chronicle vol 3, issue 4

O F F I C I A L N E W S L E T T E R F R O M M G M C R I , S S S M C R I , I G I D S A N D K G N C

VOLUME 3ISSUE 4

OCT 2009 - DEC 2010

STEM CELL

THERAPY: A

glimse into this

newest branch of

Medicine

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SPOTLIGHT:

Central laboratory

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A n International Conference on Autism : Social Skills and Creativity was orga-

nized by Department of Social Work, Pondicherry University and Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth University, Puducherry on December 29.12.2009 and 30.12. 2009.

Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth University News Page: 10

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M aster Health C heck-up Unit

Master Health Check-Up Unit is an exclusive unit that deals with

the preventive as well as curative aspects of Medicine. Various private and pub-lic sector companies have the health check-up performed on their employees, which has become mandatory nowadays, through our Master Health Checkup unit.

During the quarter October to December 2009, a total of 327 cases were examined in the Master Heath checkup unit. Among the private sector compa-nies- Madras cements Ltd, Alathyur, Perambalur district, Teleflex Medical Private Ltd, Thirubuvanai, Puducherry, and Foseco India Ltd, Muthirapalayam, Puducherry completed the health checkup of their employees during this quarter. Among the total of 327 cases 117 were from the various companies. Apart from this, STCMS, Virudhachalam, Chempalst Sanmar Ltd, Cuddalore and TANFAC Ltd Cuddalore had the pre-employment checkup for the new recruits.

K al aingar K apeet tu Thit tam

Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute was empan-elled under ‘The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Health scheme on 26th November 2009. This Kalaingar Kapeettu Thittam is coverd by Star Health Insurance Pvt Ltd. The MOU was signed between Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Star Health Insur-ance on 26.11.2009. Under this scheme such of those the families whose annual income is below seventy two thousand are eligible for Rs 1lakh medical coverage for four years for various causes. Fifty two types of medical procedures are covered under this scheme.

The Star Health Insurance has appointed one Liaison Officer for

verifying the eligibility of the cases and getting the approval. Several poor fami-lies from the large service area of the Hospital as well as from various parts of Cuddalore, Virudhachalam and Per-ambalur districts are expected to benefit immensely from this scheme.

Cy to genetics - Dept of Medical Genetics, C entral R esearch L aboratory

M rs. A N Uma, Assistant Profes-sor of Medical Genetics, Central

Research Laboratory has karyotyped 23 cases referred from the clinical depart-ments during the second half of the year 2009. Down’s syndrome, Turner’s syndrome, Turner’s Mosaic, Klinefelter’s

MAHATMA GANDHI MEDICAL COLLEGE & RESEARCH INSTITUTE

TERTIARY CARE SERVICES

KKT Scheme Commenced

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syndrome are some of the numerical errors identified so far.

A n unusual case of a Klinefelter (47XXY karyotype) was observed.

He had worked in an iron casting unit a year back and had 24% aberrant meta-phase with breaks and fragments thereby proving that hyperthermia does cause chromosomal damage. Another rare finding was that of a 9 year old boy whose karyotype showed 32% chromosomal breaks, gaps and fragments confirming the diagnosis of Bloom syndrome (Chro-mosomal Breakage syndrome).

An interesting case, where a 2 year old boy with Talipes diagnosed as a Modi-fied Bardet Biedle Syndrome surprisingly had 32 % of chromosomal aberrations.

Among three couples who had come for karyotyping for recurrent abor-tions three women and two men showed an increased length of the short arm of chromosome 21. Such a finding of chromosome 21 is considered as a nor-mal variant without obvious clinical rel-evance. However, variant chromosome 21 (21 ps+) has been reported in individuals with a bad obstetric history.

Such correlations of clinical cases with cytogenetic findings have immensely enabled the post graduate students to send their work for publications in indexed journals. (These findings have been sent for publication in the form of four clinical cases.)

New E quiptment

Department of Orthopaedics

» New image intensifier has been acquired.

