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Wednesday, January 31, 2007

TNPG Courses 2007-2008 Admission

From http://www.tnhealth.org/notification/tnpg0708noti.htm

GOVERNMENT OF TAMIL NADU

MEDICAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

NOTIFICATION

ADMISSION TO POST GRADUATE DEGREE / DIPLOMA / 5 YEAR M.Ch.(NEURO-SURGERY) AND MDS COURSES IN TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT / SELF-FINANCING MEDICAL AND DENTAL COLLEGES FOR 2007-2008 SESSION

  1. Application forms for the above courses will be available from 31-1-2007 to 9-2-2007 (upto 3.00 P.M.) from the Deans of the following Government Medical / Dental Colleges on a written request in person or by post with a crossed Demand Draft for Rs.1,250/- (Rupees One thousand and two hundred and fifty only) drawn in favour of The Secretary, Selection Committee, Chennai-600 010 and DATED NOT EARLIER THAN 29-1-2007 from any Branch of a NATIONALISED BANK, payable at CHENNAI. SC/ST Candidates are exempted from payment of fees for the application form and they should produce attested xerox copy of the community certificate while collecting the application form.

1. Madras Medical College, Chennai-3.

2. Stanley Medical College, Chennai-1.

3. Kilpauk Medical College, Chennai-10.

4. Chengalpattu Medical College, Chengalpattu-1.

5. Madurai Medical College, Madurai-20.

6. Thanjavur Medical College, Thanjavur-4.

7. Coimbatore Medical College, Coimbatore-14.

8. Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College, Salem-30.

9. Tirunelveli Medical College, Tirunelveli-11.

10.K.A.P. Viswanatham Govt. Medical College, Tiruchirapalli-17.

11.Thoothukudi Medical College, Thoothukudi-8.

12.Kanyakumari Govt. Medical College, Nagercoil.

13.Vellore Govt. Medical College, Vellore.

14.Theni Govt. Medical College, Theni.

15.Tamil Nadu Government Dental College and Hospital, Chennai-3.

  1. Requisition by Post should be addressed to the Deans / Principal of the Government Medical / Dental Colleges only, duly enclosing Postal Stamps to the value of Rs.60/- (Rupees Sixty Only) SEPARATELY FOR POSTAL CHARGES, besides a crossed Demand Draft for Rs.1,250/- (Rupees One thousand two hundred and fifty only) towards Application Form Fee drawn in favour of The Secretary, Selection Committee, Kilpauk, Chennai-600 010 payable at Chennai by Demand Draft dated not earlier than 29-1-2007. SC / ST candidates should enclose the attested xerox copy of the community certificate and Postal Stamps to the value of Rs.60/- (Rupees Sixty only) towards the cost of postages along with their request for free application. No application will be available at Selection Committee Office.

3. a) The candidate should be a citizen of India and should have undergone MBBS / BDS

courses in the State of Tamil Nadu.

b) Candidates of Tamil Nadu Nativity who have completed MBBS/BDS in other States

shall furnish a Certificate of Nativity in Tamilnadu issued by a Competent authority

in the Format annexed to the Application Form.

4. Service candidates who have not completed three years of continuous service as on 31-03-2007 are not eligible to apply.

5. a) The candidates who joined Post Graduate Degree / Diploma / 5Years M.Ch. (Neuro Surgery) / MDS Courses in any discipline and discontinued the courses on any grounds after the cut off date fixed by the Medical Council of India are eligible to apply only after a period of 2 years from the date of discontinuance of the course.

6. a) Candidates (Private/Service) who possess a Postgraduate Degree are not eligible to apply for admission to any other Post Graduate Degree or Diploma Courses.

b) The candidate (Private/Service) who is a Diploma holder is not eligible to apply for another Diploma course but can apply for any Post Graduate Degree course.

7. BDS GRADUATES SHOULD APPLY IN THE SPECIFIED APPLICATION FORM FOR MDS COURSES AND IF THEY APPLY USING A POST GRADUATE DEGREE / DIPLOMA APPLICATION, IT WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.

8. Detailed information regarding Eligibility, Entrance Examination, Mode of Selection, Courses and Colleges are available in the Prospectus to be issued along with the Application and also in the website http//:www.tnhealth.org.

9. Candidates who have graduated from other Universities have to produce the Eligibility Certificate from the Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University, Chennai at the time of Counselling, failing which they will not be considered for selection.

10. The completed application along with enclosures should reach the Secretary, Selection Committee, No.162, Periyar E.V.R. High Road, Kilpauk, Chennai-600010 on or before 09-02-2007 by 5.00 P.M.

11. Application form can also be downloaded from website http//:www.tnhealth.org. Such candidates have to enclose the Demand Draft dated not earlier than 29-1-2007 for Rs.1,250/- (Rupees One thousand two hundred and fifty only) drawn in favour of The Secretary Selection Committee, Chennai–10 while submitting the application. SC / ST candidates are exempted from the payment of cost of application fee.

DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL EDUCATION (i/c)

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Eligibility of CMC for Tamil Nadu PG

As per http://www.tnhealth.org/webboard/messageDetail.asp?MessageId=22486

Dear Dr.Venkat,

CMC doctors can write TamilNadu PG Entrance Exam as private candidates only.

For tnhealth.org

Monday, January 8, 2007

Material Management - Basic tips for new medical officers

Material management

  1. Write clearly in the O.P ticket, Drug and Injection tokens.
  2. Do not refer any patient without a referral slip duly signed by you. It is better to make a note of the details of the patient in your nominal register including the address.
  3. Technically competent persons who can dispense drugs in the phc of course medical officer and Staff nurse pharmacist anm vhns shn H.I. lab asst
  4. Hospital worker, CCW, FNA , MNA, S.W. driver do not have legal right and technical competency to Dispense drugs.
  5. When the pharmacist is on leave, the local vhn can be deputed for giving either drugs or injection and the anm or staff nurse can do the other work. Hospital worker CCW, FNA , MNA, S.W. driver should not give drugs. It is a criminal offence and the medical officer will alone be held responsible. .
  6. Technically competent persons who can dispense injections in the phc of course medical officer and Staff nurse anm vhns only. The pharmacist .hospital worker CCW, FNA , MNA, S.W. driver lab asst do not have legal right and technical competency to Dispense injections. It is a criminal offence and the medical officer will alone be held responsible.
  7. When the ANM or STAFF NURSE is on leave then the local area vhn or other vhn can deputed to give injections.and they cannot deny it.
  8. Under no compulsion or force shall another person be it a qualified private staff nurse or anm, should be allowed to give injection or drugs in the phc. It is a criminal offence and the medical officer will alone be held responsible
  9. In case if only the pharmacist and the medical officer are alone in the phc and there is a need to administer injection then you give the injection and not the pharmacist.
  10. If any problem [nerve palsy. Shock. Death ] arises when injections are given by incompetent person including the pharmacist the medical officer will alone be held responsible

Man management - Basic tips for new medical officers

Basic tips for new medical officers

Man management

  1. The medical officer is the boss of the PHC.
  2. He/She is responsible not only to conduct op but also to control his/her staff
  3. You have two duties – One Medical and the second Officer. Keep in mind clearly that you have an Officer Duty Also
  4. He/She is answerable to the superiors for the acts of his/her staff
  5. He/She shall not obey the request/ideas/ORDERS of his/her subordinates.
  6. He/She shall issue orders to his/her staff and they (subordinates) shall obey the orders.
  7. Even if a medical officer acts by the ADVICE of his/her staff, He/She alone will be held responsible for the outcome of the action and not the Person who gave the advice. Keep in mind that the subordinates will escape
  8. Do not have close relationship [friendly or brotherly or sisterly !!! or any other ] with your subordinates. Relationships include Friendly, Brotherly or Sisterly (Hope you know what happened to the அண்ணா அக்கா பாசமலர்கள் in your college in due course) or intimate sexual relationship.
  9. You are an officer and they are your subordinates and should obey your instructions. Its so simple and nothing more than that. The more close relation you maintain the more tough it becomes to manage and control them
  10. Do not trust your staff completely. Always keep a doubtful eye in them.
  11. Even though you are an officer, do not scold or find fault with your staff in front of third persons and especially in the field. Always talk about their mistakes inside the PHC. The Best option is noting that down in the review register along with review minutes
  12. Do not talk with a staff of opposite sex without a third person in that room.
  13. Do not allow any one to sit in the medical officer room
  14. The only time your staff can sit before you is the review meeting
  15. Do not entrust your PERSONAL WORK to your staff.
  16. Don’t listen to comments by your staff about your co medical officers [even if you have personal hatred against the doctor] The same person who comments about the other person will speak about you in your absence.
  17. When you have misunderstanding with your co.med officer, speak directly to him /her and to the best possible effort resolve the issue immediately.
  18. Don’t speak about your indifferences to your subordinates, this will work as a dividing method by the staff and Both the doctors will be the end losers
  19. If you cannot resolve the dispute among yourselves please contact senor medical officers (not the DDHS !!) or association for intervention. If you are both from the same college, better contact a college senior who is known to both of you.

