Health

According to the plan, a new academic building will be set up. The hospital will get a new building for the outdoor section. The existing outdoor building will be upgraded to a nine-storied super-speciality structure. The entire project will be completed in two years.

Replying to another question, the minister said that the state government was trying to set up more hospitals in rural as well as the urban areas.

The proposal will be sent to the additional commissioner of Kolkata police, Mr K. Harirajan, within a week.

Dr Kamal Dutta, chairman and managing director of Ruby General Hospital, said: " Around 96 road accident victims are admitted to our hospital every month. If we can train these officers properly then they will be able administer preliminary medical care even before the victim is admitted to a hospital."

Experts are of the opinion that a road accident victim is admitted to a hospital almost an hour after the accident. If preliminary medical aid is administered earlier then the chances of survival will increase. "A first aid box will be given to each of the traffic sergeants and also kept in the vehicles used for patrolling." Mr Dutta added.

Experts claimed that the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass is the highest speed zone in the south periphery with 60 percent of road accidents occurring at this juncture.

This initiative could help the road accident victims to receive their first aid before they are admitted to a hospital.

The campaign aims to bring down chronic ailments like heart disease, diabetes, cancers and stroke, which caused 53% of deaths in India in 2005.

Set up by the health ministry and the Public Health Fotmdation of India, the sites - www.healthy-india.org and www.foodpyramidindia.org - possib1y give the best nutritional advice based on the traditional lndian diet.

"Cancers apart, major risk factors for other diseases are high blood pressure, high cholesterol, not eating enough fresh fruits and vegetables, obesity and tobacco use. Five of these risk factors are caused by unhealthy diets and being physically inactive, which we hope to change through the campaign," says Health Minister An- bumani Ramadoss. "A third of all cancers, too, can be prevented by eating healthy and staying active."

Diet advice apart, foodpyramidindia.org has a calorie calculator to figure out how many calories your body needs - based on your age, height and activity level. It also categorises 'physical activity' as moderate or vigorous, in addition to a daily routine like walking, climbing stairs, doing household chores or playing outdoor games.

Built at a budget of Rs. 12 lakh under the DOTS (directly observed treatment, short-course) Plus programme of the Union Ministry's Health and Family Welfare, central TB division, the laboratory will conduct sputum test of those patients who fail to respond within five months to the three to five drug regime of the DOTS programme.

The laboratory is coming up at the city's B.C. Roy Hospital for Polio and Crippled Children while a treatment centre for MDR TB patients is being set up at the city's K.S.Ray TB Hospital. "We plan to treat 50 MDR TB patients in the first year, according to the Government of India guideline, but the number will increase to 100 by the next year," said Dr. Sanchita Bakshi, state director of the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme

Coming down heavily on private hospitals, a Bench of Justices Tarun Chatterjee and H.S. Bedi said: "We are also conscious of the large-scale misuse of the medical equipment imported under the exemption notification... it is essential that the authorities regulatory monitor the use of the equipment."

These observations were made on a petition filed by Andromeda Foundation India Pvt Ltd, which challenged the Andhra Pradesh High Court's judgement that held the company was liable to pay customs duty on the imported equipment.

While upholding the high court ruling, the apex court said it was incumbent on Andromeda to follow the guidelines designed to ensure that the medical equipment imported at concession terms was being properly utilised.

The private hospital had imported equipment for the purpose of conducting diagnostic tests and treatment of patients with specific andrological problems in view of the Central government notification dated March 1, 1988, that exempted importers from customs duty on equipment imported for specified purposes.

However, the director, Medical Education of Andhra Pradesh, had inspected Andromeda and submitted in its report to secretary to the government, Health, Medical and Family Welfare Department, Andhra Pradesh, that the private hospital was not providing free services to poor patients in accordance with the terms of exemption in the notification. The government had slapped a notice for recovery of customs duty on the equipment imported by the hospital.

The state health department has decided to initiate the liver transplantation from SSKM Hospital, state's premiere health care establishment. The department has started installing required infrastructure at the institute of liver diseases of the hospital to make the plan successful. Most of the required infrastructure have already been installed and the rest would be installed soon, the hospital authorities said.

"We will send a doctor from the Institute of Liver Diseases to get the required training in Mumbai where liver transplantation is being performed for the past few years," the director of Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research at SSKM Hospital, Dr PK Deb, said.

Other steps include designated courts to hear cases against violators of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, appointing special public prosecutors to file cases against the guilty, and sensitizing the judiciary to ensure faster conviction rates.

MTNL has granted the health ministry a toll-free number -- 1800110500 -- that will be managed by a call centre. Once a complaint is received, the call centre will forward the information to the state concerned, which will conduct raids assisted by the National Monitoring Cell, conduct probes and prepare the case against culprits.

