Bird flu: High alert at TN
Thursday, January 17, 2008

Nayan: Ms Geetha Jeevan, minister for animal husbandry, said she had put her department on alert mode immediately after hearing reports about the death of poultry birds in West Bengal. With the High Security Disease Laboratory, Bhopal and National Institute of Virology, Pune confirming the presence of the H5N1 virus, which is responsible for avian flu, in the chicken samples collected from Bengal, all entry points to Tamil Nadu have been put on alert, the minister said. More than 40,000 poultry birds have died in Birbhum district in West Bengal and the Union health ministry has dispatched a team of doctors from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases to that state.

Labels: Health

Chennai doctors perform Robot-assisted heart surgery
Thursday, January 3, 2008

By Jaikumar

Chennai, Jan.2 (ANI): In a landmark achievement, Chennai doctors have performed a heart surgery on two patients assisted by a robot.

The surgeries were performed at the Chettinad Health City Hospital. The operations were performed five days ago and the patients are on their way to recovery according to the doctors at the private hospital.

The robot-aided techniques enhance the recovery period reducing pain and blood loss. The surgeons used the new technology on two male patients who are in their twenties.

"All these things are beneficial for the patient in several ways. First, there is less tissue damage, and therefore, less bleeding and less blood-transfusion. Therefore, you get less infection because the stitches do not break," said Dr. Ravi Kumar, a Heart Surgeon, Chettinad Health City Hospital in Chennai.

"We are not traumatising the tissues that much and there is another thing that the pain is less, scaring is less so when you go back for another surgery later, you don't see that much of scaring, the scaring of the tissue is less," said Dr. Ravi Kumar.

One of the patients is 25-year-old, and was operated for atrial septal defect (hole in the heart. The other one is 28-year-old, who required the replacement of mitral valve (left atrioventricular valve).

Doctors said that the procedure was almost similar to that of a traditional operation. Instead of cutting through the sternum to reach the heart, the space between the ribs is used to carry out the surgery.

In open-heart surgery, the incision is around 20 centimetres while it is only four centimetres in the robotic-assisted surgery, the doctors noted.

This technique is preferred in countries like the United States and Germany, as it reduces tissue damage, blood loss and scars. It is less painful.

Labels: Health

Medicos in Chennai opposed to mandatory serving in rural areas
Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Chennai, Nov 19 (ANI): Post Graduate Medical students of Tamil Nadu and House Surgeons Council have threatened to go on a hunger strike in Chennai against the Centre's decision to make rural service for the medical students compulsory.

The medical students today launched a token strike against it.

Recently, Union Health Minister, Anbumani Ramadoss, had announced to table a Bill favouring compulsory rural service for the medical students.

"We want union Health Minister to drop this plan. And we also want the Chief Minister M Karunanidhi to intervene and resolve it as soon as possible," said Sathish Kumar, spokesperson of Tamil Nadu Medical Students and House Surgeons Council.

However, most of villagers are in favour of student doctors serving in rural areas, which they think would improve the medical facility there.

"We don't have doctors here, we have to go for long distance for treatment and if we have student doctors giving treatment for us it would be very helpful for us," said Saraswathi, a village women. (ANI)
--MP

Labels: Chennai, Health

TN keen on launching telemedicine projects
Sunday, November 4, 2007

AY: The Tamil Nadu Government is keen on taking the benefits of telemedicine to the poor in rural and urban areas, and the Government was launching projects in this regard, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi said. In his address at the Third National Conference of the Telemedicine Society of India (TSI) and 12th International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth (ISfTeH) Conference here on Saturday, he recollected that his Government had sanctioned Rs 87 lakh in 1999 to implement a pilot project in telemedicine in Government General Hospital here. Another project will be inaugurated shortly at the Government Royapettah Hospital, linking six Government headquarters hospitals at Kancheepuram, Thiruvallur, Thiruvannamalai, Krishnagiri,Udhgamandalam (Ooty) and Rameswaram. Further, a Tele Health Project was currently under implementation at the Tindivanam Taluk Hospital and Mailam Block Primary Health Care Centre in Villupuram. Karunanidhi also lauded the Indian Space Reasearch Organisation for offering free services on its bandwidth for telemedicine consultations in the country.

Labels: Health

Doctors banned for illegal surgery
Thursday, November 1, 2007

AY: Tamilnadu doctors K Murugesan and his wife Gandhimathy have been banned from practising for a year.

The Indian Medical Association in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday ordered the ban after the doctors allowed their 14-year old son to perform a ceasarian surgery on a 20-year old woman.

The doctors were arrested in June in the wake of public protests.

The decision to ban them was taken on the basis of the findings of a three-member committee, headed by the District Collector, reports said.

Labels: Health