Reports - Basic tips for new medical officers

Reports
  1. Always read the contents or data in reports or letter or vouchers for that matter even a bit of paper before signing in it.
  2. By signing a report or letter it is meant that you know about the contents and you have verified them, cross checked them and is bound by law for the data and contents you submit.
  3. The report may be prepared by your subordinate but after signing it you are alone responsible for it and you cannot point the fingers on the person who prepared it and escape.
  4. It is better to get side initial from the person preparing the report [PHARMACIST H.I. VHN.SHN OR LAB ASST] before you sign it. Then both the person who had prepared report will also have half the responsibility.
  5. For Heaven Sake avoid signing in Empty reports

Stocks and Registers - Basic tips for new medical officers

Stocks, vaccines and reports
  1. Always read the contents or data in reports or letter or vouchers for that matter even a bit of paper before signing in it.
  2. By signing a report or letter it is meant that you know about the contents and you have verified them, cross checked them and is bound by law for the data and contents you submit.
  3. The report may be prepared by your subordinate but after signing it you are alone responsible for it and you cannot point the fingers on the person who prepared it and escape.
  4. It is better to get side initial from the person preparing the report [PHARMACIST H.I. VHN.SHN OR LAB ASST] before you sign it. Then both the person who had prepared report will also have half the responsibility.
  5. For Heaven Sake avoid signing in Empty reports
  6. Check your main stock especially drugs vaccines and instruments periodically every month and at least every three months. As per rule sub stock should be checked daily. The pharmacist and anm have the responsibility to show the stock when the Medical officer asks them to do so.
  7. Check Vaccine Stock Every Thursday. Remember that Vaccines are very difficult to replace. Always Check the expiry date also
  8. Do not trust any body in matters of stock and money. You will alone be held responsible for the shortages and you will have to pay Recovery amount if you sign the registers without actual physical verification

Vaccination - Basic tips for new medical officers

Vaccination
  1. All vhns should lift the vaccine before 8 am as per rule.
  2. They should be in the vaccination area from 8 am to 4 pm and come to the phc only after 4 pm.
  3. The vaccines should be lifted only on the day of vaccination [Wednesday] and not on the day before as convenient for the vhn
  4. The return of vaccine carrier should be on day of vaccination [Wednesday] evening itself only after 4pm
  5. Don’t allow the vhns to record the lifting time of vaccines as after 8-30 pm and the returning time as before 4 pm.
  6. The vaccine carrier should not be allowed to be taken to the vhns home or be kept in other private places known to the vhn And returned on the day of her convenience
  7. The vaccine carrier is a Government property and should be in safe custody
  8. Check your ILR .DEEP FREEZER daily on your own and record the temperature in the temp record register.
  9. Check Vaccine Stock PERSONALLY Every Thurday
  10. Always keep a stock of ARV and ASV

Ordering the HW to maintain Water Supply

In Case any one of you are having difficulty in arranging for drinking / other water in your PHC, please issue the following Order


Office of the Medical Officer
Government Primary Health Centre
XXXXXXXX
YYYY District
PIN - 6xxxxx

R.No. xxx/PH/2007 dated xx.xx.2007

Sub : PHC - Establishment - Delegation of duty - Orders issued - reg

Ref :
  1. Tamil Nadu Medical Code Para 46
  2. G.O. Ms. No. 169 dated 20/01/1989 of the Health, Indian Medicine, Homeopathy and Family Welfare Department
It has been brought to the notice of the undersigned that there are problems in arranging water for the patients of this PHC. This being a DOTS Centre and also a Centre for Radical Treatment of Malaria after collection of Blood Smears from Patients with complaints of fever, it is imperative to provide the patients a constant supply of potable drinking water. In few PHCs there is a post of Cook Cum Waterman (Woman) sanctioned who is responsible for this work. Because such a person is not employed in our PHC, In accordance with the references cited above, the undersigned issues the following orders.

  1. To ensure water supply for patients as per RNTCP and NVBDCP Programmes, as a temporary stop-gap arrangement, for the sake of public welfare and administrative convenience, the Hospital Worker and Sanitary Worker of this PHC are instructed to arrange for potable drinking water on alternate days as per the following arrangements, until further orders.
    1. On Odd Number Dates – namely, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31 of any month, Mr.xxxxxxxxx, Hospital Workerb.
    2. On Even Number Dates – namely 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30 of any month Mr. xxxxxx, Sanitary Worker
  2. Any deviation in this regard will be viewed strictly and seriously.
  3. The above mentioned instructions will be in force until further orders


Medical Officer

To
1. HW
2. SW
Copy Submitted to
BMO
DDHS
Copy to
File

After the Tsunami‚ A Drive to Reverse Tubal Ligations in Tamil Nadu

From PRB


After the Tsunami‚ A Drive to Reverse Tubal Ligations in Tamil Nadu

by Margot Cohen

(July 2005) When India accelerated its nationwide family planning program in the 1970s, the southern state of Tamil Nadu was quick to respond. Government officials set up a wide network of primary health centers and spread the message that tubal ligation (also known as tubectomy) meant permanent birth control with no fuss.

