Madras Medical College (MMC) has been ranked first in the number of patients treated under the chief minister’s comprehensive health insurance scheme. A total of 691 private hospitals and 120 government hospitals participated in the scheme, which was launched on January 11, 2012.
As many as 35,000 patients were treated under scheme at five hospitals attached to Madras Medical College. The hospitals earned a total of Rs 53 crore during the period, a release fromMMC said. The five hospitals attached to MMC are Government General Hospital , Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children, Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Government Hospital for Women and Children, Government Kasturba Gandhi Hospital for Women and Children and Regional Institute of Ophthalmology and Government Ophthalmic Hospital.
Under the scheme, the sum assured for each family is Rs 1 lakh every year for a period of four years. The scheme covers 1,016 procedures, 113 follow-up procedures and 23 diagnostic procedures. The cost of the tests required for treatment is also a part of the insurance cover.
Any family whose annual income was Rs 72,000 or less, members of unorganized labour welfare boards, and, the spouse, children and dependent parents of such members in urban and rural areas are eligible for the scheme.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai> Madras Medical College / by Manish Raj, TNN / July 18th, 2013
A R Rahman is a spiritual man. That’s probably why he rushed his staff to get their brand new premises of the KM College of Music up and running on Eid. The landscaping may not be perfect, going by the patches of grass on the lawn, the interiors may need a little more touching up and the location (on a rather bumpy gulley off 100 feet road) isn’t exactly posh, but the ‘Mozart of Madras’ is upbeat as he arrives at his new college. “Inshallah, it will all go off well,” he tells his wife Saira as he awaits the arrival of India’s industrial power couple Nita and Mukesh Ambani — the ‘under-wraps’ guests of honour for Rahman’s college opening. With a host of Hollywood and local films to score music for, Rahman took time to reflect on the journey that his ‘pet project’ has taken from a single room KM Music Conservatory, opposite his house, to this magnificent campus. Notes from the maestro’s mind:
How did this project come to be?
I’ve always been interested in music education, because there is this distance between what people in the music industry need and what is being taught. That was the vision behind KM Conservatory. Some time ago, the students staged a full-fledged musical and they managed a spectacular show with such a small rehearsal space on the old campus. I began to think that we could do a lot more with a larger space and that is how this unfolded. We can comfortably teach about 300 students here.
So, It’s a dream come true?
(Laughs) Everything is. This morning when I came here to see how things were going, I was astonished to hear western classical being practised in one room, while sufi music was coming from the floor above…there were so many musical confluences from all around, it finally made sense. There is room for experimentation and growth here, for every talented musician.
Is it financially viable to run such a top-of-the-line school of music?
Honestly, (clears his throat) it’s like I’ve got a knife to my neck when I think about the amount of work and money that we have pumped in. Like everything else, we’ll just have to wait and see. We have a superb studio here that will be rented commercially at night, so that ought to help!
Do you have partners or a franchisee model in mind. Reliance could be interested in this as a brand…
Not at the moment, no. I can say that things are comfortable at the moment and I am able to finance this institute without worry. When I figure out how much it takes to run things here, then I will think about whether we need partnership or any other support. I’ll know in a month’s time.
Do you see KM being in the league of a Berkeley or Julliard School of Music?
I’ve always felt that KM as a concept is in a different direction. Where Julliard and Berkeley have specified directions for where they see their students, we have always had a mix of musical styles – essentially we are Indian at the heart of it, but there is room and space for any kind of world music to play its part. We’re also trying to teach people how to adapt to the needs of any music industry and not just a theoretical one. We have the option of students doing an internship anywhere and even doing commercial work while they’re studying.
Has the attitude towards music education changed since you started KM in 2008?
Not much, but I’d like to think that we have made a difference somewhere. In India, there is this strange attitude that people have where even musician’s have towards their children taking up IT jobs – abroad, people are proud to say that their kids play for the Boston Chamber Orchestra or study at Julliard, but that’s not the case here. I wanted to change that. These days, music is limited only to cinema, cinema and cinema. I wanted to create an interest among people who wanted to make music and help them get to where they wanted to be – successful musicians, whether for music sake, for personal satisfaction or even to play in the industry.
So it’s about recognition of talent for you?
Right now it’s (industry) all about popularity. Things have changed to a small extent where small bands put stuff up on Youtube and if it’s good, it becomes a sensation. If it doesn’t, it just fades. But there is a lot of good stuff and talent out there that needs to be nurtured and we hope to bridge that gap.
Making music without knowing the industry must be tough
It’s a strange thing, but I’ve found that sometimes people with the best talent have dropped off by the industry very early, like the initial rounds of a reality show. Some musicians and singers may be really talented and technically good, but they get knocked out by the commercial aspects and others who aren’t quite talented make it. This needs to change.
