Urban News

The Hindu 20.11.2009

Master plan to renovate Coimbatore Medical College Hospital soon

Staff Reporter

Photo: M. Periasamy

PLANNING IN PROGRESS: Rural Industries Minister Pongalur N. Palanisamy (second left) having a word with Collector P. Umanath on Thursday at a meeting organised to plan the centenary celebrations of the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital. —

Coimbatore: The Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) Centenary Celebrations committee has decided to evolve a master plan to modernise and renovate the hospital besides carrying out improvements.

The centenary celebrations organising committee led by Rural Industries Minister, Pongalur N. Palanisamy, Mayor R. Venkatachalam and District Collector, P. Umanath held a meeting on Thursday to seek suggestions.

The hospital opened its doors on July 14, 1909 and entered the centenary year on July 14, 2008.

The CMCH was represented by Veerakesari (Dean in-charge), Resident Medical Officer, P. Sivaprakasam and Assistant Resident Medical Officer, R. Soundaravel.

Committee members C.R. Swaminathan, Chief Executive Officer of PSG Institutions, and Ashwin Thakkar, President, Coimbatore Gujarat Samaj were among those who participated.

Collector pointed out that bed capacity availability never matches with the requirement. Ninety per cent of the outpatients mainly come only to the three departments.

He said that the buildings constructed by the Government and those sponsored by organisations such as Lions and Rotary have turned the hospital into one with a lot of fragmented buildings.

“We need to evolve a master plan identifying the requirements, modernisation and renovations and plan the construction of the new building with a holistic plan.”

Some departments do not have adequate patients for the available bed capacity but some faculties of medicine get overcrowded.

There is a need to take into account the total number of additional beds that are required at the hospital and plan for the same.

Funds may not be a problem and a proposal for funds could be sent to the Government.

Mr. Umanath pointed out that in proposals sent to the Government in the past, there had been no proposal for Coimbatore and CMCH never figured in financial allocation.

Mr.Umanath also sought focus on departments that witness an inflow of more patients rather than concentrating on just niche areas of medical care.

He said a tower block could be constructed, preventing the fragmentation of connected departments.

Mayor, R. Venkatachalam said that the future constructions and facilities need to be done with foresight, keeping in mind the growing population. He promised to provide all possible assistance from the Corporation.

Mr.Umanath said that the previous Collector, Neeraj Mittal had mobilised Rs. 36 lakh funds from philanthropists which was yet to be utilised.

The Collector suggested that either a portion of this or the entire fund could be made seed capital and the remaining funds could be sourced from the Government.

He also asked the engineers to evolve plans for avoiding waterlogging of the hospital.

In addition to this, he wanted the committee members to identify resources for creating facilities such as shelter, waiting room and parking facilities for visitors which were crying needs and basic requirements.

The Hindu 20.11.2009

Major role for schools in preventing child abuse

Meera Srinivasan

CHENNAI: Several events were organised in the city on Thursday to mark the ‘World Day for the Prevention of Child Abuse.’ However, some activists and experts believe that sustaining such efforts is the real issue. They feel every day ought to be a ‘prevention of child abuse day’.

From abusing children emotionally for “poor academic performance” to sexual abuse, many children are being subjected to a lot of abuse, if reports of incidents highlighting these are an indication. But, there is something everyone can do to prevent this.

For instance, Lady Andal Matriculation School has been taking several efforts in this direction. In particular, it lays emphasis on generating awareness of child sexual abuse (CSA). Vice-principal Rathi Radhakrishnan says: “Everyone tends to brush such things under the carpet, saying child sexual abuse should not be there in schools. But, the truth is that it is there. Acknowledging the possibility [of CSA] is very important.”

From inviting experts in the field to address students, to sensitising teachers, the school has been taking up several efforts. “We even address the little ones in our Montessori sections about who can hug them, and how they should identify inappropriate, unacceptable behaviour of adults.”

Jayashree Padmanabhan, principal of Gill Adarsh Matriculation School, also thinks it is important for children to be given opportunities to speak out. “We wanted to know their opinion on child abuse and we organised events such as oratorical contest, debate and slogan-writing competition today [Thursday]. They came up with some very insightful thoughts.”

Underlying the role of schools in creating awareness, Tulir — Centre for the Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse has initiated ‘Daring to Care,’ a school-based campaign.

The initiative seeks to rope in city schools into the space of prevention of CSA. “Many schools have been extremely cooperative. Some have even distributed flyers to their kindergarten children with their school’s logo on them,” says Vidya Reddy, executive director, Tulir. Safe schools acknowledge and accept the possibility of abuse in and out of school. “They talk about it, giving children a notion of their safety,” she adds.

Schools should pay attention to their screening and recruitment process. “They have to see what kind of training is given to teachers on child protection, what measures are taken to maintain safety in schools, whether there is a code of conduct and questions such as, How do you report an allegation of abuse? And how do you address it?”

Complaint cell

The School Education Department launched a complaint cell (Number: 28273591) two years ago. According to a senior official at the Directorate of School Education, the cell does get calls from students reporting sexual abuse. “But, the number of such calls has come down.” The Chief Education Officers have been given instructions to deal with such cases “responsibly.” And responsibly would have to be taking the matter to the police immediately, and not merely transferring teachers, which is a common practice, say activists.

Interest to spread the message from different quarters is a promising sign. An online network of mothers, www.chennaimoms.com, has been sending out messages to parents on the possibility for abuse online and the need for Internet safety. “Many children spend considerable time online. Many parents said they did not know that such threats existed and seemed happy to become aware,” says Bhavani Raman, founder, chennaimoms.com.