The campaign brought dramatic results: By 2002, nearly 44 percent of Tamil Nadu's women had borne two children and been sterilized before their 27th birthday.1 And the state's total fertility rate dropped from 3.8 in 1976 to 2.0 in 2002.2

But after last December's Indian Ocean tsunami killed over 2,300 children under age 18 in Tamil Nadu, the state government began offering free reversals of tubal ligation for women there who wish to conceive again. So far, 189 women have signed up for the microsurgery, which is known as recanalization.

"In countering the depression of losing a child, this is a very intelligent option," says Dr. J. Radhakrishnan, the district collector (or top civil servant) of Nagapattinam, a coastal district of 1.4 million people where the tsunami left 6,065 dead, including 1,776 children. "They feel guilty that they survived but could not save the child," he says of the bereaved parents.

The issues raised by Tamil Nadu's recanalization program, however, reach well beyond parents directly affected by the tsunami. Nationwide, more than two-thirds of India's female contraceptive users rely on tubectomy.3 And for some family planning experts, the new initiative is a stark reminder that India's health bureaucracy has failed to devote sufficient counseling and other resources to promote easily reversible contraceptive methods such as pills, IUDs, and condoms—especially for young women in their 20s.4

"Choice has been very limited for [India's] women," says Dr. Saroj Pachauri, regional director for South and East Asia at the New York-based Population Council.

No Hard Sell Needed for Tubectomies

In Tamil Nadu, just 3 percent of women are relying on IUDs, with 1 percent turning to the pill and 1.5 percent using condoms, according to a 2004 report from the Directorate of Family Welfare in Chennai, the state capital.5 But while annual targets for tubectomies have been officially abandoned, local governments such as Tamil Nadu's still strive to meet what they call each district's "expected demand" for sterilization. Between April 1, 2004 and April 1, 2005, doctors in Tamil Nadu performed more than 416,000 tubectomies, up from roughly 370,000 in the same period five years earlier.6

Dr. G. Venkatachalam, joint director of medical services at the government hospital in Nagapattinam, says Indian women are advised to undergo a tubectomy immediately after delivering their second child. "If prolonged for two or three months, the mother might not come to the hospital for sterilization,” he cautions. “Or she might conceive again."

After more than two decades of high-profile campaigns, though, the government no longer needs to make a hard sell for tubal ligation. "Women feel very comfortable with tubectomy," says Sheela Rani Chunkath, secretary of the Health and Family Welfare Department in Tamil Nadu. "They feel they don't want to mess with the hormones." Compounding the trend are continued complaints of excessive bleeding after IUD insertion and nationwide worries among women that pills bring side effects that include pronounced fatigue.

But Chunkath also emphasizes that the government is now seeking to promote vasectomies, which have only occurred sporadically in recent years due to broad male distaste for the method. "This gender imbalance, we really need to correct it," she says. "We think the man should also be responsible."

The Right of a Woman to Choose, or Just More Gender Discrimination?

More than a dozen tsumani survivors in Tamil Nadu have already had recanalization, but most of the other patients are expected to undergo the procedure in late June and July. Tamil Nadu's flamboyant chief minister, Selvi J. Jayalalithaa, added a political gloss to the drive by appearing on television to publicize an executive order that promised either free recanalizations at government hospitals or 25,000 rupees ($595) in compensation for those who opt for private clinics.

Some analysts think the initiative protects the reproductive rights of Tamil Nadu's women. "The recanalization approach is in fact in keeping with the right of women to choose the timing of the birth of their children as per their emotional needs,” says Madhu Bala Nath, South Asia regional director of the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

But other observers are expressing concern that the high-profile program feeds into broad cultural biases that only validate women if they bear children. In India, childless women generally live in fear that their husbands will remarry in the search to continue the family line—often at the prodding of their own mothers. Economic dependence only deepens such fears.

"This is about societal pressure on a childless parent. And that's not the right reason to have a child," says Sujatha Natarajan, vice president of the Family Planning Association of India.

There is also no guarantee that all of these operations will result in healthy pregnancies: One public hospital in Chennai that specializes in the procedure reports that just 47 percent of its recanalization patients eventually gave birth again. In fact, Chunkath says that many reversals could be doomed because government doctors often cut too much of the fallopian tube during the original tubectomy in order to forestall legal claims of method failure.

'Without Children, We Feel So Lonely and Lost'

Still, officials believe that recanalization will bring fresh hope to bereaved couples. At Kilpauk Medical College Hospital in Chennai, surgeon A. Kalaichelvi considers 24-year old Sumathy, a fish vendor from the town of Mahabalipuram, one of the lucky ones. Sumathy, who lost her 7-year-old son to the tsunami, had her recanalization performed by Kalaichelvi a month ago.

"I feel at peace," says Sumathy, perched on a blue hospital mattress. "My mother-in-law said, in future, when you grow old, you need a child to be there."