You’ve been away from Tamil films for awhile and now you’re returning. Was it a planned hiatus?
Here’s the thing – Hollywood projects come calling only once and you really have to grab on to those opportunities. The good thing about most of those projects is that they take time and allow me a certain space to work. Setting up this kind of an institute could not have been possible without that kind of space or ‘resources’.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Entertainment> Interview / by Daniel Thimmayya / ENS – Chennai / August 10th, 2013
Renowned surgical gastroenterologist, Prof N. Rangabashyam, 79, passed away in his sleep on Sunday morning.
His last rites were performed the same evening at Besant Nagar crematorium. Prof Rangabashyam is survived by his wife, son and daughter.
Former head of the department of surgical gastroenterology and proctology and clinical professor of surgery, Madras Medical College, and GGH, Prof Rangabashyam was the first to start a separate department for surgical gastroenterology and again the first to start a specialisation in surgical gastroenterology, M.Ch. degree course in India.
Recalling his association with Prof Rangabahsyam from 1985-1991 at GH, the present head of department of surgical gastroenterology, Dr S.M. Chandramohan, said Rangabashyam was a visionary and a doctor with commitment.
“I’m sitting in the department that he started. He wanted healthcare of our country on a par with other countries and worked towards it. Rangabashyam was the one to start M.Ch degree and the course has produced many eminent doctors,” he said.
A student of Rangabashyam and at present the transplant coordinator of state cadaver transplant programme, Dr J. Amalopavanathan, said he was a go-getter. Prof Rangabashyam was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2002, and won the prestigious Dr B C Roy national award twice.
A.C Muthaiah, former president of FICCI and BCCI, condoled the death of Dr Rangabashyam saying that India has lost an eminent surgical gastroenterologist.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> News> Current Affairs / by DC / July 15th, 2013
A stream of visitors thronged the KudalNagar station, near Madurai junction, on Thursday to explore a special train that is circling the country to promote awareness on science and biodiversity. Aptly named Science Express Biodiversity Special (SEBS), it reached Maduraiafter a four-day stay at Trichy junction.
The 16-coach train showcases the rich biodiversity of the country with each coach displaying in detail the different biodiversity zones of the country. The train also displays other facets of biodiversity and its impact on livelihoods of the people in specific regions.
The SEBS was inaugurated at Kudal Nagar station by V Ajithkumar, additional railway divisional manager, in the presence of railway officials. By afternoon students from more than ten schools visited the train, SEBS project staff said. “The response is very good and school students are the majority. We expect more people on the coming days as next three days are holidays,” commented Divya Pande, a project staff. “Comparatively, the response in south India is overwhelming. For instance, we had 57,000 visitors in a single day at Vizakapatanam, while the average visitor count for four days at a north Indian station is around 50,000,” she said.
“The exhibition train is very informative and the volunteers are explaining the concepts very well,” said D Dhya neswaran, a class 6 student of Equitas Gurukul Matriculation School in Dindigul. Students from government schools were also present for the event. The eager students from government high school, Valayankulam were seen jotting the information they had gleaned from the exhibts. “Our teachers brought us to have a look and we are very thrilled,” commented Roobarani, another school student.
The visitors, including students, had a tough time reaching the station as they had to negotiate the uneven road without proper metal tops. The access roads are poor and moreover the entry is confusing, said a school teacher from Valayankulam government school. The school vans have to navigate a dirt road nearby the Kudalpudur bridge to reach the station. It will be good if the railway authorities construct proper roads since many of the exhibition trains are stationed at Kudal Nagar regularly, the visitors said.
When contacted ADRM, V Ajithkumar said that the proposal to improve the roads is on anvil since the station was declared as Adarsh station recently. “We are working on the proposal and the station will be provided more facilities including roads in future,” he said.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai> Government School / by TNN / August 09th, 2013
The 80-yearold structure is in such bad shape that it is at risk of collapsing. The Corporation is now building a fence around it to prevent visitors from getting too close — Photo: M. Karunakaran / The Hindu
The KAJ Schmidt Memorial on Elliot’s Beach is now in such bad shape that visitors are being protected from it.
The Chennai Corporation has begun constructing a fence around the memorial, to prevent beach-goers from getting close to it.
“The structure is in bad shape. There is a huge risk of its collapsing completely. So we don’t want any visitors getting too close to it. The safety of beach-goers is our priority,” said a Corporation official.
An estimated 20,000 visitors flock to Elliot’s Beach in Besant Nagar every day.
Work on the fencing started this week and will be completed next week, the official said. The project will cost approximately Rs. 4 lakh.
