Child death forces India to recall measles vaccine

The Ministry of Heath and Family Welfare in India has recalled over four million doses of a measles vaccine supplied by a south Indian drug manufacturer—Indian Immunologicals Limited—after four children died following inoculation with the drug.

The Ministry has directed all state governments to stop use of the vaccine until further orders, besides halting further supplies from the Hyderabad-based manufacturer.

The recall came after four infants who received the measles vaccine in the southern state of Tamil Nadu died on Wednesday.

Grief-stricken parents said their babies started frothing at the mouth and nose and died within 15 to 20 minutes of being administered the vaccine.

The State Health Minister said that the children might have had a severe allergic reaction to the vaccine, while noting that some 20,000 children in Tamil Nadu were inoculated against measles with the same drug Wednesday.

According to sources, vaccine samples have been sent to a national laboratory for testing and a team of health experts is examining how the vaccine was stored and how health workers administered it.

Taking immediate action on the issue, the Government of Tamil Nadu has suspended its measles vaccination programme. The recall is likely to hit the immunisation programme in other states also.

India releases cyclone management guidelines

: The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) of India on Thursday released a guideline for management of cyclones aimed at helping various ministries and departments in the centre and the state to prepare flood management plans and minimise loss of life and property.

The guideline also reccomended an exclusive eco-system monitoring network to study the impact of climate change and setting up of a comprehensive Cyclone Disaster Management Information System (CDMIS) to cover all phases of disaster management.

Besides identifying 10 key areas of cyclone management, including the establishment of a state-of-the-art cyclone early warning system (EWS) involving observations, predictions, warnings and user friendly advisories, the guideline has also called for commissioning of the National Disaster Communication Infrastructure (NDCI).

According to the NDMA reccomendation, the commissioning of NDCI would help the country provide dedicated and failsafe communications to the national, state and district disaster management authorities and officials concerned.

The new guidelines also stresses on the need to expand the warning dissemination outreach by introducing ‘Last Mile Connectivity’, that includes using VHF technology to provide public address system along the entire coast line.

It also recommended that the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP) should be implemented in all the 13 coastal states and UTs.

The guidelines also talks about the taking up structural mitigation measures like improving structural lifeline infrastructure, construction of multi-purpose cyclone shelters and cattle mounds, ensuring cyclone resistant design standards in rural and urban housing schemes, building all-weather road links, bridges, culverts and saline embankments.

The NDMA document further stated that management of coastal zones should include mapping and delineation of coastal wetlands, patches of mangroves and shelterbelts and identification of potential zones for expanding bio-shield spread based on remote sensing tools.

Under the new guidelines, a National Cyclone Disaster Management Institute will be set up of in one of the coastal states to address all issues related to cyclone risks.

It further recommended the commissioning of Aircraft Probing of Cyclone (APC) facility to fill the critical observational data gaps and significantly reduce the margin of error in predicting cyclone track, intensity and landfall.

Releasing the guidelines, the Union Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Kapil Sibal said that the National Guidelines for the Management of Cyclone have been formulated after a ‘nine step’ process fully taking on board various central ministries and departments and the states and union territories.

The process also included wide consultations with scientific and technical institutions, academics, technocrats and humanitarian organisations.

Speaking on the occasion, Sibal also said that a National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project for approximately Rs 1,600 crore with assistance from the World Bank, is in the process of finalisation covering all the 13 coastal states and union territories.

The various activities under this project will include construction of cyclone shelters, shelter belt and mangrove plantations, establishing last mile connectivity, improving link roads.

Once all the activities, as laid down in these guidelines are implemented, we will be much better prepared to face the hazards of cyclones, the Minister added.

The guidelines of management of cyclones describe in brief the manifestations of the phenomenon of floods, achievements made so far in controlling them, provides a roadmap for future course of action, and includes a well defined milestones to help in monitoring implementation thereof.

Microsoft’s e-Gov platform is now available

Microsoft announced the worldwide availability of its Citizen Service Platform (CSP), designed to help governments of all sizes more responsively deliver services to citizens via the Internet.

It also facilitates easier interaction with citizens, streamlines processes and, as a result, saves time and taxpayer money, the company stated.

The new platform will be available to customers along with free templates to help them implement technological solutions to some of the most common issues governments face.

The CSP, a culmination of Microsoft’s partnerships, programmes and projects conducted with governments over several years, was developed based on challenges faced by diverse government offices and different regions worldwide.

The company has developed an applications framework upon which partners can build solutions that address specific government needs, including technical guidance regarding implementation and customization for use by both partners and customers.

To date, more than 90 partners have signed up to build solutions on the CSP, Microsoft informed.

The CSP availability includes templates available for existing customers for free download, bolstering their ability to do more with existing technology investments.

The new platform consists of eight new templates that focus on common government pain points, including E-Councilor template which allows messenger communication with a virtual government worker to ask questions, Web TV template that allows government and citizen video hosting in Web 2.0 style and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 templates, a set of 40 templates to customise scenarios that address both site and system administration needs.

Others include local government communications template, role-based my site template, agenda management template that allows organisations to streamline processes, electronic form templates addressing areas from building permitting to tax declaration and Microsoft Dynamics CRM templates for municipal governments.

With these templates, governments are able to apply them to their own CSP configurations, and customise them to further close the gap between citizen expectations and their own delivery of services.

India to prepare NPR with 2011 Census

After the successful completion of pilot project on identity card, the Government of India is planning to prepare the National Population Register (NPR) with the 2011 Census. It will have specified characteristics of each individual, including photograph and finger biometrics.

Inaugurating the two day Data Users Conference for the 2011 Census here today, organised by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commission, the Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil observed that the creation of NPR might usher in the era of register-based census in the country.

He further said that it would help in future to have the estimates of population on a real time basis by combining it with the system of registration of births and deaths in the country.

Pointing out that the population of India is expected to reach 1.2 billion by 2011, he said that the difficult areas and difficult populations should be identified in advance so that no person in any household is left unrecorded and no area is left untouched.

He informed that a Committee has been set up under the Chairmanship of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India to look at the provisions of the India Census Act, 1948 and consider providing for supervision by independent observers, wherever deemed essential.

The Home Minister emphasised the need to use technology at every possible stage of the census planning and census taking, while adding that a number of new technologies have emerged and matured over the past decade.

He said that the endeavour of census organisation should be to complete the release of the 2011 data within two to three years from the date of completion of census.

Addressing the conference, the Minister of State for Home Shakeel Ahmed mentioned that innovations have been made from time to time in the process of census taking.

He said that for the 2011 census, database of village boundary and location for each sub-district has been digitally prepared and for the towns, the census organisation has undertaken preparation of digital geographic database with the support of Survey of India.

Ahmed said that a Group under the Registrar General of India in the context of National e-Governance project is examining standardisation of the name and address system in the country. Once in place, this would help reduce the omission rate at census considerably.

The Minister observed that the focus of data dissemination would continue to be more on electronic media and the data dissemination strategy would aim at developing a healthy camaraderie with all sections of data users, both within the government and outside.

Earlier, the Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta said that India has not only an exceptional record as a country of having uninterrupted decennial censuses but also of managing the census within an affordable cost.

He further informed that the cost of the 2001 census was Rs 1,403 crore which comes to Rs 14 per person.

Gupta stressed that there was a need to ensure that the number of questions in the next census did not become so large as to disturb the balance which is essential to maintain between the enumerator’s motivation and respondent’s fatigue.

Slovenia launches eDemocracy service

The Government of Slovenia has launched an eDemocracy service that offers the public the opportunity to influence changes in existing legislation, by contributing their suggestions, comments and opinions.

The service, given under national government portal ‘eUprava’, will allow citizens to follow closely the preparation and adoption of regulations, and co-operate in the elimination of administrative barriers, reports ePractcie.

It offers a direct link to elected representatives, thus contributing to improved communication between the general public and public administrations and increasing greater efficiency in the democratic process.

The eDemocracy service provides general information on the public administration, democratic processes, and the adoption of laws and regulations at both national and EU level, thus helping citizens to improve their understanding of the system.

It has four different elements, which include eliminating administrative barriers; contacting elected representatives; democratic processes; and legislation, legal rules in the EU, public information or elections.The Government of Slovenia has launched an eDemocracy service that offers the public the opportunity to influence changes in existing legislation, by contributing their suggestions, comments and opinions.

The service, given under national government portal ‘eUprava’, will allow citizens to follow closely the preparation and adoption of regulations, and co-operate in the elimination of administrative barriers, reports ePractcie.

It offers a direct link to elected representatives, thus contributing to improved communication between the general public and public administrations and increasing greater efficiency in the democratic process.

The eDemocracy service provides general information on the public administration, democratic processes, and the adoption of laws and regulations at both national and EU level, thus helping citizens to improve their understanding of the system.

It has four different elements, which include eliminating administrative barriers; contacting elected representatives; democratic processes; and legislation, legal rules in the EU, public information or elections.

Austria launches e-auction website

The Government of Austria has launched a website ‘e-Auktin’ to help boroughs—administrative divisions—put their building, supply and service needs up for electronic auction. It also permits further bargaining before a contract is signed.

According to an ePractice report, the new website is set to revolutionise local authority procurement and cut costs, while facilitating average savings of around 10 per cent to local taxpayers.

The local authority procurement is regulated by strict Austrian law, where bargaining is prohibited after a contract has been awarded to the cheapest or to the best current bid.

However, the newly launched e-auctions system allows the procuring agency or departments to receive further offers from, and bargaining with, all participants.

Besides, the new solution also promotes transparency in local government procurement, while opening up municipal contracts to a geographically wider range of potential bidders.

Once implemented, the new e-auction system can also be used for other, more minor purchases—not subject to statutory tendering requirements.

The new facility, developed by Joachim Grieber of Austria’s Kufgem Kommunal Consulting, involves no licensing or registration costs.

India executes 1st phase of smart ID cards

The first phase of the implementation of the pilot project on Multi-purpose National Identity Cards (MNIC) has been completed on March 31, 2008.

In a written communication to the Lok Sabha, the Minister of State for Home Affairs Shakeel Ahmad said that more than 12 lakh identity (smart) cards have been issued to those of 18 years and above in the pilot areas in 12 states and one union territory in the country.

