Times Chennai E-PaperAugust 10, 2009Page 3
Chennai, Aug.10 :
TamilNadu Chief Minister MKarunanidhi today said hewould chair the high-levelmeeting to be held heretomorrow to decide if theconstitution of a monitoringcommittee was imperativeto tackle the outbreak ofswine flu, which hasclaimed life of a four-year-old boy.Addressing apress conference at theDMK party headquartershere, he said all decisionson taking any contingencymeasures to control theswine flu pandemic wouldbe taken at the meeting.Asked if theTamil Nadu governmentwould issue any specialdirections to schools andother educationalinstitutions in the wake ofthe death of the boy in aprivate hospital, he saidall issues including theconstitution of themonitoring committee, ifformed would bediscussed at tomorrow'smeeting.''Severalmeasures to control theoutbreak may come up atthe meeting tomorrow. If Iexpress any view now,there would not be anynecessity for tomorrow'smeeting,'' he quipped,answering anotherquestion.However, MrKarunanidhi said kickingup a fear psychosis overthe outbreak would onlyaggravate the situation.''The onus is on youreporters and othermedia to remove suchapprehensions,'' headded.
Decision on monitoring committee onH1N1 pandemic tomorrow: CM
Chennai, Aug.10
: TamilNadu Chief Minister MKarunanidhi today said anamicable solution would befound for the contentiousHogenakkal drinking waterproject with neighbouringKarnataka, in the wake ofopposition to it by the latter.Answeringquestions on the project,the Chief Minister whoreturned here last nightfrom Bangalore afterpresiding over the functionto unveil the statue of Tamilsaint poet Thirvvallvvarthere, he said hisparticipation in thatfunction had nothing to dowith Cauvery orHoganakkal issues.Asked what wasthe present position onthe Hogenakkal drinkingwater project taken up byhis government, MrKarunanidhi said ''theKarnataka Chief Ministerhas already spokenabout the project. I havealso replied to it statingthe Tamil Nadugovernment's stand.''''Definitely an amicablesolution will be found onthe issue'', he said.Asked if theTamil Nadu governmentwould also invite theopposition party leadersfor the function here onAugust 13 to unveil thestatue of Kannada saint-poet Sarvajnar, MrKarunanidhi said hewould invite them.Mr Karunanidhialso ruled out any threatperception to the functionto unveil Sarvajnar statueat the proposed site. ''Thestatue would be installedat the proposed site.However, the functionhad to be shifted to anearby playground whichI examined this morning'',he explained.He said thechange of function venuewas not due to any threatperception.
Hogenakkal issue would beresolved amicably: Karunanidhi
Chennai, Aug.10
: The500-bed Global Hospitalsand Health City hasembarked on a majorexpansion drive to becomea multi-organ transplanthospital, besides venturinginto other cities for a panIndia presence in the nexttwo years.Talking toreporters here last night,hospital chairman andmanaging director DrRavindranath said to beginwith the hospital hasestablished a world classtransplant centre for liverand pancreas here.For this purposethe hospital has roped ineminent liver transplantexpert Prof MohammedRela, who has performedmore than 1,200transplants in UK duringthe last 15 years.The ChennaiHospital performed the firstliver transplant when DrRela did a nearly five hour-long surgery on a patientwith alcoholic liver diseaseusing a cadaver transplanton Saturday.Dr Ravindranathsaid, to take health care tomore than the superspeciality level, thehospital, apart fromspeciality divisions,would be focussing onimportant areas like liverand pancreastransplantation surgery,besides other transplantsto make the hospital amulti-organtransplantation centrewith the help of Dr Rela.The newtransplant centre wouldbe much bigger than thefacility the hospital had inHyderabad andBangalore.He said Dr Rela,an alumni of theGovernment StanleyMedical College here,would be working closelywith the Global Hospitalsand governmentinstitutions during his twoyear stint in India fromSeptember.Apart fromtraining the staff of GlobalHospitals on liver andpancreas transplants toenable them achievegood results and set highstandards in health care,Dr Rela, who had a 15year-long stint at thefamous King's CollegeHospital in London wouldalso offer his service andexpertise to other privateand governmenthospitals.
