Vikas Vaidya

By Vikas Vaidya Most of the students be they of any education-medical, engineering, science, commerce, art-- lack in leadership skills, lack in communication skills, lack in efforts of self enhancement and most important they don’t have research aptitude. Considering all these aspects, Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) has revamped academic structure of medical education. The change will not only compel students to do research, develop various skills but also provide them platform which was not available till now. The change is made in four parts, namely: Capacity building; providing platforms to faculty, students to present themselves; Decentralisation of academic activities and collaborations. Capacity Building Dr Mohan Khamgaonkar, Pro-Vice Chancellor of MUHS who was in Nagpur elaborated the revamp while talking to ‘The Hitavada’. “Under the capacity building aspect we trained 300 people from all pathies for research, communication skill, leadership skills. W

By Vikas Vaidya The cochlear implant procedure, through which deaf children can be able to hear, has taken momentum with Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital (IGGMCH) completing 13 such procedures and facility now started at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) too. With the facility started at both the public health institutions, the poor patients who otherwise were hesitant to go for it because of the cost involved in it, would be benefited largely. Fully dedicated Cochlear Implant Unit and Care Facility at GMCH was inaugurated at the hands of Dr Viral Kamdar, President of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Institute of Medical Sciences and Human Resources in presence of Padmashree Dr Milind V Kirtane, noted cochlear implant surgeon and pioneer in the field; Dr Abhimanyu Niswade, Dean, GMCH and faculty members of various disciplines of GMCH. The Cochlear Implant (CI) Unit has a fully dedicated team to manage all the aspects. The aspects include assessment of p

By Vikas Vaidya What could be termed as mockery, Public Health Department of Maharashtra has sanctioned a meagre amount of Rs 70 for providing food per patient admitted in its own hospitals throughout the State. This food provision includes two-times tea, morning breakfast, lunch and dinner. According to some doctors in Nagpur, sanctioning such a meagre amount for providing food will not only lead to corruption but also result in not getting proper food to patients. Because one can not hire quality food service in just Rs 70. There are 495 hospitals under the department including rural hospitals, sub-district hospitals, general hospitals, women hospitals, district hospitals. The service of providing food to patients was discontinued and Government was considering to restart the service. The amount sanctioned for the food service in all these hospitals is Rs 47.28 crore. If this much amount is taken into account then daily every patient would get Rs 70 for his or her food. As per

By Vikas Vaidya A man, aged over 80 years, went to a city hospital with a complaint of fever. A very senior doctor suspected a positive dengue and advised hospitalisation. The old man was admitted to the hospital. His tests for dengue came negative and he was discharged. But a new disease has afflicted him-- Cellulitis, a potentially dangerous bacterial infection that affects the deeper layers of skin. Cellulitis can develop anywhere on the body, but in adults, it most commonly affects the skin of the lower legs. In this old man’s case, Cellulitis proved to be very dangerous because he was already suffering from Varicose Veins. In patients of Varicose Veins, Cellulitis can be a fatal as Varicose Veins are enlarged, swollen, twisted blood vessels often caused by damaged or faulty valves that allow blood to travel in the wrong direction. This infection he carried came after his stay in hospital. This is one of the several cases of Hospital Acquired Infection (HAI), people get admitte

By Vikas Vaidya For many years there was a general impression that only 11th and 12th standard students would bunk their regular classes in their schools or junior colleges and devoutly attend highly paid tuition classes. But that even students pursuing medical education too following the same path, has come as a great revelation mixed with surprise and shock. Those studying in Government medical colleges across the State are learnt to be skipping their regular classes in colleges and take lessons in medicine in private tuition classes, to the extent that they even bunk the clinical tutorials in the medical colleges because they find no utility of classes in their colleges. Deans of some of the GMCs, Professors and even some students confirmed this shocking revelation. The medical fraternity says, there is a difference between poor attendance in Class XI, XII and in MBBS. The reason behind it is medical education has some different components that have direct connection with human