Department of Microbiology

The following major equipments were purchased recently (December 2009):

» Biological Safety Cabinet Class II (Kleanzone devices Pvt. Ltd.) - 2 nos

» ELISA Washer (BioRad) - 1 nos

» ELISA Reader (BioRad) - 1 nos

Department of Anaesthesiology & Critical Care

D epartment of Anaesthesi-ology and critical care has

recently added two more advanced equipments to its armamentarium to aid in better patient care and postgradu-ate teaching and training.

A new Arterial Blood Gas Analyser (RADIOMETER: ABL 80 FLEX) has been set up in the Intensive Care Unit.

This state of art machine helps to esti-mate the oxygen and carbon-di-oxide

tensions in a given blood sample thereby helping in instant treatment decisions.

The portable Ultrasound machine (Son-osite Micromax WK02J6) is used in the intensive care unit and the operation theatre complex for various diagnostic applications (bedside lung ultrasound) and therapeutic interventions(regional anesthesia & central venous access).

To stimulate the application of ultra-sound in anaesthesia, the department has recently conducted a CME program on the topic Ultrasound in Anaes-thesiology and Critical Care



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S cientific P ublications

» Joseph NM, Sistla S, Dutta TK, Badhe AS, Parija SC. Ventila-tor-associated pneumonia in a tertiary care hospital in India: incidence and risk factors. J Infect Dev Ctries 2009; 3(10): 771-7.

» Lingeswaran A, Barathi D, Sharma G. Dandy-Walker variant asso-ciated with bipolar affective disorder. J Pediatr Neurosci. 2009 Jul-Dec; 4:131-2. DOI: 10.4103/1817-1745.57341.

Awards » Dr. N. Ananthakrishnan, Profes-

sor of Surgery, was awarded the Prof. N. Rangabashyam Oration award of the Tamil Nadu Surgical Gastroenterol-ogy Association for 2009. During the Annual conference of the association he delivered the oration on the sub-ject “The Helicobacter duodenal ulcer story – after 25 years have we heard the last word”

S cientific P resentations

» Prof. N. Ananthakrishnan was invited to give a key note address on the occasion of the Medical Education conference (MEDUCON 2009) held at JIPMER, Pondicherry in October 2009. He spoke on the subject “Short-age of medical college teachers in India – can we ever make up the short fall.”

Officiation As C hair-person In Academic / S cientific Events

» Dr M. L. Prakash, Professor of Radiology attended The 62nd State Annual Conference – IRIA(Indian Radiological & Imaging Association) 2009 was held from 11th - 13th of Decem-ber 2009 at “Hotel Landmark”, Yelagiri Hills and officiated as chairperson at the inaugural session of the conference that covered wide range of topics such as Anterior Knee Pain –Differential Diagnosis, Hepatobiliary interventions , Renal Nonvascular Interventions & Tips & Pitfalls in Paediatric Barium studies

» Dr. S. N. Mothilal, Professor and Head of the department of Ortho-paedics officiated as chairperson of the scientific session of the 54th Annual Conference of Indian Orthopaedic Asso-ciation (IOACON) 2009 from 24th to 29th November 2009 at Bhubaneswar.

» Dr. F. Stanley Mangalakumar Robert , Prof. of Physiology, participated in an accelerated Leadership Seminar by Haggai Institute in Singapore from 7th November to 21st November 2009, for a period of 15 days. Topic covered were Effective usage of Audio visual aids in teachings, leadership, discipline, com-munication, developing writing skills & Goal setting. Twenty one participants, primarily professors and medical doctors from 9 countries had participated in the Seminar.

Participation in Academic/S cientific Events

» Dr. S. Srikanth, Associate Pro-fessor of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprology, attended the 7th National Conference of Paediatric Dermatology, Chennai held on November 7 - 8, 2009.