Global Hospitals to introduce multiorgan transplant facility
Chennai, Aug.10 :
TheMadras High Court todaydirected the registry topost before some otherbench the pending caseagainst police officialsfollowing a clash betweenadvocates and policepersonnel at the courtpremises on February 19.When thepetitions filed by senioradvocates, Madras HighCourt AdvocatesAssociation and otherlawyers associationscame up before a divisionbench comprisingJustices S J Mukhopadhaand K Chandru, thesenior advocates andrepresentatives of thepetitioner associationssubmitted that the StateGovernment ignored theearlier order of the benchto suspend the higherofficials, who wereinstrumental in brutalattack on the advocateson the ''black day''.''No officialsconcerned appearedbefore the court, If so, thebench can issue notice tothem'', Judges observedand said the presentbench is not willing tohear the case further.The bench alsodirected the registry totake up the matter withChief Justice to post thecase before some otherbench.On February21, the Division Benchdirected the StateGovernment to suspendthe then AdditionalCommissioner of Police AK Viswanathan and JointCommissioner of NorthChennai RamaSubramanian and twoother officials, whoallegedly lathicharged thelawyers in Court premises.Challenging this directionViswanathan andRamasubramanian movedthe Supreme Court topraying to set aside theorder.Last month, theapex court asked offcials toapproach the High Court toplead against theirsuspension order. Till datethey have not filed anypetition in the Madras HighCourt.
HC directs registry to post caseagainst police to other bench
Chennai, Aug.10I:
WithTamil Nadu reporting thefirst swine flu death of achild, Chief Minister MKarunanidhi hasconvened a high-levelmeeting on Tuesday tochalk out measures tocontain further spread ofthe viral disease.The meetingwould be attended bymedical professionalsand state governmentofficials, Karunanidhi toldreporters here.Amongmeasures to check thespread of deadly virus,the meeting would alsodiscuss on setting up atop-level monitoringcommittee.It would alsolook into issues likereported scarcity of testkits at King Institute, theonly authorised centre inTamil Nadu to carry outswab tests.No need for panicMr. Karunanidhiappealed to the peoplenot to panic as the stategovernment would takeall necessary steps tocontain further spread ofthe disease.A four-year-oldboy, Sanjay B, withsymptoms of swine flu,died at a private hospitalhere this morning,becoming the firstcasualty from the stateand the sixth in thecountry.The boy washospitalised for highfever and cold a week-ago and had testedpositive for the virusyesterday. He had beenput on ventilator, Dr NPrahalad of the hospitalsaid."It isunfortunate that the boysuccumbed to thedisease due to multipleorgan failure," Dr NPrahalad, pediatricianand pediatricnephrologist whoattended on Sanjay at theMehta Hospital, toldreporters.The boy washospitalised on Friday in acritical condition and testedpositive to the virus aftersamples were taken onSaturday, Prahalad said.The doctor saidthe boy's blood pressureand pulse started todeteriorate "drastically"and he succumbed to thedisease despite all efforts.To a question on the sourceof the disease, Prahaladsaid it was very difficult toascertain from where hehad contracted the virus.Sanjay is the the sixth andyoungest victim of thedreaded disease since itsoutbreak in the country.Chief Minister MKarunandhi has conveneda meeting of medicalprofessionals and topofficials to discuss steps todeal with the situation andmay consider setting up ofa monitoring committee.
Swine flu: TN CM conveneshigh-level meeting
Chennai, Aug. 10 :
A father along with his two childrencommitted suicide by jumping into the Puzhal lake onSunday night. Police said he took the extreme stepafter his wife commited suicide two days ago.Red Hillspolice said the deceased were Velayutham (35) ofLakshmipuram, Kolathur, a daily wage labour and hischildren Suji (6) and Hari (4). Velayutham had takenboth his children to the banks of the Puzhal lake on hismotorcycle. After parking the vehicle he threw his kidsinto water and jumped into it afterwards, police said.The bodies of the children were found floatingearly Monday. Velayutham's body was found nearbyafter a few hours, police added.
Father throws children intolake, commits suicide
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