He further said that 20 MNIC centres set up one in each tehsil and block of the pilot areas will remain functional till March next year for maintenance and updating of database.

Besides, they will be providing services to the identity card holders as well as those who could not be verified in the first phase.

Meanwhile, the Minister informed that the Planning Commission has accorded ‘in principal approval’ to the scheme for preparation of National Population Register (NPR).

He further said that the scheme envisages collection of information on specified items of each individual at the time of population enumeration during census 2011.

New regulation for medical devices industry likely

The Government of India is in the process of creating a new and better regulatory structure for the medical devices industry as part of its effort towards achieving quality healthcare for all.

Announcing this at the Medical Technology Conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in New Delhi, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Joint Secretary Debasis Panda said the government will provide some regulations for the medical devices industry that is growing in a haphazard manner.

He further added that the Ministry is working towards a switch from a control regime to a regulatory regime to cope with the new technologies and treatments that are now available.

According to CII, the medical equipment industry is estimated at US $2.17 billion, growing significantly at 15 per cent per year, and is further estimated to reach US $4.97 billion by 2012

Indian Healthcare Federation President Naresh Trehan said that it is imperative to accelerate growth through partnering and aligning with the key stakeholders including the healthcare service providers, medical technology industry and insurance providers.

CII’s National Healthcare Committee has made huge strides by bringing the industry and the government together on several issues relating to providing sustainable healthcare to the masses and this interactive conference will work towards taking this process forward, Trehan added.

“Poised to touch Rs 140,000 crore in five years time, Indian healthcare sector is all set to become one of the largest in the world,” Philips Electronics India Senior Director and Business Head Anjan Bose said.

He further said that the medical services and devices industry must tap into this emerging market and explore the potential of India as a future production hub while focusing on improving the quality of healthcare, R&D and ethical issues.

“There is urgent need to understand and regulate the composite and complex medical technology industry and this conference is aimed at bringing together all the stakeholders to discus issues of technology, manufacturing, financing and above all ethics,” CII Medical Equipment Division Chairman Alok Mishra said.

The Indian medical technology sector has come a long way in providing quality healthcare products and has seen an increase of investments in healthcare facilities, especially in hi-tech medical equipments and devices.

Mobile medical units for Indian villages

In an effort to take healthcare to door step of the public in rural areas, especially in underserved areas, the Government of India has approved mobile medical units (MMUs) at one MMU per district under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).

In a written communication to the Lok Sabha, the Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Panabaaka Lakshmi informed that two kinds of MMUs are envisaged, one with diagnostic facilities for the states other than North-Eastern states, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir (J&K).

In addition, for these states, specialised facilities and services such as X ray, ECG and ultra-sound have been proposed to be provided due to their difficult hilly terrain, non-approachability by public transport and long distances to be covered.

The states are, however, expected to address the diversity and ensure the adoption of most suitable and sustainable model for MMUs to suit their local requirements, the Minister said.

Lakshmi said that the funds are released to states and union territories (UTs) as per their requirements in their respective annual NRHM programme implementation plans.

She further informed that pathology labs facility is available at the level of Primary Health Centre and Community Health Centres, which are established in rural areas as per population norms.

HP initiates ‘green’ printing for California

HP has announced that it has partnered with the state of California to implement a print cartridge recycling and environmental printing programme throughout state agencies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 500 tonnes per year.

The programme couples print cartridge recycling with a unique rewards system that provides points toward upgrading printers to more efficient HP models.

Piloted with the State Board of Equalisation last year, the programme begins with free return and recycling services for HP ink and toner cartridges through the HP Planet Partners programme.

HP claimed that, if fully implemented statewide, the programme would divert 100 tonnes of print cartridges from landfills annually.

Additionally, as state agencies purchase and recycle HP print cartridges, they earn points with the HP PurchasEdge rewards programme that can be used to accelerate their replacement of older printers with newer, more energy-efficient HP models—saving the state as much as US $2 million per year.

The company also will provide a new tracking and reporting process so each participating agency will receive reports on its contributions toward statewide environmental performance goals.

“Working together to find creative ways to reduce pollution and save money is the best model for a public-private partnership. We strive to be green, while saving lots of green,” the State and Consumer Services Secretary Rosario Marin said.

Announced in tandem with the Green California Summit and Exposition, the programme is now rolling out at the Department of General Services and will be available to all state agencies by the end of the year.

The programme aligns with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s executive order to reduce grid-based electricity use in state buildings by 20 per cent by 2015, thereby reduce the associated greenhouse gas emissions.

The collaboration with HP will create more opportunities for the state to upgrade to printers with energy-efficient technology and duplexing features that significantly reduce paper use and increase statewide energy savings.

Pre-addressed, postage paid and high-volume collection boxes placed at each state agency ensure an easy process for return and recycling.

HP then tracks and documents the returns in accordance with the California State Agency Buy Recycled Campaign. These customised materials are provided by HP to the state free of charge.

If all state agencies follow the lead of the State and Consumer Services Agency, Department of General Services and HP, California is estimated to recycle as much as 100 tonnes of HP inkjet and LaserJet print cartridges per year.

ICG-IOTWS meets to mitigate tsunami danger

The fifth session of the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG-IOTWS) begins in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) today.

The four -day meeting will evaluate progress on the development of the Indian Ocean system, specifically in the areas of seismic detection, sea-level measurement, risk assessment, numerical modelling and scenario development, inter-operable warning centres, and mitigation, preparedness and response.

However, the main focus of discussions will be the proposals for setting up a network of Regional Tsunami Watch Providers (RTWP) for the Indian Ocean.

This network, to be established between 2009 and 2011, will eventually replace the interim advisory service currently provided by the Tsunami Warning Centre in the Pacific (PTWC) in Hawaii and the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) in Tokyo.

The session will be opened by Malaysia’s Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Datuk Maximus Ongkili, IGC-IOTWS Chairperson and Indonesian Institute of Sciences’ Scientific Services Deputy Director Ian Sopaheluwakan and the UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) Tsunami Coordination Unit Head Peter Koltermann.

The ICG-IOTWS was set up in 2005 at the initiative of UNESCO-IOC, in response to the tragic December 2004 tsunami that struck Indian Ocean coastlines.

India has already set up the National Tsunami Early Warning System, comprising a real-time network of seismic stations, Bottom Pressure Recorders (BPR) and tide gauges to detect tsunamigenic earthquakes and to monitor tsunamis in the Indian Ocean region.

The system detects all earthquakes of more than six magnitude occurring in the lndian Ocean, in the less than 20 minutes of occurrence.

The efficiency of the end-to-end system was proved during the large undersea earthquake of 8.4 M that occurred on September 12, 2007 in the Indian Ocean.

Chandigarh to become ‘Solar City’ by 2012

Taking the green initiative on the forefront, the Chandigarh Administration has announced that the union territory is preparing to become the first ‘Solar City’ of India by 2012.

According to Chandigarh Administrator Advisor Pradip Mehra, the UT Administration has already issued requisite directives to all the officers in the UT to start preparation for achieving the ‘Solar City’ target within the stipulated time frame.

He was speaking at a symposium on ‘Protecting Health from Climate Change’ organised by the Indian Public Health Association, here.

Cautioning on the ill effects of climate change, Mehra said that people should accept that they are in the middle of climate change and the frequency of natural disasters is increasing at an alarming pace.

He said that with economic development accompanied with the Industrial Revolution has led to the unprecedented development and great increase in welfare activities, thereby increasing the comfort levels.

“But consequent to it is the huge consumption of fuels leading to Global Warming,” Mehra said adding that the global warming would lead to rise of sea level and submerging of islands and coastal areas of the world and result in greater migration from coastal regions.

Lakshadweep to digitise anganwadi centres

The Lakshadweep Administration has decided to digitise all the 87 Anganwadi Centres and various activities under Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) in the union territory (UT), the first in the country to do so.

This would help to monitor and evaluate the Anganwadi activities in the geographically isolated islands of the UT.

Talking about the initiative, UT Administrator BV Selvaraj said that the digitisation will integrate the programmes under ICDS and would enhance women and child development in the country.

The ICDS is a globally recognised community based early child care programme which addresses the basic inter-related needs of young children, expectant and nursing mothers and adolescent girls across the lifecycle in a holistic manner.

Sources at the Department of Women and Child Development said that the first phase of computerisation for this project will be completed by April-May 2008.

The Department is also working towards ensuring that selected Anganwadi workers are given proper computer education with the help of the UT Information Technology Department and National Informatics Centre (NIC), before the infrastructure for the project roll out is completed.

It would ensure the well-being and growth of women and children, which finds expression in the Constitution and is well woven into the spirit of the Indian polity, besides fully realising the objectives of ICDS.

East Singhbhum takes e-route for land records

In an effort to bring e-Governance at the grass root level, the Government of Jharkhand has computerised land records of Khatiyan and Register-II of all the nine anchals of the East Singhbhum district.

The web-enabled service is aimed at ensuring efficient, accurate, transparent delivery mechanism and swift conflict resolution in ownership issues.

It would also provide electronic record of rights (ROR) to land owners at nominal rates and information empowerment of land owners, besides providing low cost and easily reproducible data for reliable and durable preservation.

East Singhbhum Deputy Commissioner (DC) Nitin Madan Kulkarni said that kiosks have been established at all the anchal offices to fulfill the demands of e-Governance, after the completion of the computerisation process.

The kiosks offer various services to citizens, which mainly include disbursal of ROR, application acceptance for mutation, settlement, objection entries, copy of Register-II details, help feature for web users and complain lodging against any revenue official or transaction.

It also offers administrative services, including day wise money collection report for an anchal under rent and ROR head, MIS report for the rent collection, ROR issuance and Register-II issuance.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister Madhu Koda has launched Vasudha software at the Jamshedpur anchal, which is a Web-based software and has role based access with provisions for biometric device for enhanced security.

The new software provides auto escalation of pending transactions, auto backup facility and Unicode based support for local language.

The solution, designed and developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC), would help the state revenue officials and administrators for land reforms and protection of legal rights of land for the citizens.