The civic body has also floated bids for restoration of the structure at a cost of Rs. 20 lakh. The restoration will only be carried out by sculptors experienced in lime mortar construction. The sculptors are expected to be from areas in the delta region. This work too, is expected to start shortly.
“The memorial is an important structure on the beach. I have seen it ever since I was a child. It is in terrible shape now. The government’s efforts to restore it will bring back several memories that many in the city cherish. But they should not tamper with the original structure,” said Srinivasan, a 70-year-old resident of Besant Nagar.
Saravanan, another resident of the area said the lack of adequate toilets in Besant Nagar was one reason many people used the area near the memorial for defecation at dawn.
The KAJ Schmidt Memorial bears a plaque that dates it to December 30, 1930. It was built to commemorate the gallantry of Schmidt, a European sailor, who drowned near the spot trying to save others from drowning.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Staff Reporter / Chennai – August 04th, 2013
Students of S.S.Jain College in T.Nagar celebrate Friendship Day on the campus on Saturday. — DC
Chennai:
Has the era of social networking sites and WhatsApp robbed Friendship Day of the personal element?
While psychologists believe it has, they also feel the change is inevitable in the world as we know it today.
“Be it teenagers or their parents, everyone has a smart phone now. All they do is text or click on chat to wish their friends. While there’s nothing wrong with that, its not the same as a meeting in person,” they note .
“Kids keep texting on WhatsApp and chatting. Living with gadgets, children don’t have time to socialize. One-on-communication is definitely better,” says Dr Anjana Thadhani, consultant developmental paediatrician, advising parents to communicate with their children and get them to do more in the real world rather than in the virtual.
But Rajani Nandakumar, a psychological counsellor, believes there’s nothing wrong with having a social life in the virtual world.
“Today youngsters are always occupied with work and social networking sites allow them to stay connected with friends. We have to understand this virtual world and the friendships that they nurture,” she suggests, while acknowledging that this does deprive some of the pleasure of actually meeting friends.
But with popularity being a huge yardstick with most youngsters, the Friendship Day chorus on the Net is unlikely to ease.
“It’s easy to tag all your friends and wish them, instead of meeting each one in person,” reasons Amrita Ranganathan, a college student, echoing the sentiments of many of her generation.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> News> Current Affairs / by Uma Kannan, DC / August 04th, 2013
Cycling Yogis have been active on their heritage cycling tours for almost two years now and on Sunday, about 30 of them teamed up with the Madras Week Celebrations to ride through various historical and heritage sites of the Tamil capital.
“This is the second consecutive year that we are on this heritage ride as part of the Madras Week celebrations of this 374th birthday of our great city. It was a ride into history”, said Moulana Ramanujar of Cycling Yogis.
Starting shortly after five in the morning, the helmeted cyclists of different generations rode from the Madras university’s institute of distance education to the high court plaque at the site where the shell from the German cruiser ‘Emden’ took away a part of the wall on the night of September 22 1914, and from there on through quite a few heritage soaked places before ending the adrenalin trip at the Parsi Anjuman in Royapuram that houses a 100-year-old building near which stands the Parsi Fire Temple called Dar-e-Mehar, built 1910.
Close to the Emden spot is the Obelisk adjoining the Dare House (Parry’s Corner) that mentions the ‘Boundary of Esplanade’ as on January 1, 1773.
“I felt a lump in my throat looking at that board and knowing that was the border dividing the then Madras into two parts, the northern one for the whites and the south for the locals. I was transported to that era, even felt the choking pain of not being able to enter a part of my own country because I am not white”, said Sunderarajan, recalling the dawn of time moments.
He said the visit to the cupola of Lord Cornwallis in front of the collector’s office—his statue had been removed to the museum as they said he was a harsh ruler—showed how dirtily we preserved our historical sites.
“In most other parts of the world, history is preserved so well; not here”. And the halt at the Royapuram rail station—the oldest in India that became functional in June 1856 as gateway to the city and hit its pinnacle when Prince of Wales Edward VII visited it on December 17, 1875—showed just the other side of Englishman who had kept the natives off his north Madras.
“The rail station showed that there was some white man even at that time who took the initiative to create a transport system that grew into the most significant public facility”, said Sunderarajan.
“I felt good seeing the oldest rail station”, gushed Hussain Surti, 12, who had gone on his bicycle, with mom Zainab on her cycle. “It was great knowing that my city has so many historic places”, said the grade seven student of Hari Shree Vidyalaya, RA Puram.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> News> Current Affairs / Tuesday – August 19th, 2013
Devi attending to one of her customers in her saloon in Tirupur district.— DC
Chennai:
“School mate Yasodha is my only friend. Nobody ever wants to be friends with me because I am doing a man’s job running this hair-cutting saloon.
