Urban News

Source : The Hindu Date : 07.07.2009

Tambaram municipal officials destroy “wax polished” apples

Special Correspondent

TAMBARAM: Officials of the Tambaram Municipality on Monday seized nearly one tonne of “wax polished” apples from the main market of the town.

Officials said they were acting on complaints and reports that a huge quantity of apples that were polished with wax, used for making candles, were being sold by pavement vendors along Shanmugham Road and at some shops inside the market.

After confirming that the apples did have a layer of wax coating on their skin, several baskets and cartons of the fruit were brought to the office of the Tambaram Municipality and destroyed.

They said consumption of the wax polished apples could cause stomach pain and vomiting and other serious health problems. They said ever since the market was flooded with imported apples, wholesale distributors and middlemen procured apples cultivated in hilly areas of Tamil Nadu and other States, polished them with wax to give them a shiny, bright red colour. This made the apples look juicy and succulent. On top of it, they would affix stickers making them appear like imported apples, officials said, adding that a kg of the fruit was sold between Rs. 90 and Rs. 120.

They had started with pavement vendors and the raids would extend to supermarkets and department stores within the municipal limits. They had let off the vendors with a warning not to sell such wax polished apples again and if the traders persisted, appropriate action against them would be initiated, officials added.

Source : The Hindu Date : 30.06.2009

Health management systems, boon to people

P.S.Suresh Kumar

Nagercoil: The State government has launched Health Management Information System in all Government hospitals and Health Management System in all Primary Health Centres, which evoked very good response as more and more people approached government hospitals for better treatment free of cost, said S. Vijaya Kumar, Director, Tamil Nadu Health Project.

He said that under HMIS, basic details of out-patients would be computerised and an identity number would be given. All these details would be kept for ever and if a patient from Kanyakumari Government Hospital or Primary Health Centre wants to continue treatment at Arakkonam, doctors would be able to get all details of the patient in the computer as all systems were linked with the server in the headquarters at Chennai. As officials update all medicines available in Tamil Nadu Medical Service Corporation, doctors would be able to access information about what medicines need to be given to the patient. Various lab tests were carried out under this system and later computerized to facilitate the doctors to refer the patient to the doctor concerned. The lab results would also be given to the needy patient at free of cost.

Steps had already been taken to provide computers in all Primary Health Centres throughout the State in order to analyze the nature of disease under the Health Management System. In the first phase, a sum of Rs. 15 crore had been allotted for the implementation of Health Management Information System in Kanyakumari, Krishnagiri, Pudukottai and Theni. In the second phase, a sum of Rs. 50 crore would be allotted for the remaining districts.The case sheets would be computerized to inform the paramedical staffs and dieticians about what should be provided (medicines and food) to the particular in-patient.

Regarding the disposal of bio-medical waste, Vijaya Kumar said that the Government was spending huge amount to ensure that the environment was free from pollution. Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board had permitted to set up a bio-medical disposal yard in nine places in different parts of the district. All the bio-medical wastes from Kanyakumari district would be taken to Tirunelveli to dispose it under contract basis.

It has also been decided to provide a five-day inter-personnel training programme to doctors and other para-medical staffto treat the patients with a smiling face, he said. There were around 2.5 lakh persons affected by HIV/AIDS throughout the State. Of that 45,000 were undergoing Anti-Retro Viral Treatment. As there was a chance for the HIV affected persons to be affected with tuberculosis, steps were taken to prevent it, said Mr.Vijaya Kumar.