Arunachal joins ‘Vahan’ brigade

In its bid to streamline and improve vehicle registration process in the state, the Government of Arunachal Pradesh last week finaly adopted ‘Vahan’, the computerised vehicle registration system at the Yupia District Transport Office (DTO).

Developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) in India, Vahan is a smart cards based system for issuance of registration for commercial and private vehicles.

A special machine—card reader—of the Transport Department will test this smart card and prove authenticity of the registration, besides helping in identifying the vehicle whether the vehicle is stolen or authentic one.

Privatisation of smart card has been curtailed for time being by giving necessary training to all transport staffs. Customised Vahan is the result of expert efforts from the National Informatics Centre (NIC).

The solution will help the DTO in the registration of a vehicle, collection of road tax, issuing fitness certificate and road permits, while enforcing transparency in state government department and central government department.

Launching the project, the Transport Commissioner YD Thongchi said that it will be extended to remaining DTOs of the state. The DTO office Yupia will be training centre for other DTOs and DTO staff on the project.

The Vahan set up at Transport Department attempts for better citizen services, monitoring of government revenue, management and control, faster implementation of revision in policies, instant accesses to information to any department and single window service for collection of fees and tax.

The Transport Commissioner said that Vahan has begun as mandatory for registration of vehicles all over India that has taken place after ‘Sarathi’ but Arunachal Pradesh lagged behind because of many factors including lack of knowledge in the technology.

RTI violation proves costly for 120 PIOs

The Central Information Commission (CIC) in India has penalised over 120 public information officers (PIOs) for not providing information under Right to Information Act of 2005, imposing a penalty amounting Rs 13 lakh until March 2008.

Disclosing this at the seminar on Right to Information Act 2005 organised by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry in India (Assocham), the Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah stated that over Rs 5 lakh penalty has been recovered of the guilty PIOs out of the total imposed penalty.

He clarified that the full penalty could not be recovered as more than 100 PIOs, accused of not providing information under the Act, have moved various courts against the CIC orders.

Habibullah said that the Commission would become more proactive to take stern action against PIOs that refuse to provide information to those who have sought.

Also, the Commission has asked all government departments and public authorities to put their policy decisions on their respective website.

“With this, the public can access the information from the government and public authorities without even fulfilling the required applications,” he said.

Habibullah, however, said that use of the information act has exceeded the public expectations as everybody is asking for relevant information under the Act.

He added that the government has not been able to keep a rapid pace with it and is therefore under heavy pressure to provide information within 30 days as provided under the Act.

The CIC also went on to the extent of saying that public has become more demanding and asking for any sort of information which has built up even a case for contempt and if the flow continues, the Commission would move and file a contempt case with relevant bodies.

The Chief Information Commissioner admitted that publicity and awareness among public about Right to Information Act has yet to be percolated as a large section of people are not adequately aware of it in the absence of adequate publicity campaign.

Interestingly, he said that in the rural segment, particularly people below poverty line (BPL) are much more aware about the right to information act as nearly 10 per cent of such a lot in the countryside is making use of this Act to obtain relevant information from public authorities.

Habibullah said that the government machinery is learning to get used with the Act as its enactment was done only in 2005 and it is because of this reason that sometimes, the dissemination of information takes time beyond 30 days as provided in the Act.

Seeking public participation to cooperate with the government, the the Chief Information Commissioner urged the masses not to seek those information that have no relevance as it would ease out the pressure on the government.

Speaking at the seminar, Assocham Legal Affairs Committee Chairman Suman Jyoti Khaitan offered the facilities of Assocham in consultation with NGOs to popularise the salient features of the Right to Information Act.

He further said that in doing so, a larger section of society would gain out of it as the Act would bring about a revolution in India in public participation with government for good governance.

Punjab offers free computer course for poor

In an effort to provide computer training to poor and needy students, the Government of Punjab has sponsored a free computer training workshop for students belonging to economically weaker section of the society.

Announcing this, the Punjab Chief Parliamentary Secretary Harish Rai Dhanda said that the group will cover students belonging to Schedule Castes, Schedule Tribes, Other Backward Classes (OBC) and to lower income group.

The programme will be run at SCD Government College in Ludhiana and provide basic computer training of 25 days to 20 needy students every month.

The Political Secretary to Dhanda, PC Garg, said a grant of Rs 64,000 for running the programme in 2008-09 had been released and if the results proved to be useful then more grants would be given to the college for further enhancement of this programme.

He said the basic mission of the programme was to enhance computer literacy among the poor students and to make them capable for earning their livelihood.

The students may enrol themselves for this programme at the computer centre of SCD Government College.

More organisations and institutions would be involved in this mission to make the human resources IT enabled under this capability enhancement programme.

Australian Nurses on Trial Over Death of Patient, Charged With Negligence

TWO nurses in Queensland, Australia are on trial, charged with causing the death of a patient admitted for back problem.


Michael George Gibbons, 51, and Jennifer Annique Valentine, 48, are charged with allowing the patient’s blood oxygen saturation to drop to levels which were ’incompatible with life.’

Crown prosecutor David Meredith told the Brisbane Supreme Court that the pair failed in their duty of care on April 23, 2005, by not calling for backup in time to save the life of Christopher Hammett and should be convicted of criminal negligence.

The 41-year-old Hammett was recovering from a surgery for his back problem.

Meredith said experts would testify that healthy people typically had oxygen saturation levels of about 99-100 per cent while patients coming out of operations could go as low as 93 per cent without causing alarm.

Hammett’s fell to 85 per cent and below that midnight. But the nurses did not follow the prescribed hospital procedure by calling in the doctor, ambulance or nearby larger hospitals which had emergency or intensive care units.

The jury was shown medical charts with hourly checks allegedly done by Ms Valentine, listing Hammett’s oxygen saturation levels as going down to 60 per cent by 1am, but still no calls were made.

Meredith said instead Gibbons went on a break about 1am, not returning until Ms Valentine asked him for help when Hammett’s level had dropped to 53 per cent after 2am.
Meredith said by then the patient was comatose and his oxygen levels were ’past the point of no return’.


Widow Lyn Hammett gave evidence saying her husband was a ’fitness fanatic’ and ’didn’t stop from the moment he got up to late at night,’ detailing his career as a hockey player and coach, elite golf instructor and head of the sport department at Robina High School.

She said his back had been causing him some ’annoying pain,’ so the father of three decided to have surgery to return to his full form.

Mrs Hammett, also a nurse, said she left the hospital about 9.15pm after seeing her husband who seemed to be resting comfortably, after being given morphine. She phoned from home to check again, and was told by a female nurse that Hammett was sleeping.

She detailed how she was then woken by a phone call from a male nurse at 3.08am, telling her that Hammett had deteriorated and was being transferred to the emergency department at the Gold Coast Hospital across the street.

Shortly after arriving there, she was told her husband had died.

But the nurses denied any wrong doing or negligence.

The trial continues.

Source-Medindia
GPL/L

Indian Doctors Perform Asia's First Artificial Heart Transplant

An Indian hospital has successfully performed what it says is Asia's first artificial heart transplant on a 54-year-old man, the head of the institution said Thursday.


Surgeons at Bangalore's Narayana Hrudayalaya implanted a ventricular assist device, or VAD, in the patient in a four-hour operation on March 20 under the guidance of a team of US experts, hospital chairman doctor Devi Shetty said.

The device, measuring 60 millimetres (2.4 inches) in diameter and weighing 298 grams (10 ounces), is implanted in the lower part of the chest below the heart. It is connected to an external battery by a cable and has to be recharged every four hours.

"The VAD is a simple centrifugal pump that sucks the blood from the heart and pumps it into the aorta," Shetty said. "It can pump 10 litres of blood every minute, compared to the normal four or five litres, so it's quite powerful."

The aorta circulates oxygenated blood throughout the body.

Surgeons in the US and Europe have implanted such "new-generation" artificial hearts in 220 patients in the past eight years, but the Bangalore operation was the first of its kind in Asia, Shetty said.

The patient, identified as Venkatakrishniah, suffered a heart attack in 2003 and had been forced to leave his job at a state-owned company because he was unable to work even after bypass surgery.

"After the bypass surgery, my condition worsened and I was unable to walk six steps," Venkatakrishniah was quoted as saying by the Times of India newspaper.
"But (now)... I can walk, climb stairs and am even planning to work."


The device provides an alternative to heart transplants, out of reach for many because of the limited number of donor organs available and their suitability for patients. Some other types of artificial heart are intended as a "bridge" until a suitable donor organ can be found.

The VAD cost about 3.4 million rupees (85,000 dollars). Hospital costs, which added up to about 600,000 rupees in Venkatakrishniah's case, were waived.

Since conducting the transplant, the hospital has received inquires from more than 100 patients in India and overseas, where medical costs are much higher, Shetty said.

"It is of great satisfaction to us," he added. "It shows India can become a centre of excellence for tertiary healthcare like it has become in software. We have the expertise and the infrastructure and we can get the technology."

Source-AFP
SRM/L

Novel Device to Track Tumour Radiation Dose

One of the main issues with delivering radiation doses to tumors is that the location of these cancers is purely guess work. Now bio-engineers from the US are promising a tiny device that can not only predict the exact dosage delivered inside the tumor, but can also locate it accurately.


This "wireless implantable passive micro-dosimeter," enclosed in a glass capillary small enough to inject into a tumor with a syringe, is being developed by engineers at Purdue University and would help to kill tumors more effectively.

The team developing this device is headed by Babak Ziaie, an associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a researcher at Purdue's Birck Nanotechnology Center.

Ziaie said that the device could be in clinical trials in 2010.

"Because organs and tumors shift inside the body during treatment, a new technology is needed to tell doctors the exact dosage of radiation received by a tumor," said Ziaie.

While conventional imaging systems are difficult to use during radiation therapy, are costly and sometimes require X-rays, which can damage tissue when used repeatedly, the new device uses radio frequency identification, or RFID, technology, which does not emit damaging X-rays.

This device is not run on batteries but will be activated with electrical coils placed next to the patient. It contains a miniature version of dosimeters worn by workers in occupations involving radioactivity and this tiny dosimeter could provide up-to-date information about the cumulative dose a tumour is receiving over time.
"It's a radiation dosimeter and a tracking device in the same capsule and will be hermetically sealed so that it will not have to be removed from the body," said Ziaie.


