m egaphone Monthly Newsletter from Indian Medical Association, Cochin Branch Issue 174 January 2018 Say no to NMC! President s Message Dear Friends, Cochin IMA welcomed 2018 with a spectacular New Year s Eve Extravaganza with songs and entertainment by our very own members. Dr. G.N Ramesh, our phenomenal master of ceremony enthralled us with his grace, charm and high energy. Our DJ Dr. Pramod Wariyar s mesmerising fast music was so infectious that even the stoic as well as the shy tapped their toes and our dance floor was filled with the young, the old, the sober and the inebriated. Thanks to Dr. M. Venugopal, Dr. M. Narayanan, Dr. Salini Sudhindran and Dr. M.M.Haneesh for their efforts in making this a grand success. Solidarity is the strength of any association and our united protest against the detrimental clauses in the proposed National Medical Council Bill succeeded in it being referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee. Congratulations and thanks to all our members for responding in a positive manner to such a short notice. Combating noise pollution had been our top priority and the State level brainstorming session with all stake holders at IMA House was very rewarding. We could chalk out a sleuth of programmes to make our citizens aware of the ill effects of noise. Lets update, excel and enjoy. Dr. Varghese Cherian FORTHCOMING EVENTS MONTHLY MEETING 31st Jan. 2018 Wednesday 8.00 pm Meeting called to order 8.05 pm Scientific Session TOPIC Acute Abdominal pain - PANEL DISCUSSION Moderator : Dr Santhosh John Abraham Panelists : Dr Deepak Varma dr Sudhindran dr Prakash K dr Paul Jose dr Padmakumar 8.50 pm Business matters 9.30 pm Vote of thanks Organised by COCHIN SURGICAL SOCIETY CCS Meet for Feb. 2018 Date : 8th Feb., Thursday Venue : PVS Memorial Hospital co-ordinator : Dr. Johny (96563 32219) Prof. Dr. Vasantha Nair (Convenor) Dr. Ramesh Shenoy (Co-ordinator) President Dr. Varghese Cherian Lourdes Hospital Pachalam, Cochin - 682 012 Mob : 94006 45077 drbobbyvc@yahoo.co.in Secretary Dr. Haneesh M.M. Govt. General Hospital Cochin - 682 011 Mob: 94475 28456 drhaneesh@gmail.com Treasurer Dr. Vinod Padmanabhan Sree Sudheendra Medical Mission Hospital Kacherippady, Ernakulam 682 018 Mob: 98474 48732 vinodpaddy@gmail.com@gmail.com
IMA Cochin Annual Day Sunday, 25th February 2018, 7am onwards at Regional Sports Centre Track & Field Events Basket Ball Various Fun games Badminton, Table Tennis, Chess and Carroms will be conducted in IMA House. For more details contact : Dr. Vinod Padmanabhan Ph : 98474 48732 Secretary'sMessage Dear all, Happy New Year. Thank you all for coming in good numbers for IMA New Year Bash and making it a huge success. Once again IMA has demonstrated our unity by striking on 2nd Jan against NMC Bill. Thanks to all IMA Cochin members and hospital managements who co-operated for a genuine cause. A soft reminder on upcoming events : 31st Jan. 4.00 pm - Campaign on Drug abuse kick starts at Marine Drive with a rally; same day 8.00 pm - our monthly meeting. 25th Feb. - IMA Annual Sports Meet. Details will be intimated soon. Once again, wishing you all a wonderful year ahead. Thanking you, Yours in IMA, Dr. Haneesh M.M. COCHIN WIMA ACTIVITIES WIMA monthly meeting and Christmas celebrations was held on December 8th. IMA president Dr Varghese cherian delivered Christmas message. Dr Sheeja talked on diabetes in women. SOCIAL ACTIVITIES Dr Parvathy received an award for best performing art centre in state from Health Minister at Trivandrum on world AIDS day. World AIDS day was observed at Taluk hospital, Angamaly with support of Little Flower School of Nursing; at Amrita school of Pharmacy; Dr Parvathy conducted World AIDS day programme on dec 5th at GH, Ernakulam. Dr Pushpa gave a lecture at Anesthesia National Conference in Kolkata. Dr Gracy Thomas visited home of faith. Dr Chitrathara gave cancer awareness talk at Kalady. Dr Ranjini gave a talk on sleep apnea surgery at Balaji Medical College, Chennai. Dr Sheeja gave a talk on lifestyle diseases at SN college, Chertala. Dr Sheela c. babu gave talk on nutrition in pregnancy at EMC hospital, Ernakulam. Dr Parvathy gave talk at Snehalayam Special School, vazhakkala on child sexual abuse on World Disability Day and also conducted training on gender based violence for health workers at GH Ernakulam. WIMA members and WIMA kids performed group dance at IMA new year celebrations. Dr. Gracy Thomas wima Christmas Celebrations Home made delicious cakes, chutneys, pickles, organic vegetables and dress materials & sarees with hand embroidery were on display Dr Parvathy received award for best performing ART centre in state from health minister Dr Swapna Mohan gave talk on infertility at govt Ayurveda college, Tripunithura 2
Why we oppose NMC bill? NMC will legalise corruption! Many are concerned about malpractices in MCI and welcome the move for NMC, which they hope will end corruption. Forget the fine prints, often the document itself is not read. Analysing the proposed NMC bill will make it quite evident, that it s nothing but legalising corruption. There are four main drawbacks in the proposed bill. 1. It opens wide area for corruption. 2. It would devastate public health by diluting standards of medical practice. 3. It will make Medical education the exclusive domain of rich and would deny social and economic justice. 