By Vikas Vaidya Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU) has decided to come down heavily upon colleges which want to go for continuation of affiliation but running with teachers sans University approval. If these colleges fail to take required measures, University will freeze the admissions of such colleges, to be done for academic year 2019-20. Some colleges have permanent affiliation so they do not have to follow the required procedure. But the colleges which have to get themselves affiliated to the university every year (continuation of affiliation) have to follow the new rule. The Deans committee of University has prepared the guidelines under which they frame the new rule. At present most of the colleges have teachers with recognition from university. But this letter will not work as per the new rule. University circular says, every department of all colleges must have teacher appointed by selection procedure involving university. The selection procedure condu

By Vikas Vaidya A TEAM of doctors at a city hospital performed a unique medical procedure where it transplanted two organs in one patient in a single operation. This procedure was conducted in New Era Hospital, Lakadganj on Sunday. The emotional part deals with the courage and humanity shown by parents of the boy whose organs were donated to a patient in the hospital. The parents are labourers and the poor 23-year-old deceased too was working with them on daily wages. Suraj Manohar Dudhpachare, a resident of Suradevi, Koradi had met with an accident on Koradi-Mahadula road when his two-wheeler was knocked by a speedy truck on November 15. Suraj suffered serious injuries including severe ones to his head. He was brought to New Era Hospital. Dr Nilesh Agrawal, Neuro-Surgeon, took lot of efforts to save the patient. But since Suraj was critical the efforts of Dr Agrawal went in vain. Finally Dr Agrawal, Dr Parag Moon, Dr Amol Kokas and Dr Sahil Bansal declared Suraj as brain dead on

By Vikas Vaidya TEARS of happiness rolled down the eyes of a poor couple from Madhya Pradesh when doctors at Super Specialty Hospital (SSH) successfully extracted an open safety pin stuck in the esophagus of their two-year-old child, on Tuesday. Anushka Gaigwal, a two-year-old girl from district Mandla, Madhya Pradesh had swallowed the safety pin tied to her sweater on November 17. The poor parents -- Mahesh and Lata -- working as labourers immediately realised the danger and took her to Jabalpur’s Medical Hospital. Unfortunately the hospital did not have facilities so the child was brought to Paediatric Department at Government Medical College and Hospital, Nagpur. Doctors at the department recognised the gravity of the issue and decided to shift Anushka to Super Specialty Hospital. On Tuesday, Dr Sudhir Gupta, Head of the Department of Gastroenterology at SSH checked her and immediately decided to perform a medical procedure to remove the pin that was open and could have caused

By Vikas Vaidya Observing fast for eight hours daily and eating raw food can make one disease-free. One may find this theory as absurd, but B V Chauhan from Gujarat is practising it for the last 26 years and he is disease-free. He calls this theory as New Diet System and is sharing his personal experiences with common public with an appeal to follow the practice if they can. Chauhan is in Nagpur to deliver lectures organised by ‘Eat Smart, Live Longer Club’ on ‘Enter the Medicine Free World with New Diet System’ to be held on November 24 and 25. While talking to ‘The Hitavada’ at the residence of Vedprakash Jaiswal, Chauhan elaborates the concept of New Diet System (NDS). “After waking up in the morning, one must observe fast for eight hours  during which one should not eat food, not drink anything other than water. After that fast, one should consume Amla juice. Never drink tea or coffee. And, never eat any food grains as well. Once you join the NDS, all you will consume

By Vikas Vaidya Taking serious cognizance of rising cases of cancer in Vidarbha, Maharashtra Government has decided to strengthen cancer treatment provided in hospitals run by Government. Accordingly Department of Medical Education in State will be installing ultra-modern equipment worth Rs 198 crore at Radiotherapy department at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) at Nagpur. At a high level meeting held at Mumbai, Minister of Medical Education Girish Mahajan discussed various issues related to Nagpur GMCH. Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Nagpur’s Guardian Minister along with Secretary Dr Sanjay Mukherjee, Director Dr Pravin Shingare, Joint Director Dr Prakash Wakode, Dean Dr Abhimanyu Niswade attended it. Initially the amount of Rs 25 crore is approved principally. Mahajan has made it clear that the machines would be installed before the enforcement of Election Code of Conduct for Lok Sabha elections. The issue that has been haunting Government Medical Colleges in the stat