The prototype of this sensitive dosimeter was tested with radioactive cobalt. One of the most striking features of this device is that it would not require intricate circuitry, which could make the device easier and less expensive to manufacture than more complex designs. The system consists of simple electronic devices called capacitors and coils.

With a diameter of about 2.5 millimeters, or thousandths of a meter, and length of 2 centimeters, this miniature device is small enough to fit inside a large-diameter needle for injection with a syringe. However, the researchers are working towards reducing its size further, shrinking it to about half a millimeter in diameter and half its current length, roughly the size of a rice grain.

The findings of this research are detailed in a paper appearing in an upcoming issue of IEEE Transactions On Biomedical Engineering.

Source-ANI
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Spread of Prostate Cancer Cells Halted

Spread of prostate cancer can be halted by disrupting communication between cancer cells and the cells that promote inflammatory response, researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine have found.


The finding not only suggests new ways to control cancer spread and metastasis but also provide an impetus to look more closely at existing inflammation-controlling drugs including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, cyclooxygenase inhibitors, antioxidants and statins.

Dr. Paul Lindholm said it is possible that these widely available drugs could be used to control aggressive cancer cell growth and spread for these and other inflammation-associated cancers.

In previous studies, Dr. Lindholm and his colleagues at Northwestern found that when compared to benign prostate tissues, prostate cancer tissue has a higher density of macrophages and the monocytes from which these immune system cells derive.

These scavenger cells are vital to the regulation of immune responses and the development of inflammation.

High grade and high stage prostate cancer tissues showed significantly increased numbers of macrophages compared to low grade and low stage tumours.

When the researchers added monocyte-like cell lines or monocytes obtained from the blood of normal people to less aggressive prostate cancer cell lines, these cancer cells became more invasive, indicating that the cancer cells and the monocytes were indeed communicating with each other.

In the new study, the researchers showed that the monocyte-like cells stimulate the cancer cells' Nuclear Factor-kappaB, a gene regulating transcription factor able to stimulate gene activity.
To check whether NF-kappaB activity was boosting the cancer cells' movement and invasive activity, the researchers introduced into the cancer cells biological inhibitors that blocks NF-kappaB activity.


The treatments that block NF-kappaB activity reduced the cancer cell movement and invasion through the basement membrane (a thin, delicate layer of connective tissue underlying the epithelium of many organs).

The study was presented on April 8 at the Experimental Biology 2008 meeting in San Diego.

Source-ANI
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Injection of Skin Cells Found Effective in Treating Tennis Elbow

Injection of skin cells has been found effective in treating tennis elbow, UK researchers say.


The 15-minute procedure uses cells taken from a tiny piece of their own skin. They are then injected into the joint to regenerate the damaged tendon that causes the painful condition.

A pilot study on 12 patients has thrown up satisfying results.

Eleven were cured within weeks with no side effects and only one patient failed to respond.

The pioneering technique could also help treat tendon and ligament damage throughout the body - such as a torn Achilles tendon.

Tennis elbow, which is known in medical terms as lateral epicondylitis, is a degenerative condition thought to affect two million people in Britain - mainly between the ages of 40 and 55, reports Daily Mail.

It is caused by fraying of the tendon that joins the forearm muscle to the upper arm.

Repeated overuse of the arm is most often to blame, but it can also be triggered by an isolated incident - lifting something too heavy can be enough to trigger an attack.

Patients initially suffer feelings of stiffness in the elbow first thing in the morning, as well as severe pain on the bony outer side of the joint.

This pain can radiate up and down the arm, weakening the wrist so severely that some find even taking the lid off a jar impossible.

Doctors recommend rest, anti-inflammatories, a series of physiotherapy sessions and steroid injections - although steroids have recently been shown to be no more effective than rest.
It was found a few years ago that injecting patients with their own blood at the site encouraged the growth of new tissue, sealing the tears.


The problem is that this generates scar tissue, which is far less elastic than healthy tendon and so limits the range of movement.

In the new treatment, a 4mm piece of skin is taken from the hip and used to isolate special "stem" cells.

Stem cells are capable of morphing into any form of tissue.

Although adult stem cells tend to be less flexible than embryo stem cells, they can be coaxed into developing tissue similar to their site of origin, doctors say.

For instance, skin stem cells can be grown into muscle tendon or ligaments but not into liver or kidney cells.

The huge advantage they have over embryonic stem cells is that using the patients’ own stem cells means they won’t be rejected by the body.

The few stem cells taken from the skin are cultured until they have grown over one million cells. This takes between four and six weeks.

The cells are then injected under ultrasound guidance into the tendon defects.

This technique has been adapted from a treatment developed by veterinary surgeons four years ago to get champion racehorses back on track following serious tendon damage.

The work on horse injury was pioneered by Roger Smith, professor of equine orthopaedics at the Royal Veterinary College.

"There are many similarities between horses and humans," says Professor Smith. "They age and exercise in the same way and suffer from similar strain injuries."

A team working at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore, Middlesex, led by Dr David Connell, tested the technique in a pilot study last year.

One of the patients was Michael Arciero, 54, a hospital porter from Chessington in Surrey.

He had been diagnosed with tennis elbow in his left arm a year previously.

"Whenever I tried lifting anything, pain shot all the way down to my hand," he recalls.

"I was treated with blood injections, which worked although my arm took weeks to improve.

"But when the condition flared up in my right arm, it was much more debilitating, probably because I’m right-handed and rely on that side more.

"After the procedure, I was told to avoid lifting anything heavy for a fortnight, but within two days the pain had gone. A week later, I was back at the gym."

The first clinical trial of the treatment is under way, with half of the 50 testers being given injections of the stem cells and the others receiving injections of their own blood.

Commenting on the research, Simon Owen-Johnstone, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, said: "This appears to be a radical solution for tennis elbow, and I would welcome any new treatment that helps these patients."

Source-Medindia
GPL/L

Female Mouse Fertility Influenced by Small Molecule MiRNAs

Tiny molecules called miRNAs influence fertility of female mice besides regulating the conversion of genetic information to proteins, a new study has indicated.


miRNAs are usually generated naturally by the body, which is a complex process that involves a protein known as Dicer.

In the study, by Jiahuai Han and colleagues at The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, females of mice expressing substantially lower levels of Dicer than normal mice (Dicerd/d mice), were found to be infertile.

It was found that infertility was caused due to impaired functioning of the corpus luteum, the structure that forms at the site of release of the fertilized egg and that is required to maintain pregnancy at the early stages.

After detailed analysis it was found that the functioning of the corpus luteum was impaired because it was unable to form new blood vessels, and that this was associated with increased expression of the protein TIMP1, which inhibits blood vessel formation.

When the miRNAs miR17-5p and let7b were injected into the ovaries of Dicerd/d mice, the expression of TIMP1 was decreased and the number of blood vessels in the corpus luteum increased.

This made the authors conclude that the development and function of the corpus luteum in mice is tightly regulated by miRNAs.

The study is published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Source-ANI
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Humour Plays a Crucial Role in Healthcare

Canadian researchers have revealed that a bit of humour can play a crucial role in healthcare settings, even when patients are terminally ill.


Dr Ruth Dean co-author of the study and a nurse researcher from the University of Manitoba carried out the study in the palliative care unit, spending 200 hours observing and informally interacting with care providers, patients and family members and carrying out semi-structured interviews with 15 healthcare staff, including nurses, doctors, a social worker and physiotherapist.

The team concluded that humour played an essential role in promoting team relationships and adding a human dimension to the care and support that staff provided to seriously ill patients and their families.

Her colleague Joanne Major from the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg spent 72 hours in an intensive care unit, observing and carrying out semi-structured interviews with 15 nurses.

"Some people feel that humour is trivial and unprofessional in healthcare settings, but this study shows that it is neither," said Dr Dean.

They found that humour helped the staff to cope with, and sometimes distance themselves, from difficult situations.

"When you've had the most stressful day and you're ready to cry, sometimes it's easier to bring out humour and take it in the other direction instead of bawling on somebody's shoulder," said an interviewee.

Humour also helped them to bond with other healthcare professionals and provide mutual support, shared laughter nurtured a sense of community.
"If you have those fun moments and that connectedness even the worst hell can happen" said one healthcare professional who worked with terminally ill patients. "


They used humour to reduce tension when things don't go as well as they could do.

Humour not only helped them to connect with patients and make them feel cared for as individuals, but also to reduce patients' embarrassment with the indignity of needing help with toileting and other highly personal functions.

When a patient suffered an episode of incontinence she reported that she found the nurse's matter of fact humour - "what goes in must come out" - made her feel less distressed.

Then there was the satisfaction that staff felt when they saw a patient smile.

"Despite major differences between the work of the intensive care and palliative care units, they are both areas where serious illness, high anxiety and patient and family distress are prevalent and staff are placed in emotionally demanding situations" said Dr Dean.

The study appears in the April issue of the UK-based Journal of Clinical Nursing.

Source-ANI
SPH/L

Northern Ireland launches e-care for patients

The Government of Northern Ireland has launched an electronic patient-record system—NI Emergency Care Record (NIECR)—to improve emergency care for patients attending accident and emergency (A&E) departments and ‘out-of-hours’ doctors’ services.

Launching this, the Northern Ireland Health Minister Michael McGimpsey said that the Southern Health and Social Care Trust will be the first in county to introduce this system.

While the new system will initially be introduced on a pilot basis in the areas of Amagh and Dungannon, full roll-out across Northern Ireland is expected by the end of the year, reports ePractice.

The Minister said that most people imagine that if they need medical help in the night or at a weekend and are treated by staff in an out-of-hours setting, or at an A&E department, the staff there will have access to their medical records, which is not the case.

Welcoming the system, Southern Health and Social Care Trust Chief Executive Colm Donaghy said that the system will give staff working in the out-of-hours service more detailed medical information about their patients, enabling them to make more informed decisions in their treatment and give them the best possible treatment.

With the new system in place, only health service staff involved in treating the patient will have access to their records and stringent measures were accorded to control access and protect patient confidentiality.