» Dr. N Mugunthan, Assistant Professor of Anatomy participated in the CME programme on “Transectional Anatomy and Imaging Techniques” at the Post Centenary Platinum Jubliee Celebration organized by the Institute of Anatomy, Madras Medical College, Chennai held on 17 November 2009.

» Dr. Kingshuk Lahon, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology attended the International Conference on Integrative and Personalised Medicine and 42nd Annual Conference of Indian Pharma-cological Society from 10 to 12 Decem-ber 2009 at Kolkata and presented a Poster on: “Adverse effects of Anti-psychotics, Antidepressants and Mood Stabilizers in a Tertiary care mental health setting - A retrospective study’

» Dr. Srirangaraj S, Assistant Pro-fessor of Microbiology participated as a delegate in microcon 2009, XXXIII National Conference of Indian Asso-ciation of Medical Microbiologists, held at JSS Medical College, Mysore, from 3rd to 8th November 2009 and presented a poster entitled “Normal CD4 and CD3 lymphocyte counts in healthy South Indian Adults from Mysore”.

» Dr. Uma Devi and Dr. Shailesh Kumar, Associate Professors of Microbi-ology, attended a CME on “Influenza A (H1N1)/ 2009”, held at Sri Sathya Sai Medical College & Research Institute, on 26th November 2009.

» Dr. Noyal Mariya Joseph, Assis-tant Professor of Microbiology attended

IN PURSUIT OF PROFESSIONAL EXCELLENCE



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the CME on “Influenza A (H1N1)/ 2009”, held at JIPMER, Pondicherry, on 27th November 2009.

» Dr. Srirangaraj S, Assistant Professor of Microbiology, attended the CME on “Surgical problems in Pediatric office practice”, orga-nized by TamilNadu & Puducherry Chapter of Indian Association of Pedi-atric Surgeons, held at MGMC & RI, Pondicherry, on 13th December 2009.

Miscell any » Dr. S. Ambujam, Professor and

head of department of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprology participated as a guest speaker in Advocacy Pro-gramme for parents and teachers held in connection with National Adoles-cence Education Programme by Kend-riya Vidyalaya No.1 on 21st November 2009 at JIPMER auditorium.She spoke on Adolescence Sexual Reproductive Health.

» She also addressed an HIV/AIDS awareness programme for trans-genders organised by the Sahodaran group on 5th December 2009 at Alli-ance Francaise, Puducherry.

» Dr. S. Ambujam was inter-viewed on All India Radio about Creat-ing Awareness for Parents in Adolescent Health on 9th December 2009.

» Dr. S. Ambujam officiated as Member of an Inspection team appointed by Pondicherry AIDS control society (PACS) for inspection of STI clinics in Puducherry at JIPMER and Odiensalai and GH Karaikal.

C ontinuing Medical E ducation P ro grams

Ultrasound in Anaesthesiology and Critical Care - One Day Work-shop

In the last decade the speciality of Anaesthesia & Critical Care has seen enormous growth. One of the main

reasons behind this growth is the induc-tion and adoption of modern technology, the latest addition being the use of ultra-sound, More than 700 research articles worldwide have been published in vari-ous journals during the last six months regarding the numerous applications of ultra sound in Anaesthesiology, Critical care and Emergency medicine.

In most of the developed countries, ultrasound guided central venous can-nulation has become the standard of care. The indications for the peripheral nerve blocks are increasing in the present sce-nario because of the widespread use of anti platelet and anti thrombotic drugs, demanding postoperative analgesia with nerve blocks for fast tracking.

Ultra sound applications in the criti-cal care settings have made rapid strides. These include optic nerve ultrasound in assessing the intracranial pressure, point of care diagnosis of pneumothorax, pleu-ral effusion and pulmonary edema in dyspnic patients, cardiac ultrasound in diagnosing tamponade and myocardial failure, FAST examination of the abdo-men in traumatic patients and evaluation of veins in the lower limb in ruling out DVT. Ultrasound plays a crucial role in the diagnosis of critically ill patients. While all these applications are well established in developed countries, in developing countries like India ultra-sound technology is still restricted to the radiological suite. Ultrasound applica-tions in Anaesthesiology are not prac-tised even in premier institutes of India.