Sumathy says she has no particular preference for a boy or a girl—feelings that are echoed by many other tsunami survivors, according to Dr. Pinagapany Manorama, director of the Community Health Education Society, a Chennai-based NGO that conducted counseling in tsunami-affected villages. Such sentiments are unusual in a country where couples have long harbored a strong preference for boys, who ultimately inherit property and perform last rites for their parents.

Indeed, India appears to be fighting a losing battle against abortions of female fetuses, despite a measure that outlaws doctors from disclosing the sex of a fetus following prenatal scans. Tamil Nadu is no exception: The state's sex ratio among children up to 6 years old was 939 girls per 1,000 boys—a significant drop from the 948 females per 1,000 males recorded in 1991. In seven of the state's districts, the ratio has dipped below 930, with Salem district reaching an alarming 826 girls ages 6 and under for every 1,000 boys.7

But in the ramshackle tsunami relief camps erected near the coast, some couples appear desperate for any sort of companionship. "Without children, we feel so lonely and lost," confesses Moorthy, a 29-year-old fisherman whose son and daughter died in the tsunami. His wife, 24-year old Indira, became in January one of the first survivors to undergo recanalization. But the couple is still restlessly awaiting pregnancy.

Like most other bereaved parents in this traditional coastal community, they have no interest in adopting any of the surviving orphans, reflecting the unpopularity of formal adoption in India. "It's nothing like having your own child," says Indira, who was feeding her toddlers when the waves swept over their coastal hut.

While many health experts doubt that the tsunami will significantly alter the Indian government's longstanding focus on tubectomy, they feel the disaster could prompt some second thoughts among coastal dwellers. Says Dr. Manorama: "They may think, why get sterilized? A tsunami might come again."

Margot Cohen is a journalist based in Bangalore, India.

References

  1. Government of Tamil Nadu, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Directorate of Family Welfare, 2002 Annual Report (Chennai, India: Government of Tamil Nadu, 2003).
  2. Office of the Registrar General, India, Sample Registration Statistical Report2002 (New Delhi, India, 2004).
  3. International Institute for Population Sciences, National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2) 1998-99 (Mumbai, India: International Institute for Population Sciences and ORC Macro, 2000), accessed online at www.nfhsindia.org, on June 24, 2005.
  4. Injectables do not feature on India's contraceptive menu, partly due to concerns raised by local women's groups six years ago that the national government was not obtaining informed consent for experimental trials for the drugs.
  5. Government of Tamil Nadu, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Directorate of Family Welfare, 2004 Annual Report (Chennai, India: Government of Tamil Nadu, 2005).
  6. Government of Tamil Nadu, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Directorate of Family Welfare, Monthly Bulletin On Family Welfare Performance Tamil Nadu April 2005 (Chennai, India: Government of Tamil Nadu).
  7. Venkatesh Athreya, "Census 2001: The Tamil Nadu Picture," Frontline 18, no. 29 (May 11, 2001), accessed online at www.frontlineonnet.com, on June 24, 2005.

Association's support to the students.

From http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2011/stories/20030606006713300.htm

Medicos against privatisation

T.S. SUBRAMANIAN

Medical students in Tamil Nadu, backed by their seniors in the profession, resist bitterly what they see as moves that would dilute the quality of medical education and produce a surfeit of doctors as a result of the setting up of more medical colleges in the private sector.

S.R. RAGHUNATHAN

A demonstration by agitating medical students in Chennai on April 28.

A LARGE section of the medical fraternity in Tamil Nadu, including principally about 12,000 medical students, is pitted against the State government over the issue of the virtual privatisation of medical education. The students, who initiated the struggle, have made another important demand: the scrapping of a quota of seats for non-resident Indians (NRIs) in government medical colleges, to which admissions are made on the basis of a higher payment structure. The students' agitation, which entered the 27th day on May 19, has the backing of the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors' Association. Doctors in government service pursuing their postgraduate education have joined the protest.

According to a Government Order dated August 13, 2001 issued by the State Health and Family Welfare Department, since "it would be prohibitively expensive to open more number of colleges in the state sector", it has been "decided to consider the request of the private organisations for the request of NOC (no-objection certificate) to start medical and dental colleges in backward areas". The government directed the Director of Medical Education (DME) "to consider the requests of private organisations for issue of essentiality certificate to start medical/dental colleges in the backward/rural areas of the state... "

The students termed the G.O. "an invitation to open private medical and dental colleges" and expressed the fear that such institutions would proliferate, in the process bringing down the quality of medical education. The vice-president of the Tamil Nadu Medical and Dental Students' CRRIs', Senior House-Surgeons' and Postgraduate Doctors' Association, D. Karal, said: "Seats will be sold for Rs.25 lakhs to Rs.35 lakhs. People with money will buy them... " After private organisations were allowed to start engineering colleges, more than 230 such colleges had sprung up in the State leading to dilution of standards in education. "This should not happen in medical education because it is tantamount to playing with the life of patients," said Karal. This Association is spearheading the agitation. (CRRI stands for Compulsory, Rotatory Residential Internship).