In addition, letters have been sent out to all households in the pilot area providing patients with the opportunity to opt out of the system if they so wish, ePractice report added.

The new system is expected to improve services to some 1.2 million patients attended to every year by Northern Ireland’s five ‘out-of-hours’ doctors’ services and 11 A&E departments, the Ministry informed.

To ‘disaster’ is human, not nature

Political inaction, poor decisions and bad management have helped to turn South Asia into the world’s most disaster-prone region, says Oxfam International in its ‘Rethinking Disasters’ report.

According to the report, although nature traditionally gets the blame, it is human failure that turns a natural shock such as a cyclone into a humanitarian disaster.

It urged governments and donors to do more to reduce the risk of disasters before they happen and to tackle underlying factors such as poverty and discrimination that leave millions of people more vulnerable to disasters.

“The Kashmir earthquake in 2005 killed 75,000 people. That’s more than 12 times the number who died in Japan’s Great Hanshin earthquake in 1995, which was of similar strength,” Oxfam’s South Asia Regional Director Ashvin Dayal said.

Talking about the report, he further said that poverty, exclusion, inequality and unsuitable policies raise risks for poor people, especially, women and minorities.

The report highlighted that both the human and monetary cost of disasters in South Asia is enormous.

Citing examples of natural disasters such the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the Kashmir earthquake alone killed over 120,000 people and the floods of 2007 affecting over 30 million in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka, the report said that the region loses up to six per cent of its GDP to disasters annually.

Pointing towards the alarming situation of climate change, Oxfam report said that two thirds of South Asia’s disasters are climate-related.

As global warming increases the frequency, severity and unpredictability of extreme weather events and causes sea levels to rise, South Asians will bear the brunt. Bangladesh, for example, is predicted to lose a tenth of its rice crop and one third of its wheat output over the next 50 years.

“The right policies and preparations can save lives and money—our experience shows that preparedness costs a fraction of what a disaster response can cost. The problem is that governments and donors do not prioritise these preventative measures,” Dayal said.

Oxfam further said that governments, donors and development agencies must integrate disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation measures into all development projects, strengthen infrastructure, reduce underlying vulnerabilities and encourage more resilient communities.

In Rethinking Disasters report, Oxfam has identified four key spheres for action, which include social inclusion in understanding risk and prepare accordingly, constructing sound structures and environmental protection, economic support in tackling poverty and political involvement in protecting rights in a crisis and beyond.

The report further suggested that governments must combat South Asia’s huge inequalities in incomes, power and access to support, providing essential services and information as basic rights.

“Each new disaster deepens poor people’s vulnerabilities and slows development. Failure to act urgently, therefore, will be counted in lost lives and wasted money,” the Regional Director said.

eGov, households push India PC sales up 26%

India has registered a 26 per cent growth in PC sales—desktop computers and notebooks—during October-December 2007 period, thanks to the increased focus on e-Governance by the central and state governments and strong demand from the household segment.

According to the findings of MAIT’s industry performance review for the quarter, the overall PC sales in the country during the period stood at 1.75 million units, with telecom, banking and financial services, manufacturing, e-Governance and IT-enabled services showing signs of steady growth.

Commenting on the industry performance, MAIT Executive Director Vinnie Mehta said that aggressive pricing by the PC vendors has also helped improve the PC penetration, especially in the households and the small and medium enterprise (SME) segments.

Adding that the growth in these verticals is expected to continue in the fourth quarter, Mehta said that apart from the traditional sectors, consumption was also witnessed in SMEs, education, retail and other computer-centric small enterprises.

The buoyant mood in IT consumption was led by significant growth in notebook sales, which grew by 158 per cent, while consumption of desktops grew by four per cent, the report added.

According to the report, the desktop market has sold 1.25 million units in Q3 of 2007-08, a growth of four percent over Q3 of 2006-07.

The assembled desktops—the smaller lesser known regional brands and unbranded systems, accounted for 32 per cent of the PC sales in Q3 of 2007-08, while the proportion of the branded desktops was 68 per cent.

The report further revealed that MNC brands accounted for 51 per cent of the market while the Indian brands accounted for the rest 17 per cent.

In the desktop market, in the business segment, it was primarily the banks, financial institutions, insurance companies, educational institutes, retail sector, IT sector and IT related companies that were the lead consumers; while in the household segment, reduced prices coupled with applications for ‘entertainment’ and ‘education’ have fuelled the market.

While increased focus on e-Governance by the central and state governments provided traction for desktop consumption, the households market emerged as one of the key drivers of consumption, enabling the market to rapidly expand into the hinterland.

According to the report, notebook sales crossed five lakh units recording 158 per cent growth over the third quarter in 2006-07.

The high growth in notebook consumption can be attributed to the drop in notebook prices and the additional benefit of mobility and space management, the report added.

Besides several first-time PC buyers are now opting for notebooks rather than desktop, the MAIT report revealed that high consumption in corporates, IT companies, financial institutes and the government however continues to drive the notebook consumption.

Compared to the same period last year, consumption of laser printers grew by 36 per cent, however, that of inkjet and dot-matrix printer (DMP) declined by 17 per cent and seven per cent, respectively.

The uninterrupted power supply (UPS) market has shown substantial increase in demand, with the consumption of UPS witnessed an increase of 30 per cent on an annual basis.

‘Micro T(rack)ech’ your lost laptop online

Micro Technologies India has launched a lost notebook tracking system (LNTS), that it claims will help locate stolen laptops via the World Wide Web.

According to the company, the new software for laptops is embedded on notebook hard drives, allowing systems to be tracked as soon as they are connected to the Internet.

Claiming that Micro LNTS is an ideal and proactive solution for notebook users, the company said that users need to install the software on their laptops where it resides and operates in stealth mode to be able to locate laptops whenever needed.

And the process is simple—one just needs to login to the web-based personal tracking and monitoring page through Micro LNTS website to view and trace where the laptop has been accessed from, that too from any corner of the world.

With LNTS installed, users can hide the documents that carry vital information, it offers data wise storage and could block misuse of any computer and notebook at any point of time remotely by control setting

The software also enables to provide login intimation on mobile and email, remotely monitoring of user specified URL and document and further provides list of installed software.

Besides, the Micro LNTS corporate model keeps track of the whereabouts of each employee while travelling and the moment user logs in via the web, a report is generated with the complete details and is sent to a designated individual within the organisation, the company said.

Can you have Sex while taking TB Medication.

Yes.

Ranbaxy to help DBT in TB drug research

Ranbaxy Laboratories has signed an agreement with the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in India to push New Drug Discovery Research (NDDR) for tuberculosis in the country.

The research will be conducted under the aegis of DBT’s major initiative in the area of tuberculosis.

As per the agreement, three major areas identified are development of diagnostics, development of vaccines and development of drugs.

Speaking on the occasion, Ranbaxy Laboratories CEO and MD Malvinder Mohan Singh said, “We will work towards building a winning model to develop innovative medicines in the area of tuberculosis.”

Under the alliance, Ranbaxy will develop novel drugs, using inhibitor design for novel targets, pathways and proteins, while DBT will support the project with a financial grant, for a period of three years in the first phase of the collaboration.

On identification of a lead molecule, both the organisation will jointly support its clinical development.

Accordingly, a joint Steering Committee will be constituted to direct, manage and coordinate the collaboration.

“We view this strategic partnership as a viable means for faster discovery and development of better medicines,” Ranbaxy Drug Discovery Research Senior VP Pradip Bhatnagar said.

‘Forgotten MDG’ to impact mother, child health

Though much of the world is on track to reduce poverty by 50 per cent, majority of the countries may miss the 2015 deadline of cutting down child and maternal mortality rate.

Serious concerns have also been expressed on the likely shortfalls in primary school completion, nutrition, and sanitation goals.

Issuing a global alert on the status of on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) achievements, the World Bank and IMF in their recent report also warned that most countries will fall short of meeting the eight globally agreed development goals.

Categorising the twin goals of reducing hunger and malnutrition as the “forgotten MDG”, World Bank President Robert B Zoellick said that, “In this year of action on the MDGs, I am particularly concerned about the risks of failing to meet the two goals.”

Quoting the report, Zoellick also pointed out that reduction in malnutrition has a “multiplier effect” that directly contributes to the success of other MDGs, including maternal health, infant mortality and education.

The global monitoring report “MDGs and the Environment—Agenda for Inclusive and Sustainable Development” stressed the link between environment and development and calls for urgent action on climate change.

It further warned that developing countries stand to suffer the most from climate change and the degradation of natural resources.

To build on hard-won gains, developing countries need support to address the links between growth, development and environmental sustainability.

Stressing that developing countries need more foreign aid and domestic resources to reach the MDGs, the IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said that high economic growth and a stable macroeconomic environment remain essential for reducing poverty and increasing investment in health and education.

The report further revealed that progress toward the MDGs differs dramatically across countries, regions, and income groups.

According to the report, Sub-Saharan Africa lags on all counts, including the goal for poverty reduction, though many countries in the region are now experiencing improved growth performance.

With stronger efforts by the countries themselves and their development partners, most MDGs remain achievable for most countries.

With this, the report laid out an integrated six-point agenda, with strong, inclusive growth at the top.