With this foresight in mind, the Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care conducted a one day CME cum Work shop on Ultrasound in Anaesthesiology and Critical Care in our institute which was a first of its kind in Pondicherry.

The CME included four academic lectures in the morning delivered by emi-nent speakers from various specialties. The CME was inaugurated by Dr. K.R. Thyagarajan, Medical Superintendent of MGMCRI. Dr. Robinson Smile spoke

on the occasion. The program began with a lead talk by Professor Ravishan-kar, Head, Department of Anesthesiol-ogy, MGMCRI followed by Dr. Deepak Bharathi, Department of Radiology, MGMCRI who delivered a lecture on ultrasound basics. Dr. TVS Gopal from CARE hospitals, Hyderabad spoke about ultrasound guided regional anaes-thesia and vascular access in detail. A talk on Ultrasound guided haemody-namic assessment was delivered by an eminent critical care physician, Dr. Ram E Rajagopalan from Sundram Medical Foundation, Chennai, Tamilnadu with his emphatic voice. Finally Dr. Pankaj Kundra talked about ultrasound applica-tions in Lung, with his excellent slides, and the CME came to an end with an elaborate lunch.

In the afternoon, the workshop was conducted at the OT complex, IInd floor, Hospital block. Four stations were arranged for four applications, Station I dealt with Upper limb nerve blocks; station II for lower limb and neuroaxial blocks; station III for haemodynamic assessment and station IV for lung appli-cations. At the workshop, the delegates were given demonstrations regarding the respective Sonoanatomy and were allowed to handle the probe and the machine on volunteers.



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CME on ‘Surgical Problems in Pae-diatric Office Practice’

A Continuing Medical Education program (CME), on “Surgical Prob-lems in Paediatric Office Practice”, was organized by Dr. Mahalakshmi V.N, Associate Professor, Department of Pae-diatric Surgery, MGMCRI. The event was held at MGMCRI, Pillaiyarkup-pam, Pondicherry on 13.12.2009. Prof. K.R. Thyagarajan, the Medical Superin-tendent inaugurated the program. Prof. P. Kesavan, President, Tamilnadu and Pondicherry chapter of Indian Associa-tion of Paediatric Surgeons felicitated the gathering. He said that surgical prob-lems of varying severity are observed in about 10% of all patients attending a busy pediatric outpatient department. Early recognition as well as timely and appropriate management are key fea-tures that enable a successful surgical outcome. However, early diagnosis of surgical problems can often be elusive, especially in young children. He also said that the Paediatricians being the primary care physicians of children, should be made aware of these facts and hence this CME was a much needed one.

A problem oriented approach to some of the common surgical problems as observed in children was attempted in the CME. The topics discussed and the resource personnel were as follows -

1. Dr.Narayan. P, Assistant Profes-sor of Paediatrics, JIPMER,Pondicherry.

“Infant with an incessant cry”

2. Dr. Velmurugan. R Assis-tant Professor of Paediatric Urology ICH&HC, Chennai. “Male child with a poor urinary stream”

3. Dr. Sankar. N Consultant in Pae-diatric Orthopedics KKCTH, Chennai

“Painful limp in a child - a clinical approach”

4. Dr.Reg unandhan. SR Assistant Professor of Paediat-ric Surgery ICH&HC, Chennai.

“Deep soft tissue infections - Early Rec-ognition & referral”

5. D r . B a l a m o u r o u g a n e Associate Professor of Paediat-ric Surgery SRMCRI, Chennai.

“Approach to a child with painful scrotum”

6. Dr. Krishnamohan .J Assistant Professor of Paediat-ric Surgery, ICH&HC,Chennai.

“Treatment resistent RTIs - When to suspect a surgical cause?”