One of their key demands relates to barring new private medical and dental colleges by law. The essentiality certificate given by the government to the Meenakshi Ammal Trust, Chennai, to start a medical college near Kancheepuram, triggered the trouble.

State Health Minister S. Semmalai said that the power to clear private medical colleges lay with the Centre, not the States. "Despite the existence of the G.O., no essentiality certificate has been issued to any private medical or dental college by this government. The Meenakshi Ammal Trust received the essentiality certificate on the orders of the Supreme Court." The Madras High Court had directed that the Trust be given the certificate. The State government appealed against this in the Supreme Court, but the court upheld the High Court's order, Semmalai added.

The Minister said separately that in the matter of granting permission to set up private medical colleges, the State government's powers were limited compared to those of the Centre. The Supreme Court had specified these powers in a case filed by the Kirubananda Variar Medical Trust, he said. In another case, he said, the apex court had ruled that even when a State government refused to give permission for a dental college being started, the Dental Council of India could take a decision. He contended: "As per the Supreme Court ruling, only the Centre had the powers to permit private medical colleges to come up. It is meaningless for the students to agitate against the State government when they should be protesting against the Centre, which has the power to sanction private medical colleges... "

But the students insist that the State government has the power to block new colleges, for the power to grant no-objection and essentiality certificates were its. They point out that the Supreme Court had said a mere policy decision by a State government not to allow private medical colleges would not do; there should be a law to back such a decision.

There are 11 government-run medical colleges and one government dental college in Tamil Nadu. These 12 colleges offer about 1,120 seats. Besides, there are six private medical colleges and 11 private dental colleges. The government recently announced that it will set up medical colleges at Theni, Vellore and Nagercoil.

After two rounds of talks between Semmalai and the students' leaders failed on May 17, the government acted tough. About 5,000 medicos were suspended. Of them more than 1,200 would not be allowed to sit for their examinations beginning in the first week of June, he said. Undaunted, the students asserted that their agitation would continue.

When the medicos launched a token strike on April 9, their demands, other than that relating to privatisation, were that the State government should get Medical Council of India (MCI) recognition for the MBBS course offered by the K.A.P. Viswanatham Government Medical College in Tiruchi and the Thoothukudi Government Medical College, and postgraduate courses offered by the government medical colleges, and provide more facilities in the Government Dental College, Chennai. The government was also requested to withdraw the increase in fees for postgraduate medical courses and restore the 10 per cent increase in stipend for MBBS and BDS students during their one-year period of internship.

Subsequently, the agitators discovered the existence of the G.O. of August 13, 2001, which they felt smacked of a privatisation drive. According to the G.O., the government had reviewed the guidelines and constituted a committee to suggest norms for the issue of essentiality certificates to private organisations to start medical and dental colleges in backward areas.

V. GANESAN

State Education Minister S. Semmalai in discussion with the representatives of medical students at the Secretariat in Chennai.

The G.O. said: "The starting of new institutions would go a long way in improving the medical facilities in these areas. A large number of students from the State are going to neighbouring States to pursue medical studies and the students will be able to pursue their studies nearer to their homes." The G.O. mentioned that while the Ninth Plan target was a doctor-patient ratio of 1:1000, the present doctor-patient ratio in Tamil Nadu was 1:2000. "Due to the present ratio, shortage of doctors in the rural areas is felt," it stated.

However, according to Dr. R.M. Krishnan, chairman of the ethics committee of the Indian Medical Association, Tamil Nadu unit, the doctor-patient ratio in Tamil Nadu has reached saturation point. He said that there were 6,000 unemployed or underemployed doctors in the State. According to Karal, the WHO-stipulated doctor-patient ratio is 1:3,500 while in Tamil Nadu it is 1:1000. There were 67,000 registered doctors in Tamil Nadu for its population of 6.2 crores, Karal said.

The students insisted on the withdrawal of the August 13 G.O. When the government failed to provide any assurance on the matter, they launched the strike on April 23. They demonstrated before the office of the Director of Medical Education. They squatted on the road and blocked traffic. They observed a silent protest. They wore masks. They donated blood and ran makeshift outpatient centres.

Dr. K. Prakasam, president, Tamil Nadu Government Doctors' Association, announced the association's support to the students. Its members struck work on May 9. The doctors are planning to start an indefinite strike from May 21.

The government warned the doctors that the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) would be invoked against them. It transferred Dr. Prakasam and several other doctors. Yet the doctors struck work on May 9 and then on May 14. As they intensified their agitation, patient care was hit in government hospitals. Wards remained empty, and many poor patients were affected.