By Vikas Vaidya Nagpur is witnessing growing awareness about organ donation. Thanks to Dr Ravi Wankhede, Secretary of Zonal Transplant Committee (ZTCC) whose efforts through Mohan Foundation now bearing fruits. It is evident from the increasing cases of organ donation in city. On Sunday the 40th cadaver organ donation was done where relatives of a youth who died in an accident took decision to donate his liver and kidneys. It was 72nd kidney and 27th liver retrieval and 12th liver transplant done in Nagpur since 2013. Satish Narad Bopache, a 27 years old youth of Usgaon, Chandori, Tahsil- Sakoli, district- Bhandara met with an accident on November 27 on Bhandara-Nagpur highway when he was going on two-wheeler. He was admitted in New Era hospital. Dr Nilesh Agrawal, Neurosurgeon; Dr Anand Sancheti, Dr Parag Moon, Dr Amol Kokas, Dr Sahil Bansal treated him. However, on the evening of December 1, doctors declared Satish as brain dead. The Zonal Transplant Coordination Centre (ZTCC)

S K Krishnan, Vice-President, Mahindra and Mahindra, Dr Vrinda Jahagirdar, Director and former Chief Economist with SBI, giving away the award to Pyare Khan. By Vikas Vaidya When Motor India Magazine had first invited him to Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad to present his inspiring story to the creme de la creme of management students in India, he politely declined as he had no knowledge about what IIM was. But again this year, IIM, Ahmedabad chose his case out of 1,370 transporters in India and so Pyare Khan, a 43 year old finally narrated the story of his journey to success before top management stalwarts and ended up being adjudged the winner. Pyare Khan from Nagpur, not even a Class X passout and a former auto-rickshaw driver, answered all the questions put up by the jurists, mostly top economists, bankers and industrialists and won their hearts. So now, his story will be studied by IIM students. Pyare Khan belonged to a family with meagre means and so li

By Vikas Vaidya Latest developments regarding removing vacancy in Laxminarayan Institute of Technology and its preparation to get three programmes accredited by National Board of Accreditation (NBA) have created hopes to get Deemed to be University status to it. Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU) has already sent proposal in that regard to Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). Any technical institute aspiring to get deemed to be university status should have more than 75 per cent posts filled, the institute should have at least four programmes with NBA accreditation and a corpus fund of not less than Rs 3 crore. LIT has 62 teaching posts sanctioned. Right now it is running with 31 teaching posts. With the initiative by RTMNU Vice-Chancellor Dr S P Kane, 10 posts on contractual basis have been filled. After facing a rap from High Court, the State Government has agreed to fill 17 vacant teaching posts. This will add 27 posts to LIT’s kitt

By Vikas Vaidya Even though there are enough facilities for starting a Government-run Yellow Fever Vaccination Centre in city, the plan is yet to take off for reasons best known to the authorities concerned. Surprisingly, in 2015, former Maharashtra Minister Shobhatai Fadnavis had written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister regarding the centre but the plan continues to gather dust. Dr Sunil Naredi, an Ophthalmologist who is a frequent traveller, while talking to ‘The Hitavada’, said, “Yellow fever vaccine protects one suffering from the viral infection (yellow fever) which is mostly found in people in African and South American countries. Most people develop immunity within ten days and 99% are protected within a month of the vaccination. Anybody who travels to above mentioned countries has to be administered Yellow Fever vaccine. A vaccination centre provides a certificate to the traveller which he/she has to carry along while travelling to the above countries.” The State Go

By Vikas Vaidya The Public Health Department of Maharashtra has constituted State Mental Health Authority for taking measures for the implementation of guidelines given in Mental Health Care Act 2017. Apart from the officials, the authority will also have two persons representing who have had mental illness, to be nominated by the State Government. The Mental Healthcare Act came into existence in 2017. But the guidelines in it are not yet implemented. To address the guidelines properly in society, in medical fraternity and in Government officials, now the committee has been constituted. Dr Abhishek Somani, Professor at the department of Psychiatry, Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital (IGGMCH) said, “After coming the act into existence the step of implementation was much needed. The committee now will chalk out how the rights of mentally ill patients would be addressed, whether any kind of forced treatment is being given to such patients, whether the proper care