7. Dr.Raveendiran Professor of Pae-diatric Surgery, RMMCH, Chidambaram.

“Burn wound in a child - protocol for initial management”

8. Dr.V.N.Mahalakshmi, Asso-ciate Professor of Paediatric Sur-gery, MGMCRI, Pondicherry.

“Clinical case scenarios in Paediatric surgery”

The resource personnel provided a lucid elucidation of the topics and the informative and educative talks were followed by active and meaningful delib-erations with the delegates. A group of about 160 Paediatricians, general sur-geons, postgraduate and undergraduate students participated in the program.

Dr. Mahalakshmi V.N, the organiz-ing secretary proposed the vote of thanks. The meeting ended with a lunch.

Department of Pathology - Integrated teaching programme

Integrated teaching program was organized by the department of Pathology on 9.10.2009. The topic was

“Recent aspects of carcinoma cervix”. Prof. Dhananjay S. Kotasthane, HOD, Department of Pathology chaired the session.

Besides Dr. Partha Nandhi, Assis-tant Professor, Department of Commu-nity Medicine, Dr. Pradeep Kumar N. S, Associate professor and Dr. Reecha Singh, Assistant Professor Department of Pathology & Dr. Seethesh Ghose, Professor & Head, Department of Obs-Gyn participated as speakers.

The recent aspects pertaining to epi-demiology, prevention, etiopathogen-esis, laboratory diagnosis and clinical management were discussed at length by the speakers.

The program was attended by under-graduate and postgraduate students, CRRI’s and staff members. It concluded with the take home message provided by Prof. Dhanajay S. Kotasthane.

Yet another integrated teaching pro-gram was organized by department of Pathology on 23.11.2009. The topic was



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“Recent aspects of Thyrotoxicosis” This programme was co-ordinated by Dr. Pradeep Kumar N.S, Associate Profes-sor, Department of Pathology.

Prof. Sharbari Basu, Department of Biochemistry discussed the basic mecha-nisms and biochemistry of Thyroid hormone metabolism. Prof Dhananjay S. Kotasthane, Department of pathol-ogy spoke on the Pathophysiology of Thyrotoxicosis, Prof. K. Manimekalai, Head, Department of Pharmacology explained the drug therapy in Thyrotoxi-cosis, Dr. Satish kumar C, Consultant endocrinologist, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine discussed the role of radioactive uptake studies and use of Radionuclide scan in Thyro-toxicosis. Prof. Robinson Smile, Head, Department of Surgery explained the surgical management of Thyrotoxicosis. This program attended by undergradu-ate and postgraduate students, CRRI’s and staff members. It concluded with the take home messageprovided by Dr. Reecha Singh.

Academic Activities

SAF Guest Lecture on ‘Liver Trans-platation’

A guest lecture was organized by the Scientific and Academic Forum(SAF) and the Medical Education unit of MGMCRI on 30.10.09 wherein Dr.Surendaran R, Professor and HOD of Surgical Gastroenterology, Stanley Medical College, Chennai visited and spoke on the topic “Liver Transplantation”.

Dr.Surendaran elaborated on the complexity of the process of liver transplantation – issues on selection of patients, organ availability and the technical skills and expertise to run the program and post transplant immuno-suppression. He stressed on the need for

a good team of clinicians and a reliable laboratory to monitor the various liver function tests and competent nursing personnel

The second part of the talk saw Prof.Surendaran concentrating on the intrica-cies involved in organizing a department, liver transplantation. He narrated his journey towards achieving an infection free zone in his department which matches international standards. The interaction with the audience was very good and beneficial. The speaker was felicitated by the Hon’ble Vice chan-cellor of Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, Prof. Gunasekaran DR.

SAF Guest Lecture on ‘Challenges to TB Control’

A guest lecture was delivered by Prof. V.Kumaraswami, Director-in-Charge, Tuberculosis Research Center – Chennai on 20.11.09 on the topic “Chal-lenges To Tuberculosis Control”.