Medical students in Tamil Nadu have had an extended record of opposing the setting up of private medical and dental colleges. "We started our agitation against privatisation in 1989. In February 2000, we struck work for more than two weeks, expressing our protest against privatisation," Karal recalled.

The fate of their agitation this time around remains uncertain in the face of the seemingly inflexible stand taken by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government in the State.

Doctors seek `protection' from MCI action

From http://www.hinduonnet.com/2004/11/28/stories/2004112808040400.htm

Doctors seek `protection' from MCI action

By Our Staff Reporter

MADURAI, NOV. 27. The Medical Council of India's (MCI) action debarring 10 teachers for giving a "false" declaration about their employment status has left Government doctors in jitters as they fear similarpunishment in due course of time.

While expressing "shock" and "concern," the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors' Association has decided to make a representation to the Health Secretary seeking "total protection" from the drastic action taken by the MCI. "We are hopeful that the Government will protect us because it was only on the instruction of the Directorate of Medical Education that the doctors went on temporary deputation during MCI inspections," says the Madurai branch president, S. Somasundaram.

Health Department sources said many doctors serving in medical college-attached hospitals had come to the "adverse" notice of the MCI for claiming employment in more than one college at the same point of time.

Shifting doctors, para-medical staff and equipment from one medical to another for meeting the mandatory requirements of the MCI is not a new practice in Tamil Nadu. "This was a State-sponsored activity for which we are not responsible. There are several occasions when Directors of Medical Education issued circulars to doctors to go on deputation to other colleges and act as staff there during inspections. We had no other option," says a senior professor of the Madurai Medical College. The teachers also recall the State Government's stand that "it is an unwritten convention being followed for more than 20 years."

Show-cause notices

The MCI has issued show-cause notices to many doctors in different parts of the State seeking an explanation why action should not be taken for submitting "false" employment details.

When the MCI inspected the Kanyakumari, Tuticorin and Tirunelveli colleges early this year, there were reports that doctors and medical equipment from almost all government colleges in the State were moved there. The doctors ferried from other colleges were given photo identity cards as if they were the staff of those colleges.

Impending action

Even as the MCI action was impending, the Government justified manpower adjustments since it was not a new practice. As the Health Minister defended the temporary deputations at a function in Madurai recently, the doctors are confident that the Government will come to their rescue. "We cannot be victimised since we only complied with the orders of the authorities concerned," says another professor, adding a majority of the medical colleges in the State lacked faculty and infrastructure as per the MCI guidelines.

Members of the medical fraternity in this part of the State say that the Government should immediately fill vacancies and strengthen infrastructure in existing colleges and also those coming up at Andipatti and Vellore.

Discourage "deputing"

Our Salem Special Correspondent reports:

The Tamil Nadu Government Doctors' Association has reiterated that the Government should not encourage the practice of deputation for MCI recognition.

The State president, Dr. K. Prakasam, said the state executive, which met at Tiruchi on November 7, asked its members not to accept the "deputation offers'' in future.

Call to fill posts with qualified surgeons

From http://www.thehindu.com/2006/06/21/stories/2006062108610300.htm

Call to fill posts with qualified surgeons

Staff Reporter

Tamil Nadu Government Doctors' Association's plea

MADURAI: The Tamil Nadu Government Doctors' Association (TNGDA) has thanked the State Government for abolishing recruitment of doctors on contract.

In a statement issued here on Tuesday, S. Somasundaram, president of Madurai district unit of the association, urged the State Government to fill posts in medical colleges with assistant surgeons holding M.S. and M.D. degrees by discharging all medical consultants working on contract.

The association alleged that medical consultants on contract, with M.B.B.S. and diploma qualifications, were occupying specialist posts in medical colleges, which was "unjustified."

Counselling for doctors selected by Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission should be started only after transfer counselling by Director of Medical and Rural Health Services for assistant surgeons with the Directorate of Medical Service and Directorate of Primary Health Centres, it said.

Contractual appointments not necessary: doctors association

From http://www.thehindu.com/2006/01/09/stories/2006010909860400.htm

Contractual appointments not necessary: doctors association

Special Correspondent

SALEM: The Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association (TNGDA) is against the Government move to appoint doctors on contract basis, association president K.Prakasam said on Sunday.

As the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) would complete the exercise of selecting 2,300 doctors before February, it was not necessary to appoint doctors on contract, he said. Moreover, the Government had agreed to fill vacancies with candidates selected by the TNPSC. The TNGDA, however, thanked the Government for elevating 4050 doctors, serving since 1995, as probationers after exempting them from the "induction training." It also appreciated the move to fix seniority for doctors absorbed from Panchayat Unions from the date of entering government service. The Government had agreed to bring in changes in the posts of the teaching faculty, from tutors to Dean, as per the Medical Council of India (MCI) norms.