The agenda also calls for more effective aid; a successful outcome to the Doha round of trade talks; more emphasis on strengthening programs in health, education and nutrition; and financing and technology transfers to support climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Halfway to 2015

* Though the overall aid landscape is expanding, official development assistance (ODA) —estimated at $103.7 billion in 2007—has stalled. To meet the G8 promises to increase aid by $50 billion by 2010, ODA must expand. Meanwhile, new donors like China and India are growing in size and importance.
* Growth momentum will have to be sustained and broadened in developing countries in the face of financial turmoil. The IMF projects global GDP growth will slow from 4.9 percent in 2007 to 3.7 percent in 2008. Developing countries’ growth will ease to 6.7 percent, but persistent financial market turmoil and knock-on effects on growth pose significant downside risks.
* The number of people living on under $1/day in the developing world declined by 278 million between 1990 and 2004, and a stunning 150 million in the last 5 years of that period.
* Rapid progress is possible. Vietnam reduced poverty from 58 percent in 1993 to 16 percent in 2006.
* Forty million more children are in school and gender disparity in primary and secondary schools has declined by 60 percent, but 75 million children remain out of school.
* Every year, three million more children survive, and 2 million lives are saved by immunization. But every week, 10,000 women still die from treatable complications of pregnancy and birth, and over 190,000 children under five are lost to disease. Two million people now receive AIDS treatment, but about the same number die every year of the disease, and over 33 million are infected with HIV.
* The economic burden of environmental health hazards is estimated at 1.5 to 4 percent of GDP. Worldwide, environmental risk factors play a role in 80 percent of diseases, including malaria, diarrhea, and respiratory infections. A child dies of malaria every 30 seconds.
* A billion people lack reasonable access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion people (40 percent of the world population) do not have access to basic sanitation. Meeting the water and sanitation targets will require doubling the current annual investment to about $30 billion.
* The UN estimates that by 2030, developing countries will need $100 billion annually to finance mitigation and $28-$ 67 billion for adaptation.
* A third of the developing world’s population—1.6 billion people—lack access to modern energy, and are forced to rely on carbon-emitting biomass and fossil-fuel energy.
* An area of forest equivalent to the size of Panama or Sierra Leone is lost every year to land use changes, with most of the loss concentrated in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa.
* In 2007, gross concessional flows from multilateral development banks crossed $12 billion, a 10.3 percent increase driven by the International Development Association (IDA). While Asia continued to receive almost half of these flows, Africa received 45 percent in 2007, up from 37 percent in 2000.

Tamil Nadu inaugurates SDC, SWAN

The Tamil Nadu Government on Tuesday formally inaugurated the State Data Centre (SDC), the State Wide Area Network (SWAN) and Common Service Centre (CSC) programme at Taramani, here.

The SDC would be housed at the Taramani Software Technology Park of India (STPI) facility, which will also have the Tamil Nadu ICT Academy.

Inaugurating the STPI, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi said that the facility would give further boost to the Information Technology-related activities in the state.

The Chief Minister also inaugurated the linear accelerator at the Adyar Cancer Hospital and the tele-medicine facility at the Government Royapettah Hospital.

Talking about the state government’s ICT initiatives Karunanidhi also pointed out that Tamil Nadu was among the few states in India where the CSC project had progressed well.

The Chief Minister also informed that the government would be setting up 5,440 CSCs across the state. “This is the first step towards bridging the digital divide,” he said.

India’s Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways T R Baalu and Union Minister of Communication and Information Technology A Raja were also present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Baalu said that the initiatives would also help the state increase its software exports and bring about a revolution in the delivery of services to the citizens.

He further informed that Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra accounted for over 80 per cent of the total software exports through STPs during the previous financial year.

Baalu said that Tamil Nadu accounted a share of 14.4 per cent in Rs 21,000 crore of total exports in 2006-07, showing an increase of about 34 per cent over the previous year.

He said that even the growing size of international software market, every state has considerable scope to grow and therefore suggested that Tamil Nadu should gear up for the challenge and make a niche for itself in the international software market.

Referring to the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), Balu said that once SDC, SWAN and CSCs schemes are in place, transaction time and cost of delivery of services to the citizens as well as within the government will be drastically reduced and prove a boon for the nation.

Baalu added that very soon these schemes would be implemented in 29 states and six union territories of the country.

He further said that with the implementation of NeGP, the gap between citizens and the government would be bridged, thereby increasing transparency in the functioning of the government.

Ruthless Streak In Dictators is Genetic

Hitler, Napoleon Bonaparte, Benito Mussolini, Saddam Hussein, and Robert Mugabe would not have been so infamous had it not been for their bad genes, a new study has found.


Researchers at Hebrew University in Jerusalem say that they have discovered that a gene called AVPR1a is linked with ruthlessness, and that it may explain the money-grabbing tendencies of those with a Machiavellian streak.

Lead researcher Richard Ebstein revealed that the genetic link was established through an economic exercise called the 'Dictator Game', in which more than 200 student volunteers participated.

The exercise allowed the participants to behave selflessly, or like money-grabbing dictators like former Zaire President Mobutu who filled in his pockets at the cost of its citizens.

Ebstein said that, while the exact mechanism by which the gene influences behaviour was unknown, one could say that one some people just did not believe in the old adage that "it is better to give than to receive".

He indicated that there the reward centres in their brains might derive less pleasure from altruistic acts leading them to behave more selfishly.

The researchers specifically focused on AVPR1a as it is known to produce receptors in the brain that detect vasopressin, a hormone involved in altruism and 'prosocial' behaviour. They wondered if differences in expression of this receptor in the human brain might make different people more or less likely to behave generously.

During the study, the researchers tested DNA samples from the participants before asking them to play the dictator game. The students were divided into two groups: 'dictators' and 'receivers' (called 'A' and 'B' to the participants).
Each dictator was told that they would receive 50 shekels (about 14 US dollars), but were free to share as much or as little of this with a receiver, whom they would never have to meet. The receiver's fortunes thus depended entirely on the dictator's generosity.


The scientists observed that almost 18 per cent of the dictators kept all of the money, nearly one-third split the money down the middle, and a generous six percent gave it all away.

While no link was found for this tendency to be gender-specific, but it was dependent on the length of the AVPR1a gene, as people having the shorter version of this gene were more likely to behave selfishly.

Ebstein said that the vasopressin receptors in the brains of people with short AVPR1a might be distributed in such a way that it makes them less likely to feel rewarded by the act of giving.

Based on his observations, Ebstein came to the conclusion that the dictatorial tendencies certainly had a genetic component.

However, Nicholas Bardsley at the University of Southampton, UK, who studied the Dictator Game, said that researchers should be careful while using such games as a tool for arriving at results regarding human generosity.

The study has been reported in the journal Genes, Brain and Behavior.

Source-ANI
RAS/L

Sexual Abuse of Aboriginal Girls Continues Without Let Up in Australia

Helpless aboriginal girls continue to be victims of sexual abuse in Australia despite much-touted government interventions.


The problem is particularly rampant in the Northern Territory mining town of Nhulunbuy, community elders have complained. Girls as young as 13 are given cash, drugs, alcohol and taxi rides in exchange for sex.

The elders have also asked police to investigate a group of non-indigenous men in the town who, they say, have been sexually abusing aboriginal teenagers for years.

People are angry that the despicable practice was still on in Nhulunbuy, 650 kilometres east of Darwin, eight months after the $1.5 billion intervention in the Territory's remote indigenous communities.

Bernadette Guruwiwi, 19, told the Sydney Morning Herald it was well known that last Monday two girls went to the house of a retired mine worker. Both of them were given beer and marijuana to smoke before the man took the other girl into his bedroom for sex, she said. The man gave the teenager $500.

Bethany Yunupingu, 20, told how two girls recently went to the house of a non-indigenous man who works for the NT Government. They were both given marijuana. One was paid $100 for having sex with the man while the other girl was given money for introducing her to the man.

A 19-year-old Aboriginal woman who asked not to be identified said she was offered three bottles of whisky to talk with a man in a taxi. "I knew what he wanted … I'm disgusted that these things are going on here," she said.
The abuse of indigenous teenagers and young women is an open secret in Nhulunbuy.


Aboriginal teenagers often provided sex to be taken to or from the town of Yirrkala, which costs $40 in a taxi, said residents who did not want to be named. They told how teenage girls were often picked up outside the town's hotel late at night.

Galarrwuy Yunupingu, the most powerful indigenous leader in the Territory, gave permission for members of his family to tell the Herald what they knew about sexual abuse in the town.

"We are family so we can talk about these things together," said Yunupingu, a former Australian of the Year and former head of the Northern Land Council, which represents most indigenous groups in northern Australia. "But everybody here knows what has been going on and the time has come for us to put an end to this once and for all," he said.

"We have seven girls who are ready to provide information to the police … the offenders should be brought to justice, then lock them up and throw away the keys."

Leon White, a former school principal in Yirrkala, said there has been a "conspiracy of silence" about abuse. He said government agencies needed to work more closely to help parents protect vulnerable children and teenagers.

"The indigenous intervention is yet to produce outcomes that prevent these things happening." White said one recent positive development was the establishment of a "remote learning partnership agreement" which helped monitor indigenous children.

The report, Little Children Are Sacred, which prompted the intervention, referred to allegations of a rampant sex trade in Nhulunbuy where non-Aboriginal mining workers gave Aboriginal girls aged between 12 and 15 alcohol, cash and other goods in exchange for sex.

Source-Medindia
GPL/L

Aussie MP Suggests Sex Contracts to Save Men from False Rape Allegations

Men Down Under will be carrying sex contracts in their pockets, if an Aussie politician has her way.


South Australian MP Ann Bressington has suggested that women should sign a contract before having sex to combat false rape allegations.

In a response to proposed laws making it an offence to continue a sex act with a person who changes their mind about consent, Bressington suggested to Parliament that men should carry a sex contract to prevent being accused of rape.

She also claimed "one-night stands" and casual relationships would become a "high-risk activity".

The proposed contract would also include details of the woman's marital status, whether she has children and whether she consents to being taken to another location to engage in sexual activity.

"Perhaps this parliament could devise a contract which men could carry around in their pocket, next to their condoms," News.com.au quoted her, as saying during a speech to Parliament.

"There could be a waiver should a man meet up with a woman who has had a couple of drinks before they engage in sexual intercourse.

"The contract may contain the name and address of the women, with her driver's license number, so that the man can see the signatures match, clauses that state that the woman has or has not been drinking or taking drugs – licit or illicit – and that she consents to foreplay," she added.
On a radio show, Bressington confirmed that she thought men should carry sex contracts if the current Bill passed both houses of Parliament.


"(The Bill) opens the door to more false allegations that are already occurring. Men will have no defence from women falsely crying rape," she said on the radio show.

"This Bill makes men guilty until proven innocent and they will have no defence,” she said.

When asked about the contract idea, she said she was serious because it would prevent men being falsely accused.

Source-ANI
SRM/L

Widow Paraded Naked in North Indian Village for Entering Temple

A middle-aged woman was paraded naked on the streets of a village in Bihar on Thursday.