The eagerly awaited program saw Prof. Kumaraswami V sharing his thoughts, in depth, about the Tubercu-losis bacilli and the challenges in con-trolling the same. The meeting began with a welcome address by the President of SAF, Prof. Ramakrishnan V.T and Dr.Surendra Menon, Head, Department of TBCD introduced the guest speaker. Prof. Kumaraswami V, spoke at length about the structure of the Tuberculosis bacilli.

The bacilli multiply much slower in comparison to virus and fungi and can remain dormant for a long time. It has to be demonstrated in sputum to establish a diagnosis .He provided a

vivid account of the genetic makeup of the bacilli which has since been cracked and studied in detail. The initial chal-lenge is the bacilli itself and its character. The anti-tubercular drugs cannot reach the dormant bacilli, as oxygen is needed for their action. The next challenge is the MDR-TB (multi drug resistant TB). The patients themselves are defaulters as they do not complete the course of treatment with anti tubercular drugs, as prescribed under the RNTCP. This leads to MDR-TB.

The physician treating a TB patient offers the choice to adopt different thera-peutic regimen, which has over the years culminated in MDR-TB. The next chal-lenge is the use of second line drugs. The drugs are highly toxic and increase the cost of treatment. When compared to conventional drugs, under the RNTCP, the BCG vaccine is obsolete and of lim-ited use. Prof. Kumarasami spoke about the difficulties involved in formulating an effective vaccine for tuberculosis and said a vaccine would take several years to be put in circulation. He dealt with the validity of many a diagnostic test and equipment available in the market by pointing out that one has to necessarily accept them only following mandatory evaluation and standardization proce-dures. Prof. Kumarasami interacted with the audience and answered que-ries put forth by them. He also distrib-uted prizes to the winners of the essay competition held earlier on 11.11.09 in commemoration of world education day. The topic was titled “Single Edu-cation System – Is It The need Of the hour ? ”. The session concluded with a formal vote of thanks proposed by the secretary of SAF.



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reference management software. Dr. Shanthi Ananthakrishnan, Professor of Pediatrics, coordinated the module on Study Design, on the third day. This module covered issues pertaining to research methodology, including aims and objectives, types of studies, selec-tion of statistical tests, etc. In addition, the data collection process and types of statistical data were discussed. Mr. Lokeshmaran A, Tutor-cum-Statistician, provided an overview of sampling meth-ods, sample size, and presented examples of statistical tests. In the fourth module of the workshop, Dr. Shivamurthy N, Associate Professor of Pharmacology, provided exposure to the concepts of informed consent and ethical clearance.

The fifth session served to recapitu-late and reinforce skills imparted by the preceding modules. Prof. Sharbari Basu defined the components of a research protocol, and walked the participants through the actual process of writing a dissertation protocol. Postgraduates who had started work on their proto-cols were given an opportunity to dis-cuss their blueprints with the resource personnel.

A workshop evaluation was con-ducted, following the final module. Feed-back collected from the participants was analyzed and documented, with a view to enhancing the quality of subsequent dissertation workshops. The proceed-ings of this workshop have been archived, in electronic and print formats, under the supervision of Prof. Ananthakrish-nan. The compendium will also serve as a manual, and facilitate the organization of these workshops in years to come.

Prescription Writing Workshop

D epartment of Pharmacology, MGMCRI conducted a “Pre-

scription Writing Competition and Workshop” on rational prescrip-tion of medicines on 24th Nov ‘09 from 2-4pm.

The Competition started at 2 pm with spot registration. Different sets of Ques-tions were given to MBBS, BDS stu-dents, Postgraduate students and interns. The introductory speech was delivered by Dr.Shivamurthy N, Assoc Prof, Dept of Pharmacology. Prof K.R Thyagara-jan, MS, presided over the function.

At the end of the Competition, two short talks on “Principles of Prescribing” & “Rational Pre-scribing & Common Errors in Prescribing” were delivered by Prof Manimekalai & Dr Reena Rajan.

