SCTIMST performs complex cardiac surgery on child

The child had failed to thrive because of a rare congenital anomaly of the mitral valve of the heart  mitral arcade or hammock mitral valve which had resulted in heart failure (a progressive condition in which the heart is unable to pump sufficient blood for the body).

Mitral valve repair surgery for this anomaly is quite complex. On Thursday, Ananthu became the first patient at Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) to undergo this complicated open heart surgery. Pedro Del Nido, cardiac surgeon from Children's Hospital Boston in the U.S., assisted by the cardiac surgery team from SCTIMST performed the surgery. The child is doing well at the ICU, doctors at the SCTIMST said.

Surgical and interventional workshops were the highlights of the day and these were relayed live to an audience of over 500 delegates from the operation theatres and Cath lab. A hands-on 3D Echocardiography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging workshops and symposiums on all the frontier areas of paediatric cardiology are being organised as part of the conference.

Paediatric cardiology has come a long way in the treatment of congenital heart diseases in children. From an era (1970s) when closing ‘hole in the heart' or Atrial Septal Defect was a major open heart operation requiring even 26 transfusions, today this is just a 20-minute procedure done in the Cath Lab itself, said S. Sivasankaran, Professor of Cardiology at SCTIMST. 

The fourth annual conference of Pulmonary Vascular Research Institute, South East Asia Region, is also being organised concurrently. The event will be inaugurated on October 1. Several international faculty and experts from across the country will participate in the conference.

 

NAOB-displaced persons undertake 70-km padayatra to Collectorate

More than 2,000 people, including many women from Vaadanarsapuram and Kothapatnam in Rambilli mandal and Bangarammapalem in S. Rayavaram mandal, who have been displaced by the Naval Alternate Operations Base (NAOB) coming up in their area, undertook a 70-km padayatra to the city and staged a dharna in front of the Collectorate on Wednesday. Collector Lav Agarwal, after a few hours of talks with their representatives and leaders of political parties, assured the villagers that four of their main demands would be accepted.

Mr. Agarwal addressed the dharna participants and announced that the relief package would be given to the list of displaced prepared by the government in the past and if there were any additions, the gram sabhas must accept them; the government and the Indian Navy would provide training to the youth aged above 18 years and engaging them as contract workers or permanent employees would depend on their skills; the women and widows would be included in the package; and a school would be established and a jetty for fishing boats would be provided at a place acceptable to the Naval authorities.

Mr. Agarwal said and wanted the fishermen to cooperate with the authorities in this regard. He also announced that Rs. 21.5 crore, including Rs. 14 crore received from the Navy and Rs. 7.5 crore from the government, would be disbursed to the DPs within 10 days.

 

Air passengers geta warm welcome

As an initiative to mark World Tourism Day, members of Travel Club received passengers who arrived in two morning flights and greeted them with sweets at the airport terminal here on Tuesday. More than 150 passengers were given a table-top album containing colourful pictures of heritage sites, cultural activities and festivals of Madurai. The passengers included Tamil film actors, directors, business persons and foreign tourists. 

Travel Club president S. Arumainathan, vice-president K. Muralidharan, secretary B.S.G. Musthafa and other officer-bearers of the club welcomed them. Prominent among those received include actors Karthi and Nazar, directors Amir and Seeman, and industrialist Nalli Kuppusamy.

Since 1980, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) celebrates World Tourism Day on September 27. It was the day in 1970 in which two statutes of the UNWTO were adopted. The theme of this year is ‘Tourism – Linking Cultures.'

 

Three students fatally hit by lorry

Three students were fatally knocked down by a lorry near their school at Velliyur in Tiruvallur district on Tuesday morning. According to police, the students of Government Higher Secondary School on Tiruvallur-Red Hills Road were standing near a roadside eatery opposite their school when the lorry ran over them after hitting a road divider. 

Five other students sustained injuries in the accident and were referred to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Chennai. According to police, the accident took place around 9.30 a.m. when the students were about to take their breakfast near the roadside eatery. 