She had dared enter the local temple and thus polluted the holy abode of the gods, violating the prohibition against the entry of widows and hence the ‘exemplary punishment.’

Bihar in northern India is one of the most backward states in the country. It is not only plagued by poverty and lawlessness, but instances of brutalities are also common there.

In a region where superstition rules the roast, helpless women are routinely accused of practising witchcraft and set upon violently.

Kalawati of Ranwatand in Dhanbad district has since lodged a complaint with the police saying a mob had stripped her naked, garlanded her with shoes and paraded her.

The screaming crowd of upper caste villagers also accused her of practising witchcraft and held her responsible for the outbreak of chicken pox in the village in which one woman died.

Besides some had tried to make her swallow human excreta, but she managed to resist them, the Times of India reports.


Kalawati regularly offered worship at the local temple dedicated to Kali, but the villagers were outraged, especially so the women. Ironically the temple is dedicated to a woman deity believed to have vanquished a male daemon.

The village women fully supported the humiliation of the widow and staged a demonstration in front of the police station where Kalawati filed her complaint.

Though none has been arrested so far, the police claimed that the guilty would not go unpunished.

Source-Medindia
GPL/L

Removing Barriers to the Distribution of Life Saving Vaccines

Barriers to the distribution of life saving vaccines in low income countries can and should be overcome, say experts in this week’s issue of the BMJ.


They suggest that building local clinical research and vaccine production capacity in developing countries will increase the global availability of affordable vaccines.

Delay in delivering vaccines in low and middle income countries results in more than two million deaths a year.

Many of the reasons offered for the unequal access to vaccines in poorer countries can be challenged with new evidence and a better understanding of the underlying problems, write Dave Chokshi, from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Aaron Kesselheim, from the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology anfd Pharacoeconomics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

They point out that an exclusive focus on the primacy of public health infrastructure can result in a missed opportunity to build infrastructure through vaccination. Studies of polio eradication in the Americas have shown how immunisation programmes can strengthen the infrastructure of health systems.

Vaccines are one of the few interventions that can save lives even when healthcare infrastructure is inadequate or non-existent, they argue.

However, there are worries about insufficient funding, say the authors. For instance, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) has collected almost $7bn since its inception in 2000, but it estimates that it will cost $35bn to carry out its existing programmes in the 72 poorest countries up to 2015.
In addition, there are concerns about intellectual property rights slowing the distribution of vaccine technology from rich to poor countries, prices offered by pharmaceutical manufacturers being too high, and the implementation of donation programmes being too slow.


So what needs to be done to increase the availability of these life saving vaccines, ask the authors?

Constructing clinical research of vaccine efficiency in low and middle income countries would expand scientific capacity, encourage more ethical clinical trials, and better inform government’s risk-benefit calculations for investing in vaccines, claim the authors.

In addition, lowering the barriers to vaccine production in developing countries by, for example, improving local manufacturers' access to specialised technology, would build innovative capacity as well as production capacity, they say.

But the authors believe that the ultimate aim of any effort to improve global access to vaccines is to show the benefits of vaccination to local leaders in health care and government.

Local political leadership when combined with increased investment can prioritise disease prevention, raise awareness of the benefits of vaccination, and encourage country-level leadership, they conclude.

Source-BMJ
KAR/L

Hospital Follow-up Services Not Necessary for All Child Cancer Survivors

Many child cancer patients will benefit from ongoing follow-up, but others should be allowed to move on and put the experience of cancer behind them, say experts in this week’s issue of the BMJ.


Most adults who survive cancer are discharged from active follow-up after five years, but historically children have been followed up for life, however this is becoming unsustainable, write Meriel Jenney from the Children’s Hospital for Wales and Gill Levitt from Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Follow-up of children who survive cancer should be individually tailored and may not be necessary for all, they argue.

Previous studies have shown that at least 62% of child survivors have some late side effects as a result of their curative treatment. But this data is based on different treatments than those used today. For example, many of the late side effects seen in older studies were caused by radiotherapy, a treatment that is now used less frequently.

More than three quarters of children with cancer now survive into adulthood, but how can a follow-up service be developed for this growing and diverse group of patients, ask the authors.

Patients who are at high risk of late side effects—such as those who have received a bone marrow transplant—will require ongoing observation by skilled clinicians in a hospital setting.

But for an increasing number of patients who are at low risk of late side effects, an accessible summary of the patient’s previous treatment with a plan for any necessary investigations and likely late side effects, managed by primary care doctors, could be the solution, suggest the authors.
As long as there is a mechanism in place to recall any patient for a more detailed follow up if new late side effects are identified, only those with the highest risk of late effects should be brought back regularly to the clinic, say the authors.


The other patients must be allowed to move on, to leave the clinical setting and put the experience of cancer behind them, or they may never believe they have been cured, they conclude.

Source-BMJ
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Female Doctors may Outnumber Male Doctors in Future

More women now graduate from medical school than men, and soon male doctors will be in the minority. But are we risking future staffing problems, or is there still some way to go before we reach true equality?


Two experts debate the issue in this week’s BMJ.

Increasing numbers of female graduates will create a major shortfall in primary care provision and may also affect education, research, and development, argues Brian McKinstry, senior research fellow at the University of Edinburgh.

Evidence is growing, he says, to demonstrate the negative consequences of the feminism of primary care in the UK and elsewhere. For example, fewer women than men choose to work out of hours, and the increase in women doctors may have partly influenced the recent abandonment of out of hours work by general practitioners in the UK, he claims.

But according to McKinstry we are yet to feel the full effects of this feminisation. For instance, above the age of 45 years men, mostly working full time, are in the majority, whereas general practitioners younger than 45 years are mostly female and working part time. As older, mainly fully time doctors retire, unless employment behaviour changes, there will be a major shortfall in primary care provision, he argues.

This demographic change may also affect education, research, and development, he adds. An American study of women in internal medicine found that women with children had fewer publications than men with children, while Scottish data indicates that women contribute about 60% of the activity of men in development aspects of general practice such as training, teaching, research, and committee work.


He concludes that in the absence of any profound change in societal views on responsibility for child care, a balanced approach to recruitment in the interests of equity and the future delivery of services is vital.


But Jane Dacre from University College London, argues that rather than worrying about having too many women in medicine we should be focusing on ensuring equality of opportunity.

Although women outnumber men in most medical schools by about 3:2, they are under-represented in some areas, especially in clinical academia and in specialties requiring more acute and on call responsibilities and more technical skills.

Dacre believes that medicine needs and wants to attract the best and brightest people whatever their sex. But in order to welcome more women into senior positions, she says, institutional barriers that prevent their progression such as a lack of rota flexibility, low acceptance of career breaks and part-time working, and the need for greater availability of child care and easily accessible and funded part time training options needs to be addressed.

The feminisation of medicine should be welcomed as an opportunity to be creative with workforce planning and to recognise that a more flexible way of working is essential to delivering good quality patient care at all times of the day and night, she says.

In an accompanying editorial, Jenny Firth-Cozens from The London Deanery, acknowledges that the implications of the proportional rise in female doctors must be taken into account. But she warns that any financial estimation that compares the cost of employing male or female doctors must take into account sex differences in the costs of poor performance, litigation, re-education, and rehabilitation that are consistently higher for male doctors.

Source-BMJ
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Abortion, a Dirty Word for the Bush Administration – Even in a Search Engine!

Abortion? That seems to be a taboo for the Bush administration even in a search engine. A U.S. government-funded medical information site has quietly begun to block searches on the word "abortion," concealing nearly 25,000 search results.


The site, called Popline, is claimed to be the world's largest database on reproductive health and is run by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Maryland. It's funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, the federal office in charge of providing foreign aid, including health care funding, to developing nations.

The massive database indexes a broad range of reproductive health literature, including titles like "Previous abortion and the risk of low birth weight and preterm births," and "Abortion in the United States: Incidence and access to services, 2005."

But on Thursday, a search on "abortion" was producing only the message "No records found by latest query,” the Wired magazine reports.

Stephen Goldstein, a spokesman for Johns Hopkins, said he wasn't aware of the censorship, and couldn't immediately comment.

Under a Reagan-era policy revived by President Bush in 2001, USAID denies funding to non-governmental organizations that perform abortions, or that "actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations."

A librarian at the University of California at San Francisco noticed the new censorship on Monday, while carrying out a routine research request on behalf of academics and researchers at the university. The search term had functioned properly as of January.
Puzzled, she contacted the manager of the database, Johns Hopkins' Debbie Dickson, who replied in an April 1st e-mail that the university had recently begun blocking the search term because the database received federal funding.


"We recently made all abortion terms stop words," Dickson wrote in a note to Gloria Won, the UCSF medical center librarian making the inquiry. "As a federally funded project, we decided this was best for now."

There was no notice of the change on the site.

Dickson suggested other kinds of more obscure search strategies and alternative words to get around the keyword blocking.

"In addition to the terms you're already using, you could try using 'Fertility Control, Postconception'. This is the broader term to our 'abortion' terms and most records have both in the keyword fields," she wrote.

She also suggested using a euphemistic search strategy of "unwanted w/2 pregnancy." But the workarounds don't satisfy critics of the censorship.

"The main function of their site is keyword search, and if you use a phrase that contains the word 'abortion,' it ignores it," notes Melissa Just, the library director at the cancer research institute and hospital named City of Hope in Duarte, California. Just followed the conversation on a listserv and said she was outraged when she found out about the censorship incident.

"Even if you were trying to make an argument to someone that abortion is a bad idea for them -- whether it's a health risk, or you're concerned about their mental well being, you wouldn't be able to find articles about your claim," she notes. "It's shutting off both the pro and the con access."

Source-Medindia
GPL/L

Man Murdered for Sexual Abuse in India

A tailor in a suburb of Mumbai in western India has been brutally done to death because he was suspected to have sexually abused a 12-year-old boy.


Mohammed Akbar Sheikh (34) had apparently abused the son of his landlord. When the boy’s family came to know of the incident, they were predictably outraged, and it was they who clubbed the tailor to death. Even the 62-year-old grandmother of the abused boy joined the gory dance of death, it is reported.