By Vikas Vaidya Elaborating the concept of SWAYAM by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Dr Manpreet Singh Manna, Director, PMSSS and SWAYAM said, “SWAYAM is massive open on-line course (MOOC) aimed at unlimited participation and open access initiated by Government of India. It is designed to achieve the three cardinal principles of Education Policy viz., access, equity and quality. The objective of this effort is to bridge the digital divide for students who have hitherto remained untouched by the digital revolution and have not been able to join the mainstream of the knowledge economy. As this project has brought school students into its ambit, it will have larger impact.” The SWAYAM has completed one year and it celebrated it at Jhulelal Institute of Technology (JIT) during the AICTE-sponsored One Day Swayam Workshop for National Resource Centres (NRCs) on ‘How to Create E-Content’. JIT, being the only fourth college in the country to hold it, had organised it Dr

By Vikas Vaidya Two morning flights—IndiGo and GoAir— coming to Nagpur’s Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport were diverted on Friday due to heavy rains resulting in poor visibility. The flights were taken to Hyderabad and later brought to Nagpur after the weather conditions improved. All the evening flights however came on time. In the morning owing to incessant rains Wardha Road stretch of National Highway no. 7 got submerged under water. The Traffic Control Branch of Nagpur City Police promptly suspended traffic on road from Raddison Square onwards and road ahead was heavily flooded. Air travellers find it difficult to reach airport to board the flight. When the IndiGo flight came to Nagpur from Pune the passengers were asked to go through Sonegaon to reach city. The Pora river that flows through Karve Nagar and adjoining area, overflowed and its water came on Wardha Road. Sonegaon police station too remained under four to five feets of water for four to five hours. The wa

By Vikas Vaidya The flight that took off from Agartala, reached Nagpur almost after 9 hours. The passangers were in a position to accept the delay but the airline sent their luggage to totally different location. This is the brilliant example of how an airline can make its passangers suffer so much! A Ashraf, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and Chief General Manager, Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM) told the whole story of sufferings to The Hitavada. The IndiGo flight took off on Sunday at 12.15 pm from Agartala. The flight was supposed to pass through Kolkata and reach Nagpur by around 4 pm. But this did not happen. The flight reached Kolkata and passangers were asked to get down and board the flight to Delhi. Another IndiGo flight took the passangers to Delhi. The passangers had to wait for long time during all these developments. They were suffering physically and mentally. Surprisingly, the airliner personnel were rude and not responding to t

By Vikas Vaidya Coming heavily on the medical colleges in Maharashtra, Fee Regulating Authority (FRA) has warned private medical colleges that charging extra fees than the approved one would be termed as illegal. Actually, FRA has already relaxed the conditions with regards to fees being charged for the seats under Non-Resident Indian (NRI) and the institutional one, than the one fixed by the Authority. Colleges only have to declare the fees prior on their websites. Private professional medical colleges and other institutions are charging the fees in multiples of the regular fees approved by the FRA from the students admitted under the quota of NRI and institutional one. This issue was discussed in the meeting of FRA chaired by Justice M N Gilani who is Chairperson of FRA. FRA through a clarification has made it clear that it received lot of complaints mainly from Post Graduate students of medical course that the management was demanding higher fees than the fees approved by FRA

By Vikas Vaidya Medical Council of India (MCI) has increased the teacher:student ratio in medical colleges resulting in increase in Post Graduate medical seats in Maharashtra. The PG seats increased by 74. It has been decided to increase the teacher-student ratio from 1:2 to 1:3 for professors and 1:1 to 1:2 for associate professors (team leaders) to ensure more PG seats. The MCI has given its nod to increase 74 seats to various post-graduate courses for the 2018-19 academic year in different medical colleges managed by the state. The state directorate of medical education and research (DMER) intimated Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS). Dr Dileep Mhaisekar, Vice-Chancellor of MUHS told ‘The Hitavada’ that MCI approved 74 PG seats. The university had proposed an increase of 100 seats for the 2018-19 academic year. With this increase of 74 seats, the total number of PG seats in government colleges has gone up to 1,564, added Dr Mhaisekar. There are 25 Government Medi