The ministry is planning a graded punishment system that will involve a jail term of three months to three years for the guilty. The financial penalty of Rs 10,000-1 lakh now is to be enhanced to Rs 3-7 lakh. A ministry website launched on Monday makes it mandatory for all ultrasound clinics to fill up their Form online.

'Our research showed 250,000 GPs in India neither have a post-graduate diploma nor are they aware of modern methodologies in the medical field. As a result excessive referral cases are making treatment expensive for even common diseases.

To bridge this gap we have started this two-year distance education programme with a motto  'refer less, revolve more',' CMC associate director Atanu Jana told IANS on the sidelines of a press meet here on Saturday on the launch of the course.

The course has already started in Delhi, Bangalore, Oddanchatram and Vellore in 2007.

Being launched by an NRI businessman, KPC is a stark contrast to the shabby, dilapidated buildings and the dank, smelly classrooms of the state medical colleges. With its glass exteriors, airy corridors, huge laboratories and a sprawling 350-bed hospital, it truly stands out. It will also be the first medical college in the state to admit foreign students. For overseas students, there would be airconditioned hostels. The college is going to have teachers from the US visiting on a regular basis.

KPC has come up on the century-old KS Roy TB hospital complex, which lay defunct for many years. The state government handed over the land to the college authority following an MOU in 2004. A litigation, however, came in the way of the deal and it was only in 2006 that the college authorities could start work. The TB hospital, where poet Sukanta Bhattacharjee died, has been kept intact.

Once the medical college starts, KPC will be converted into a fullfledged university with 31 colleges for different disciplines. The new university will spread across an area of 11 lakh sq feet and will eventually grow to 54 lakh sq ft. An agricultural university at Sonarpur is on the anvil and land has already been acquired for it.

A green signal from the Medical Council of India is expected by June and admission to the MBBS course will begin this year.

Officials of STM said the clinic's out patient department (OPD) has been hit hard owing to absence of any specialist. The OPD is in such since the noted malaria specialist, Dr Amitava Nandi, has retired from the STM in February. Now, only a few para-medical persons are attending patients in the outdoor. As a result, patients visiting the unit after being referred here are being denied of proper treatment, said officials.

It has plans to set up hospitals in two other towns in West Bengal Siliguri and Rajarhat chief operations officer Suyash Borar said here on Thursday.

The state health and family welfare department has proposed that the West Bengal Health Scheme, 2008 may be extended to ministers, ministers of state, chairmen and members of regulatory commission also.

The scheme would be optional and employees would have to pay Rs 1200 annually for full coverage for himself and his family members in state government hospitals, private hospitals and private diagnostic laboratories up to Rs 50,00 for indoor patients and up to Rs 5,000 in case of outdoor patients. Incidentally, earlier, the process of medical reimbursement particularly in cases of medical expenses like medicines was "cumbersome and time-consuming." The state finance minister had mentioned the scheme in this year's budget as well.

Under the banner of the Sishu and Matri Kalyan Kendra, the health centre was inaugurated with much fanfare few years back, but doctors and nurses seldom attended the centre, locals alleged. Though children are administered BCG, polio drops and medicines for diarrhoea, locals say that they are in the dark about when the health centre opens and closes.

What is more shocking is the fact that three to four women who have no experience in nursing, have been employed to taken care of newborns.

These women, locals allege often administer injections for water-borne diseases to the children.

A visit to the place revealed the construction of a building in progress by a local club on the first floor of the health centre. Although the construction is illegal, the club has somehow managed to get a valid registration number. As the health centre remains locked most of the time, the local youths use the place for playing cards, carrom and watching television in the evening.

When contacted a senior official of the Rajpur Sonarpur Municipality feigned ignorance.

"I am shocked to learn this. I am looking into the matter and appropriate measures will taken very soon," he assured.

"We are in the process of finalising an agreement with Vaidya Sala and our expectation is to seal the deal in a month,"said Rupak Barua, chief operating officer.

"We are providing the infrastructure, including 1000 square feet space, worth Rs 20 lakh, and Vaidya Sala will provide with two doctors here for the treatment," said Barua on the sidelines of a press meet to celebrate the World Health Day in association with the Kolkata Police.

"In accordance to this year's theme of protecting health from climate changes, we have selected Kolkata Police traffic constables to give free pulmonary function test since they are directly exposed to various climatic changes for long hours," Barua told reporters.

CMRI will provide the pulmonary function test of around 2000 constables within this month, said Barua. "Today, about 120 constables are undergoing this test," he said.

Speaking at the inugural programme, Satyajit Bose, eminent cardiac surgeon and chairman of The Mission Hospital, said the Rs 60-crore hospital will have pneumatic chute system for auto transfer of blood. Very few hospitals in the country are equipped with this facility.

“It will also have threephase hepa filter with laminar air flow in operating theatres, which will reduce the chances of infection to zero,” he added.

Arunanasu Ganguly, vicechairman of the hospital, said outside Kolkata, no other hospital in Eastern India has such experienced doctors and hitech equipment.