Dr Mohammed Hanifah, Asst. Prof, Medicine and Prof K.R Thyagarajan also gave their views on rational prescribing.

The prizes were distributed to the winners under different categories at the consequent SAF meeting.

Postgraduate dissertation work-shop

T he postgraduate training com-mittee (PGTC) of MGMCRI has

been conducting regular dissertation workshops for postgraduate students (MD/MS), since 2007. These work-shops are designed to equip postgradu-ate students with practical dissertation skills. The PGTC, currently headed by Dr. Ananthakrishnan N, Professor of

Surgery and Coordinator of Postgradu-ate Studies, has decided to conduct two dissertation workshops for each batch of postgraduate students.

The first workshop will focus on imparting skills relevant to the prepa-ration of a methodologically sound dis-sertation protocol, and will be organized within the first six months of postgrad-uate training ( June/July). The second workshop will be conducted in the third year ( July/August), and will help the students write up their dissertations in a coherent and organized manner.

The first dissertation workshop for postgraduate students admitted during the academic year 2009-2010 was con-ducted over a period of five days, from 02-11-2009 to 06-11-2009. The modules of this workshop were based on a bipar-tite format, and comprised of a lecture followed by group tasks.

In the first of the five modules of this workshop, Prof. Ananthakrishnan intro-duced the participants to the concept and purpose of a dissertation. He dis-cussed the factors influencing selection of a topic. Salient differences between a PhD thesis and an MD/MS dissertation were highlighted. Prof. Ananthakrish-nan stressed upon the need for a rigorous approach to research. Dr. Sharbari Basu, Professor of Biochemistry, shed light upon the rules that need to be observed while creating a dissertation title.

The second module of the workshop was coordinated by Dr. Sivaprakash B, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, and focused on the principles underlying a systematic literature review. He provided an illustration of a PubMed database search, and demonstrated the use of



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PG students’ news

D r. Jagan Mohan R, Dr. Har-sha M Shetty, Dr. S. Padma-vathi and Dr. Jacob Jesurun RS,

postgraduate students of the Depart-ment of Pharmacology completed a week long workshop on ‘Laboratory Animals’ held by the Division of Phar-macology of the Faculty of Medicine of Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, from 26.10.2009 to 31.10.2009.

» Dr. D. Soujanya attended the National Leprosy Conference in New Delhi held between 2.10.2009 and 4.10.2009 and presented a poster titled Nasal Leproma. This was well received

» Dr. Kandaswamy attended the ‘CODFI WORKSHOP 2009’on Con-tact Dermatitis and Photo dermatol-ogy held on 21.11.2009 and 22.11.2009 at Bengaluru and presented a poster titled-“Easy Solution to a diffi-cult problem’. He also presented a

SCHOLARS IN THE MAKING

paper titled “Incidence of Trophic ulcer in Leprosy patient undergo-ing proper Hand and foot care” on 13.11.09 in the Scientific Academic Forum(SAF) meeting, M.G.M.C.R.I

» Dr. Ashish Singh presented a paper titled “Pityriasis Rosea: Mul-tiple Coalescing ‘Herald Patches_Pityriasis Circinata et Marginata of Vidal” at the 7th National Confer-ence of Paediatric Dermatology, held at Chennai, Tamilnadu on 7.11.2009 and 8.11.2009. He also presented a poster titled “Listen to cry of a finger inside a ring” in the ‘CODFI WORK-SHOP 2009’on Contact Dermatitis and Photo dermatology.

» The 62nd State Annual Confer-ence – IRIA(Indian Radiological & Imaging Association) 2009 was held between 11.10.09 and 13.10.09 at Yela-giri Hills, Tamilnadu. Postgraduate stu-dents pursuing MD in radiodiagnosis and participated.

• Dr.L.MuraliKrishna,PG-2nd

year, presented a scientific paper. It was appreciated as an innovative paper in the conference.