Provide facilities for new colleges: doctors' forum

From http://www.hindu.com/2006/07/10/stories/2006071007830500.htm

Provide facilities for new colleges: doctors' forum

Staff Reporter

Says Government should meet norms prescribed by the Medical Council of India


  • Many medical colleges lacking in infrastructure
  • Association members complain about mismanagement at doctors' counselling for transfer
  • Casualty medical officers in many hospitals insufficient to meet patients' requirements

    Ramanathapuram: The Tamil Nadu Government Doctors' Association has urged the Government to provide stipulated infrastructure in all medical colleges before establishing new medical colleges.

    Speaking to mediapersons after the state executive committee meeting of the association at Rameswaram near here, president K. Prakasam said though the TNGDA welcomed the policy announcement of the State Government to open at least one medical college for each district, priority should be given to fill all vacancies and creating necessary facilities.

    The norms prescribed by the Medical Council of India should be fully met. At present, many medical colleges functioned with insufficient facilities.

    Dr. Prakasam said association members had complained about some mismanagement at the doctors counselling for transfer held recently. The Government should ensure total transparency in the counselling and promotion scheme for doctors. Like in counselling for teachers, transfer orders should be given on the day of the counselling. This would help doctors to report for duty at the selected places very quickly. Moreover, it would avoid unnecessary delay.

    He said the Government should give priority to existing doctors in the proposed diploma in the National Board exam. The number of casualty medical officers in many headquarter hospitals and medical college hospitals was insufficient to meet the patients' requirements. Hence, the Association demanded that all headquarter and medical college hospitals should have at least six casualty medical officers.

    N. Muthurajan, secretary, Tamil Nadu Government Doctors' Association, said most upgraded taluk hospitals functioned with one doctor, instead of four.

    Earlier, the meeting thanked the Government for its decision to abolish the contract system for government doctors. It also appreciated the Government's move to conduct diploma in the national board exam, which was equivalent to post graduate medical degrees.

  • "Government doctors' pay structure low"

    From http://www.hindu.com/2006/11/11/stories/2006111104880200.htm

    "Government doctors' pay structure low"

    Staff Reporter

    Demand for pay as in Central institutions

    MADURAI : The Tamil Nadu Government Doctors' Association (TNGDA) will put an end to private practice, if the doctors are on a par with the Central Government-run medical institutions, according to its State president K. Prakasam.

    He told journalists here recently that while the association was against those who were guilty of dereliction of duty, it had to be accepted that the existing pay structure of government doctors was low when compared to their workload.

    "What we are asking is that we should be paid on a par with those working in Central institutions like the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research," Dr. Prakasam said.

    Appointment of deans

    The association sought the intervention of the Chief Minister in appointment of Deans to medical colleges. At present, there were seven vacant Dean posts in the State, including Madurai.

    Dr. Prakasam said that the association was not against the decision of the High Court that appointment of Deans should be made according to Medical Council of India (MCI) norms. But the same norms should be adopted for filling all teaching posts.

    "What the association seeks is re-designation of the existing staff as per the MCI norms. We are not asking for either change of pay-scale or pattern of duty," said Dr. Prakasam.

    He said that this issue would be discussed at the association's executive committee meeting in Dharmapuri on November 26 and appropriate course of action chalked out.

    The association had also requested that forensic and community medicine courses be introduced in big colleges immediately. He said that only 14 teaching faculty in forensic medicine were available in the State against the requirement of 140. Only three postgraduate seats in forensic medicine and four in community medicine were available.

    "Even if the courses are introduced immediately in more colleges, it will take another five years to break even," he said.

    Recognition

    TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT DOCTOR'S ASSOCIATION has been recognized by the Government of Tamil Nadu Public Department GO MS 1980 dated 07.10.1969

    Monday, January 1, 2007

    Doctors stage demonstration to take action againts Health Inspectors



    From http://www.hindu.com/2007/01/01/stories/2007010107790300.htm

    Government and private doctors attached to the Doctors' Association for Social Equality (DASE) staged a demonstration here on Sunday. The urged the authorities to take action against two health inspectors, who allegedly misbehaved with doctors in separate incidents recently.

    The agitators said Thangavel, a health inspector, was said to have talked in a threatening manner to Sreenivasan, medical officer at Pandaranvilai Primary Health Centre (PHC), on the PHC premises. Similarly, Terrance, another health inspector, reportedly used unparliamentary language against a government doctor, Pradeep, during a review meeting held at Pudukottai PHC, recently.

    The DASE members asked the authorities concerned to take departmental action against the "erring" health inspectors, at the earliest. About 50 doctors took part in the agitation.


    What is the demand


    What happened in Pandaravillai Primary Health Centre

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