By Vikas Vaidya Government Dental College and Hospital (GDCH) decided to give 27 rooms of its hostel situated near the hostel number 3, for the students of All India Institute of Medical Sciences at Nagpur. This will be a first batch of AIIMS at Nagpur. Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) has already allotted the class rooms, space for practical, wards to AIIMS as a temporary arrangement. The admissions to 50 AIIMS seats are underway. The counseling is being done at GMCH only for which Dean Dr Abhimanyu Niswade constituted a committee. Dr Viral Kamdar, Health Advisor to Union Minister of Surface Transport Nitin Gadkari and Coordinator for AIIMS said, “The issue of stay for the AIIMS students was troubling us. GDCH earlier had given 18 rooms for AIIMS students. So we could have accommodated 36 students had two students shared one room. I then requested GDCH administration to give seven more rooms and it was kind enough to give 9 more rooms.” Till its own building comes int

By Vikas Vaidya The Medical Education Department (DMER) of Maharashtra Government made one year bond compulsory to the students of private unaided and government-aided medical colleges who avail the benefits of various scholarship schemes. This will be applicable from the academic year 2018-19. The students after completing MBBS have to render their services in rural areas as a Government assignment. Around 500 such MBBS doctors graduating from private medical colleges across Maharashtra availing of scholarships and freeships will be included. Till this year the bond was not mandatory for a single student from private unaided or Government-aided medical colleges. The demand was being made from all quarters that the students of private medical colleges should not be exempted. In fact this year DMER had come out with the circular according to which it did not allow students to appear in the Common Entrance Test for the admission to Post Graduate medical education. The circular had exe

By Vikas Vaidya The solution regarding high rise buildings near funnel area of Nagpur’s Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport is still not in sight. These buildings have now emerged as biggest threat to the growth of the airport and very survival as an important airport. Meanwhile Nagpur Municipal Corporation has decided to convene a joint meeting of civic authorities and airport related units like MIHAN India Limited (MIL), Airport Authority of India (AAI). MIL that runs the airport, has even mooted a proposal to reduce the length of runway that will disallow the landing of big aircraft. When contacted Virendra Singh, Municipal Commissioner replied very positively. He told ‘The Hitavada’ that since his joining though he did not receive any letter, he was a bit aware of some developments. He further assured that he would soon convene a joint meeting of stakeholders so that some solutions could be find out. Whenever any construction is taken within the 20 km area of any airport

By Vikas Vaidya Maharashtra Government has asked 12 schools in Nagpur to return the money given as grant. The schools were earlier considered eligible to receive the grants, but subsequently Government felt that the approval process was flawed. Though the exact amount due from each school is not known, the total recovery is pegged at Rs 3.5 crore. Long back Government had decided to sanction new schools provided they would not take grant. Accordingly they were given status of permanent un-aided. After the clear stand of Government, schools still started demanding the grants. Finally it was decided that the grant would be given to the schools, if they should fulfill the conditions put by Government. The grants were to be given part by part— 20 per cent in one year, 40 per cent afterwards, 60 per cent later. This way schools were supposed to get 100 per cent grant. But Government took a U-turn and in September, 2016, it decided to give only 20 per cent grant to these schools. Last yea

By Vikas Vaidya Department of cardiology in Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH-SSH), has added another feather in its cap by successfully implanting a percutaneous device for closure of a paravalvular leak in a patient who had a  mitral valve replacement surgery 10 years ago. This 38 year old female patient came with a history of haemolytic anaemia and heart failure due to development of a hole beside her replaced valve and was in sick condition. The development of hole is generally due to dehiscence of suture line, or by infection, said Dr P P Deshmukh, working as Associate professor in the department. Generally such holes need another surgery which has a mortality of nearly 50%, and more so, in sick patients. Surgeons are reluctant to take such patients as it may entail same problem after redo surgery and it is technically extremely challenging, explains Dr P P Deshmukh. This case was successfully done by percutaneous route in local anaesthesia via a device which was me