They had little time to react as the lorry suddenly crashed into the eatery after hitting the median.While Munusamy, Mohandoss and Rajkumar, studying in class XII, were declared dead at the District Government Headquarters Hospital in Tiruvallur, Sabhapathy, Thambidurai, Selvakumar, Nagaraj and Rajbharath, their classmates, who sustained injuries, were taken to Chennai. 

The Vengal police who have registered a case are on the lookout for the lorry driver, who fled the scene after the accident. Traffic on Tiruvallur-Red Hills Road was disrupted for some time after locals and school students staged a road roko. They withdrew their agitation after senior officials assured them that necessary steps would be initiated to apprehend the driver and measures initiated to prevent accidents in future.

 

 

Teenager beaten to death by police: Family

The family of a teenaged boy staged a protest outside a hospital in South-East Delhi on Sunday alleging that their son was beaten to death by the police. The police denied the allegations as baseless and fabricated.

The teenaged boy, a resident of Ambedkar Nagar, died at Batra Hospital on Sunday following which the agitated family staged a protest and blocked traffic. The family alleged that their son was on his way home from tuition on September 3 when he entered into an altercation with a policeman who took him to the Ambedkar Nagar police station and allegedly beat him up. He died due to the injuries sustained during the beating, the family alleged.

For their part, the police said he was never brought to the police station and was not beaten up. “There was a call to the Police Control Room on September 3 saying that some men were consuming liquor in the open following which a Sub-Inspector went to the area. When the policeman reached the spot, the others managed to escape but the boy injured his ankle while trying to flee and was caught. He was scolded and let off. He was not brought to the police station. The family took him to a hospital the next day for treatment and told the doctor that the boy had met a road accident,” said Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-East) Meghna Yadav.

On September 18, the sub-inspector again called up the boy's father regarding a complaint of encroachment against him. “Two days later, the boy's father came to the police station and gave a written complaint alleging that his son was beaten up. The boy died on Sunday morning and they staged a protest. He was probably under treatment for some other ailment. We have decided to get his post-mortem done to know the cause of death,” said Ms. Yadav.

 

Families of Tamil Nadu victims to be flown to Kathmandu

The family members of the eight air crash victims from here will be taken to New Delhi on Monday morning and flown to Kathmandu to identify the bodies, Tamil Nadu Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Minister N.R. Sivapathi said on Sunday. 

The State government was making all efforts to bring back the bodies, he told journalists here after conveying condolences on the government's behalf to the families. Tiruchi MP P. Kumar will take a member of each family by a flight from Chennai to Delhi. Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and DMK president M. Karunanidhi have condoled the deaths. 

Ms. Jayalalithaa said: I am greatly shocked that most of the victims are Tamils.  Mr. Karunanidhi said the relatives of DMK leaders, S. Regupathy and Tiruchi Selvaraj, were among the deceased.

 

Nature soothes quake-ravaged

On Friday morning, the road was cleared up to Toong from Mangan, headquarters of North Sikkim district. Five days after the massive earthquake that struck the region, it came as a big relief to local residents as well as the Army personnel who were engaged in the gargantuan task of clearing the roads.

 

From Toong, the road bifurcates towards two quake-ravaged destinations, Shipgyre and Chunghthang.

The real fight starts from here though. What we have done so far will be nothing in comparison to the challenge that lies ahead,  Sanjay Sharma, Commanding Officer of 52 Engineer Regiment of the Army asserted.

Ashok Subba was searching for remnants of his makeshift home at Toong amid rubbles. The house was flattened under tonnes of debris that rolled down the mountain side during the earthquake. One of his relatives was injured.

He went to Chunghthang on Thursday to find his friend who has not communicated since last Sunday.

It started raining while returning to Mangan from Toong. When the rains stopped, a middle-aged woman's happy voice drew my attention. She was calling her son to show the rainbow that had appeared on the horizon.

Maybe it was the first time that a rainbow was visible in North Sikkim after the quake hit the district as it immediately led people to forget all their fear and pain experienced over the past few days and become delighted.

And, needless to say that nature only can do it!