The police have since arrested the four accused — the boy’s father Abdul Wahid (37), uncles Salim Sheikh (29) and Abdul Razzak (32) and his grandmother Salma Begum (62).

Siraj Khan, a resident of the area, told the police, “There was a lot of screaming…I saw Sheikh pinned to the wall and assaulted brutally. I appealed to the landlord family to hand over Sheikh to the police and not torture him that way, but they won’t listen. In fact they threatened me that a similar fate could be in store for me if I didn’t mind my business. It was a question of family honour, they maintained and I had to retreat.”

But Siraj too filed the complaint only the next day as he had not expected the tailor to be murdered. He had hoped the man would be let off after the family gave vent to their anger.

It was on discovering the body of the man the next day, he went to the police, the Hindustan Times reports.

“The boy has been sent for a medical examination,” a senior police official said.

Source-Medindia
GPL/L

Broken Heart may Prove More Fatal for Men Than Women

Contrary to popular perception, a new study has found that men are more likely to die of a broken heart than women if they lose their partners.


According to the study, broken heart syndrome' does exist, but widowers are up to six times more likely to suffer than women who have lost their husbands.

Research by the Cass Business School in London, found that women are up to twice as likely to die in the year following a partner's death, reports the Telegraph.

But, men are more vulnerable and their chances of dying increases up to sixfold in the 12 months after losing a partner.

Experts claim that people who lose a loved one often adopt unhealthy habits such as smoking and a poor diet.

However, it is thought intense loneliness and the psychological distress caused by the loss could play a large part.

The research also suggests that after the first year, the chance of the remaining partner dying is reduced.

Source-ANI
RAS/L

The Other Side of MBBS

Great suggestion for our profession By Dr Ashok Sinha

Dear All, One of the most thought provoking artiocles I read recently is reproduced
below. I hope people like it and discuss and forward it to more people including their MP's!


Great suggestion for our profession By Dr Ashok Sinha

The recent controversy regarding the village posting of doctors has put
the medical community on one side and the whole world on the other side. I
remember, 35 years ago, when I was selected for medical college I went to
one of my elderly aunts to seek her blessing. She was not very happy about
the issue, no, she was not jealous, but she expressed her anxiety very
eloquently. "You are such a nice boy, but now you'll become a bad man".
That, I think, sums up the attitude of the society towards the doctors.

The problem possibly lies with the doctors. They work for money, they do
not bother about the society, they can kill female fetuses for a few bucks
more, and they can refuse treatment for want of money; they are not
up-to-date with knowledge, they do unnecessary tests to get a share of the
booty. Most of the complaints are probably true. I have seen
ultra-sonologists giving shamelessly false report to assist another
shameless gynecologist in going for an unnecessary surgery, and I have seen
many more un-parliamentary linen that I should not wash in public. All are
true and more.

My worry is about the ways the society is trying to go about solving the
problem. The society is trying to find a solution without assistance from
doctors. It was the same when the consumer protection act came. Most of the
sane doctors protested, some insane ones also did. No one listened to us. I
remember having told one gathering of legal experts, that they were putting
the patients from the frying pan to fire; from doctors clutches to lawyers.
I asked them, why did they want consumer protection act for the medical
community, to improve services or getting compensation, or did they want
just to teach a lesson! I assured them none of these would be possible.
People refuse to learn from history. Has the road accident compensation
policy improved the quality of drivers? It has only raised the insurance
rates and probably helped the family of the dead. If consumer protection act
implementation for medical community was intended for compensation, it was
good, but if it was meant to improve services, it was useless. People gave
us funny looks, thought we were `so bad'.

Now the great thinkers of the nation are again at it. They want doctors to
go to villages, and because the anti-social doctors do not want to go to
villages, they'll have to be forced. I am surprised at the cerebral quality
of the people who rake up such ideas. Has any one tried to find out why
doctors are not interested in going to the villages! Is it only money! By
the way, one of the lowest paid employees in India is a junior doctor. As a
junior doctor I was paid a princely sum of Rs. 225/- PM, while the ward
> boys were paid Rs 400/-. Their duty was 8 hrs, mine 24 hrs; they had one
> weekly holiday, I had none. They had time for lunch; I did not. I survived
> because the `sisters' were real sisters; I shared their food. If the
> barber failed to turn up, I had to `prepare' the patient for surgery; the
> ward boy would not even have a nightmare of doing it. If the ward boy were
> absent I had to `ensure' that the
patient reached the OT on time, riding on the trolley, guess who pushed it
through the corridors of the hospital! But I tell you; I enjoyed my stay as
a house surgeon. I am still proud of what I did. Because that was when I
learned. That was what prepared me for the future. That is where I learnt
how to give a painless suture, how to tackle a violent patient, how to
tackle grief. I do not think a Lal Bahadur Institute trained babu will ever
understand that, they do not have the training.
Look at the position of medical education today. MBBS is a five and a half
years course. Already the longest course in the country. But an MBBS degree
is truly nothing today. At one time an MBBS degree was equivalent to an M Sc
degree. One could become a lecturer after MBBS, could do a Ph D, or D Sc
after MBBS. But no more, now MBBS is equivalent to B Sc. MD was a doctoral
degree, Doctor of Medicine, now a postgraduate degree, a three years
postgraduate degree. A two years postgraduate diploma is not equivalent to M
Sc. Even the MCI is trying its best to degrade the status of medical
degrees.
I invite the society to understand the problem first. Force should come as
the last option, not the first. Today an MBBS degree holder is a pariah in
society, to be accepted by the people he has to have a postgraduate
qualification. `Only MBBS', or `simple MBBS', or worse `plain MBBS' are
terms we hear often, but do not understand the agony of it all. MBBS
entrance is one of the toughest in the country, but let me introduce you to
a tougher entrance, the PG entrance. The number of seats for PG is one third
of the total MBBS seats, so in any case two thirds of the MBBS shall remain
`plain and simple'. This cutthroat competition has prompted the students to
treat MBBS degree as a qualifying benchmark for PG entrance tests. They
prepare for the test rather than trying to become doctors. This one entrance
test would make or break their career. It is better to be a simple B Sc then
to remain a simple MBBS. There are instances where MBBS students are paying
smaller hospitals to get internship certificate without going to the
hospital so that they can utilize the time studying. What is the result?
They do not become a `doctor' after MBBS; they remain students. One third of
them get into PG, two- thirds fail. No, not because they are stupid, because
the know-all government has put a rationing in the number of seats for PG.
Imagine the fate of these students, they are plain MBBS, did not spend time
learning during internship, now they are out in the open, no respect, no
knowledge, official quacks. This is the most serious wastage of trained
manpower the country is facing today, all because of our policy makers.

Who is responsible? There was one know-all TV talk show, which said if you
cannot become a doctor in five years, you could never be. So cerebral! These
are the people who control the society, God help us. One does not become a
`doctor' immediately after passing MBBS; it takes at least 2-3 yrs of
fulltime work under supervision to be able to work independently. That was
what house jobs were. Earlier house jobs were compulsory before MD entrance.
After 2 house jobs if one did not get in to PG one could still practice. Now
house job has no PG entrance value. Practicing medicine without a House job
does not prepare a doctor well.

Is there a solution to the problems in villages? It is there, if our great
parliamentarians bother to listen to us. By the way I have a few more
proposals. I want to make it compulsory for the parliamentarians to stay in
a village for one year as MP and fulfill all promises made during election
campaign otherwise their Membership would be cancelled. Make it compulsory
for IIM graduates to stay in a village for one year to work for betterment
of rural finances, before they get their degree. I want High Court judges to
stay in villages at least 2 months a year to help solve the pending cases in
the villages to be eligible for promotion to Supreme Court. I want the IAS
officer to be posted in a village for one year before they are confirmed in
their jobs.They can all stay in the excellent accomodation provided in the
villages for the doctors. Sounds funny?

Who started the jokes!

Here is what I suggest.

The entire medical course needs to be revamped. Instead of hundreds of
confusing degrees there should be one degree, MD. It should be a nine years
integrated course, equivalent in status to a Ph D. All students, after four
years, would get a provisional registration to work as doctors under
supervision. They would select their specialty at this juncture, depending
on the merit and other government policies of the time. Even a surgeon would
be MD. All the diploma courses would be abolished. There would be
specialties in family practice, clinical medicine, hospital based
internists, surgeons, ophthalmologists, and all other specialties that we
have today.
One year out of this course will be a village posting where they can learn
the problems of the villages and unlearn some hi-tech solutions to simple
problems. There would never be a shortfall of doctors in villages, happy
doctors and not frustrated ones. I do not think there would even be a murmur
of protest from anywhere. No forcible "Cultural Revolutionary" tactics would
be needed. The GPs that we get would be trained ones, not untrained ones as
we get now.

How does a patient differentiate between a physician MD and a general
practitioner MD. The same way they do now, between MDs in Medicine,
pharmacology, biochemistry and pathology. In any case, government can
recognize certain associations, memberships of which can be made compulsory.
(For example, MD, Member of Indian College of Pharmacology, or MD Indian
College of Surgeons.). This way every doctor that comes out of the college
would have some special skills, and have worked independently for at the
least 4 years before being released to the society. There is no wastage of
doctors as `simple MBBS'. The super-specialties should be limited to a few,
the brightest> ones. There should be no further confusing degree like M Ch,
DM. The super-specialists would be offered fellowships of the college, e.g.
MD, Fellow of the Indian College of Cardiac Surgeons, equivalent to
postdoctoral degree, D Sc.

By the way this does not solve the problem of the bad guys in the
profession as mentioned in paragraph two of this article. I'll share a
bitter truth with you. The patients are as much responsible for this
situation as the doctors. The ratio of good doctors and bad doctors is
exactly the same as the ratio of good guys and bad guys in the society, not
more, not less. There is something very wrong in the way patients select
their doctors. Name and fame does not depend on skill, knowledge and
sincerity. Sound business tactics, sometimes not so ethical, makes one
doctor more popular than the other. This article is aimed at sensible people
who want a solution, not revenge. The next doctor could be your son; the
next patient could be your son.

Dr Ashok Sinha could be reached at ashokagt2@yahoo. com
79 Tilla, Kunjavan, Agartala, Tripura.