya Kanta Mishra on Wednesday announced the government's decision to set up three more medical colleges in the state.

The West Bengal Health Services (Amendment) Bill was passed in the assembly to remove difficulties that had cropped up in the recruitment process of medical teachers.

"The Public Service Commission was authorized to appoint doctors in medical colleges. But the process took too much time. The government started direct recruitment to solve the problem. This process will continue till May 24, 2011," Mishra said.

The state government has decided to upgrade the Sagar Dutta Hospital and ESI Hospital at Kamarhati, North 24-Parganas, into a medical college along with the Malda district hospital and Behrampore state general hospital.

These medical colleges will have 100 seats each. As many as 695 seats will be added in the existing medical colleges. "The new seats will be incorporated from the 2011 academic session," Mishra said. This will take the number of new seats to 995 adding to the 1,205 existing seats in the 11 medical colleges in the state.

The health minister said that the state government needed more teachers. "In the last two years, the number of postgraduate seats has gone up by 300. Without more teachers the classes cannot be held," he said.

The recognition of the new medical colleges will depend on the nod from the Medical Council of India which has strict norms. One of the basis requirements is the number of teachers for the MBBS course. During numerous inspections made by the MCI, the state health department was charged with transferring teachers from other medical colleges to make up the numbers.

The Bill states that the state government will not be able to obtain the requisite clearance from MCI. Any medical institution which fails to meet the MCI's criteria is liable to lose its recognition.

 

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/Schoolkids-college-girl-go/articleshow/6230232.cms

Schoolkids, college girl go
TNN, Jul 29, 2010, 01.06am IST

KOLKATA: Three boys of Nabapally in Thakurpukur went missing on Tuesday. One of the boys contacted his family on Tuesday evening and said he and the others were being forcibly taken to Chennai by two "dadas" from Behala. A college girl also went missing from Kasba around the same time.

The three boys Mrinal Ghata, a class IX student of Bratachari School, Santu Das, a class IX student of Baidyapara High School, and Saurav Pandit, a class VIII student of St Francis School left for their schools on Tuesday morning, but did not return. Around 8 pm, Mrinal called his mother and said "dadas" from Behala Rahul and Abhishek were forcibly taking them to Chennai. The call had been made from Burdwan.

Though Mrinal's mother has been trying to call her son, the phone remained switched off. The parents fear their sons have been kidnapped.

Meanwhile, Swapna Biswas, a first year BA student at Surendranath College, went missing on Tuesday morning. In the evening, Swapna's uncle, Indrajit Biswas, received a call from her fiancé saying he had been trying to call her all day but without success.

 

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/Schools-on-high-alert/articleshow/6230240.cms

Schools on high alert
TNN, Jul 29, 2010, 01.10am IST

KOLKATA: The rising number of swine flu cases in the city has put schools on high alert. This is because scores of schoolchildren and teachers have been down with viral fever over the last 10 days and the numbers are increasing by the day. Schools have started talking to doctors, and are taking several initiatives such as fumigating campuses and creating general awareness.

School principals have been flooded with letters from parents seeking leave for their wards as they are down with flu. Principals are taking such prayers seriously. Most schools are calling up parents of sick children to ensure that they have consulted a medical practitioner and, if necessary, their throat swabs have been sent for test. Also, parents are advised not to send their children back till the doctor gives a clean chit that the virus is under control.

During the morning assembly, most schools are addressing children on the dos and don'ts of swine flu. A regular check is then being carried out to see if kids who have fever, cough and cold are still coming to school. "The idea is not to spread panic, but to ensure that the flu, even if it is not of the H1N1 category, does not spread fast. With so many children and teachers down with flu, we can only conclude that it's spreading from school. So we are trying to keep affected kids away as a preventive measure," said Meena Kak, principal of Lakshmipat Singhania Academy.

La Martiniere for Boys is shutting its nursery section for three days from Friday for thorough fumigation. This will happen gradually in other sections as well. "Over the next 48 hours, we will finalise how we are to go about this and we are involving the school doctor and nurse," said principal Sunirmal Chakravarthy.

Paediatrician Abhijit Sarkar stressed the fact that there is no need to panic if the child is otherwise healthy. He said two vaccines are available now, which can act as preventives and many doctors have started prescribing these for babies. "One is a nasal spray vaccine, while the other is an injectable one. Both are quite effective against swine flu. However, these have to be repeated once annually," he advised.