     Girish Mahajan By Vikas Vaidya Except five medical colleges run by Government and Municipal Corporation that too in Mumbai and Pune, no other Government Medical Colleges (GMCs) in Maharashtra has Post Graduation department of Psychiatry. On the contrary, every private medical college does have PG in Psychiatry. Considering the need for the PG, the Medical Education Minister Girish Mahajan has decided to bring PG course in Psychiatry in all the GMCs. Girish Mahajan told ‘The Hitavada”, “The increasing number of patients suffering from various mental disorders is the issue of concern. The need for having PG in Psychiatry has arisen. Some GMCs in State fulfill the necessary conditions, some don’t. We will upgrade the departments in the GMCs where the facilities lack. At some places arrangement like tie-up can be made. For example, in Nagpur’s Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital (IGGMCH), the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is being signed with Regiona

Arundhati Sathe By Vikas Vaidya How should be the smart city? How should be its roads? How should be its square? There are lot many questions to ask about to-be smart city. Arundhati Sathe, present Secretary of Indian Institute of Interior Design (IIID) has come up with some ideas from the designer perspectives. She herself is Interior Designer. Electric Friction Panel Sathe has put an idea regarding generating the electricity through the cars which remain static when signal is red. She revealed, “Open space in the middle of square gather a continuous flow of traffic. Considering the situation and the number of vehicle pass create friction and so use of friction panel, which can create electricity, is nothing but an advanced technology. Putting this, will generate another 10 KW of energy. On an average 25 KW of electricity is required to lit the lights and traffic signals in a junction.” Roof Shades with solar panel Government at Centre and State is promoting use of sola

By Vikas Vaidya The Airports Authority of India (AAI), in collaboration with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), has already developed a system, SkyRev 360, which ensures automatic data collection from various electronic systems being used for control of aircraft, invoicing and collection under Make in India initiative last year. Now AAI has come up with yet another innovative concept ‘SKYBOOKS360’ which is an integrated 3-Business solution for Airport Operators. On Friday at Nagpur, AAI and Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) signed an agreement for  Skybooks360 in presence of S Suresh, Board Member of Finance, AAI and Suresh Kakani, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC).  He is also the Chairman-cum-Managing Director of MIHAN. V M Mulekar, Sr. Airport Director of MIHAN India Limited (MIL); Chandrashekhar Tewari, AGM, Business Development; Shwetali Thakare, Chief Finance Officer, MADC. Skybooks360 is a custo

By Vikas Vaidya The Public Health Institute (PHI) that has been upgraded to State Institute of Health and Family Welfare, Maharashtra is running without teaching staff. The institute is expected to impart training to medicos, paramedical staff of whole State to bring the quality in healthcare. This is the only institute throughout the State and it is lacking the required manpower. Earlier the institute had a nomenclature as PHI. It is among the few old institutes of Maharashtra. Recently it was upgraded to State Institute of Health and Family Welfare, Maharashtra (SIHFW) with three other sections were merged into it. They include Health and Family Welfare, Leprosy Training Centre and RCTC health services. The Principal of PHI is upgraded to the post of Director. The expectations from the institute is national level training and state level training to be imparted to doctors and paramedical staff. It also runs courses like  Diploma in Public Health and Health Education. The Institute

    By Vikas Vaidya Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT) (erstwhile VRCE) is listed at number 5 among 20 Government run universities by the India Today survey. The speciality of VNIT is that it never stops progressing. Now, it has got a dynamic Director in the form of Dr Pramod Padole who himself is its alumni. Many people are not prepared to take charge of top posts. But a simple looking Dr Padole is different. VNIT is his soul and so the road map to make VNIT a world class institution is already in his mind. While talking to ‘The Hitavada’, Dr Padole unveiled his plans those he would be implementing. Dr Padole has successfully completed more than 14 consultancy projects in the areas of appropriate technology, design and finite element analysis which were funded by DST, MHRD, KVIC and AICTE. Dr Padole has received “Academician Par Excellence” award from Institute of Engineers in 2017 for the life-time contribution in the areas of product development, process d