4. It is against the basic fabric of our nation, democracy. NMC bill is the worst disaster happening to medical field in the history of independent India. Some may wonder, why? The answers are obvious to anyone who studies the document. The private medical colleges can start any UG or PG course, that too any number of seats. There will be no inspection for first few years. Thereafter if their facilities are found inadequate they will be fined. So far, so good. But here comes the big bouncer. The fine could be from five crore to hundred crore (an example) for the same inadequacy in the same institution, the quantum being decided by the NMC committee. Aren t these open loopholes? MBBS graduates have to clear a licentiate exam to enable them to register. This, they say, is to ensure uniform standards. IMA and Medicos feel a common MBBS exam is a better choice as another entrance exam will only help the entrance mafia (possibly another area for kickbacks) and also divert students from the much required clinical studies to mugging theory which wouldn t be desirable from the point of view of patient care. Now comes the next bouncer. Even if the student doesn t clear the licentiate exam, NMC would still have the power to allow him to register. Naturally, one is forced to ask, on what criterion? NMC would make Medical education purely commercial. Government will interfere in the fees of only up to forty percent (which could even be zero) seats in private colleges. That means the management gets to fix fees for sixty to hundred percent seats. Naturally the prices would sky rocket, poor and Protest Meeting at Gh Ima strikes again... Rajagiri Hospital Lourdes Hospital Medical Trust Hospital megaphone January 2018 socially weak would get eliminated. The worst clause is yet to be mentioned. Hitherto the basic qualification to practice modern medicine was MBBS. Seventy years after independence, after the life expectancy of our citizens have increased from thirty to seventy years, when world over more standards are being brought into medical care, suddenly the Government realise that we need to allow even those undergoing courses in other systems to practice modern medicine. NMC can allow any system to practice modern medicine after doing a bridge course. It will certainly dilute the standards of all systems and thereby public health. Isn t the true motive obvious? Those alternate medicine seats too can be sold at higher rates! Is democracy good? Well, there shouldn t be any doubt about this in modern society. It may have demerits, yet everyone will agree that this is the best form of Governance for any body. Why Medical council should be an exception? If few Parliamentarians are corrupt should we abolish Parliamentary system as such? NMC is going to be a nominated body. How can any regulatory body be nominated by someone whom they are supposed to regulate. If there are drawbacks in MCI act it should be corrected. Suitable amendments can be brought in. If there are corrupt individuals they should be booked under law. Any avenue for corruption should be plugged. But replacing a body which has held the country s hand to provide some of the best doctors the world has ever seen and provided the country with rapidly improving health parameters with a body which leaves wide loopholes for corruption and is bound to upset the standards of public health and medical care is certainly not welcome. NMC would be a disaster for the country, the earlier we realise and get rid of it, the better. Together let s fight to safeguard our profession and public health. decision of emergency Executive Committee meeting of ima cochin branch held on 1.1.2018 at the ima house. The Cochin IMA Executive committee meeting on 1.1.2018 has decided that we strongly support the National IMA decision to go on strike on 2.1.2018 as this is the need of the hour. We have to show our unity and close our OPDs compulsory for 12 hours tomorrow and to convene a protest meeting in respective hospitals. Hereby requesting all hospital owners and doctors to cooperate with the IMA Cochin executive committee meeting decision. Dr. Varghese Cherian Dr M M Haneesh President Secretary IMA Cochin 3
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X mas Celebrations at Ima House New office bearers of IAP Cochin. Dr. Muhamed Ismail P.M. (President), Dr. Rohin Abraham (Secretary) and Dr. Rekha Zacharias (Treasurer) Congratulations! Chairman, IMA Blood Bank presenting memento to Mrs. Siny Denny for completing 25 years of service Special appreciation for IMA Cochin by District Medical Officer for the services rendered towards MR Campaign IMA Cochin in Media Dr. M.I. Junaid Rahman, Sudheendra Medical Mission Hospital and Dr. T.V. Ravi, Ernakulam Medical Centre, have been awarded the Fellowship of Indian Aca demy of Pediatrics (FIAP). This award is given to 20 selected pediatricians in the country considering their contribution and service to child health. 6
December CME : Managing Type 2 Diabetes What s the Future? : Dr. P. Jayaprakash, Prof. r.v. jayakumar, Dr. Suja Sukumar, Dr. Sujay Prasad; Chair - Dr. Arun S. Menon, Aims, Kochi Dr Vinod Padmanabhan honoured by District Collector for his contribution to the free joint replacement surgeries at Sree Sudheendra Medical Mission Hospital. Talk at Sreenarayana Medical College - Dr Rajeev Jayadevan on Communication skills in healthcare Emergency executive meeting on January 1st. Adolescent health class at Sacred Heart hss thevara by dr Parvati TB Elimination mission- Vulnerability risk assessment at residence of Hon ble Chief Justice Shri Antony Dominic NISS - National Initiative of Safe Sound - State level review meeting @ IMA House Palliative care Day celebration at General Hospital Ekm in association with ima Cochin Talk on Ergonomics by Dr Prather Kumar @ The Tata Capital Services, Kochi Executive Committee meeting IMA Christmas New year celebration with inmates of old age home. New year celebration @Puthuvypu Beach - Care of Elderly bls training at tripunithura Traffic Police Station by dr. m.m. haneesh Handing over cheques for Rs.34,40,000/-, from SSS I, II to the family of late Dr. Thomas Cyriac Kandathil Handing over cheques for Rs.35,69,500/-, from SSS I, II and National Security Scheme to the family of late Dr. C.K. Devadas 7