Even my close relatives do not talk to me because I am forced to touch men while cutting their hair or shaving. But I don’t care”.
That’s Thangavel Devi, 30, who has been waging a battle of sexes for the last five years, fighting for space in what has been all along considered a male preserve.
There are any number of women hairdressers but most of them work in urban and semi-urban areas and they attend to only women customers.
Devi, who has done a degree in commerce but could not get a decent job, set up her own saloon at Palladam (Tirupur district), taking after her family trade.
Her father Thangavel is sick and has incurred big debts, so Devi slogs with scissors and blades on her male customers.
She also attends to a tougher facet of her traditional trade as ‘kudimagan’—attending to calls from bereaved families to clean up the dead body for preparing it for the last rites.
She gets Rs 1,500 per body as her fee and does not bother about the raised eyebrows around.
“I earn about Rs 250 averaging two-three cuttings and five-six shavings a day, a little more on Sundays. I also work at a nearby finance company as a bill clerk for a monthly salary of Rs 5,000.
I don’t have holidays because I need every rupee that comes my way to pay up the loan of a little over Rs 1 lakh taken by my father for his medical treatment”, said Devi, throwing light on her hard life in taking care of the family.
“I have two main goals in life — clearing our loans and fulfilling the dream of my brother, now in ninth class, to become a computer engineer”.
It is not just the physical hard labour that Devi must endure; there is also much mental trauma as almost the entire society around her boycotts her because of her odd career.
“Particularly, the women hate me because of my bold venture, but I need the money to save my family from starvation”, said Devi. When asked about her marriage plans, she shot back: “That will have to wait. Besides, it will be tough finding a man who will accept me the way I am”.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> News> Current Affairs / by S. Thirunavukarasu / August 19th, 2013
Well-known Periyarist and psychotherapist Abdullha Periyardasan (64) passed away on Monday. As per his wishes, his family donated his eyes and his body to students of Madras Medical College.
A multi-faceted personality, Periyardasan was known for interpreting Periyar’s rationalist philosophy in simple terms for the common man. He acted in Tamil film Karuthamma which won a national award.
Periyardasan had climbed his way up from a middleclass family at Perambur in Chennai, studied in RBCCC School and got degrees in Tamil literature, history and philosophy from Pachaiyappa’s College. He did his Ph.D. in philosophy at Oxford University.
After his studies, he joined Pachaiyappa’s College as lecturer and continued to work for 34 years. Even after his retirement, he worked as visiting faculty. He impressed upon his family members to donate his body to medical students.
The general secretary of Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam, Kovai, Ramakrishnan, said Periyarism, Ambedkarism, Communism and Buddhism were Periyardasan’s forte.
“He spread rationalist thoughts with his hilarious speeches and educated the masses. He had addressed over 1,000 meetings in his lifetime carrying Periyar’s messages to the public,” he said. He added, “Born as a Hindu, he became an atheist in his teens influenced by Periyar but then he switched to Buddhism and later in his life, he went to Mecca and converted into a Muslim in 2010,” he said.
He wrote over 50 books, including a translation of Ambedkar’s last book. His son Valavan, a child rights activist, said Periyardasan was among the four persons invited by the world religion conference in 1983 and he talked on Buddhism. He is survived by wife Vasantha and two sons Valavan and Suradha.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> News> Current Affairs / by Pramila Krishnan, DC / Tuesday – August 21st, 2013
The mela will be on theme ‘banana fruit care’ beginning from August 21 in Tiruchi./ FILE PHOTO: M. MOORHTY / The Hindu
A release of compilation of research achievements over the last two decades and an exhibition on latest technologies used in banana production will mark banana kisan mela to be organised by National Research Centre for Banana (NRCB) on its premises near the city on August 21.
The mela will be on the theme ‘banana fruit care’. There is an acute need to improve stakeholders’ awareness on fruit care, which includes better production technology, post-harvest handling, storage, value chain management, and consumer satisfaction. It is these endeavours that underpin the mela, a press release from M.M.Mustaffa, Director of NRCB, issued here on Monday said.
The exhibition will showcase technologies for banana fruit care, banana production, quality tissue culture plants, value-added products , inputs for banana cultivation, and management of pests and diseases. The scientists would deliver talks on banana fruit care that includes pre and post harvest practices for better shelf life of banana fruit, marketability, and profitability.
They would also demonstrate in-house technologies for fruit care developed at the processing lab by NRCB.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Tiruchirapalli / by Special Correspondent / Tiruchi – August 20th, 2013