• Dr.AnnithaElavarasiJ,PG-1styear, presented a scientific poster at the conference on the topic- Pictorial essay: Mri Imaging Of Normal Cister-nal Segment Of All The Cranial Nerves Using Drive Sequence. Dr Annitha ‘s poster won the second place, among a total entry of 26 posters.

• Dr.N.Adithya,PG- 1styear,presented a scientific poster on the topic- Splenogondal Fusion – Rare Extratesticular Scrotal Mass



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UNIVERSITY COMMUNIQUE

International Conference on

AutismAn International Conference on Autism Social Skills and Creativity was orga-nized by Department of Social Work, Pondicherry University and Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth University, Puducherry on December 29.12.2009 and 30.12. 2009.

The two day conference was organized at the Cultural – Cum –Con-vention centre, Pondicherry University. The speakers were drawn from differ-ent quarters:- Dr. Andrew Nelson from Marshall University USA, Dr. Rebecca K. Lytle from California State University, USA, Dr. Seema Sherawat from Cali-fornia State University, USA, Dr. Arun Mehta from New Delhi, Dr. Mythily Chari from Hyderabad, Dr. Srividya Subramanian from Coimbatore, Dr. Pratibha from Bangalore, and Dr. Jay-anthini from Chennai. They presented papers on various topics as related to Autism and chaired comprehensive panel discussions.

At the valedictory function on 30.12.2009, Prof. D. R. Gunasekaran, Vice - Chan-cellor of Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth University delivered the Presidential address. He stressed upon the role of social workers, teachers, psychologists and parents in dealing with Autism. He also assured Pondicherry University that closer ties between the former and Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth University are envisaged in the future, pertaining to the conduct of scientific research and training. The two day conference was well attended by social workers, clinical psychologists, rehabilitative workers, representatives from different national level Non-Gov-ernmental organizations (NGOs) and students from the department of social work belonging to various colleges.



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CAMPAIGNS

Essay Competition

In Commemoration of World Edu-cation Day - 11th November 2009

Topic : “Single Education System – Is It The Need Of The Hour ? ”.

Based on the guidelines laid down by the UGC, the birthday of Maulana Kalam Azad , the first Education Minister of free India was celebrated as WORLD EDUCATION DAY (11.11.09). The Scientific and Academic Forum (SAF), took the initiative and organized an essay competition on the topic “Single Education System – Is It The Need Of The Hour?”. The program registered an enthusiastic participation from medical, nursing and dental students, interns and postgraduate students. A total of 88 par-ticipants partook of the proceedings. The essay was judged by four independent Professors of MGMCRI and prizes were distributed on 20.11.09 by Prof. Kumaraswami, Director – in – Charge, Tuberculosis Research Centre, Indian Council of Medical Research, Chen-nai. The aspirations and the thoughts of young minds who had only in the recent past finished their 12th standard exams in order to gain admission to pro-fessional courses, was a treat to read.

The winners of the essay competitions were

Category - I:PG’s & Interns of MG-MCRI :

1. I PRIZE- Dr.Ravivarman.L (Intern) .

Category - II : Under Graduate stu-dents of MGMCRI

2. I PRIZE - M.Prem Vignesh (I Semester) ,

3. II PRIZE - Divyang Mongia (III Semester),

4. III PRIZE -Abhishek Praharaj (I Semester)

Category - III : Dental students of IGIDS-

5. I PRIZE- Shamini Begum. H,

6. II PRIZE-Rebekah Chibborah . P ,

Category - IV: Nursing students of KGNC :

7. I PRIZE-Deepthi .R .V (P.B.B.Sc) ,

8. II PRIZE-Kesia Philip (II yr) BSc,

9. III PRIZE-Amrutha M (III yr) BSc.

AIDS day ‘AIDS WEEK 2009’was organised suc-cessfully from 25th Nov to 1st Dec.

Programme was inaugurated by The Medical Superintendent on 25/11/2009.

On 26/11/09,HIV/AIDS awareness week programme was organised for public at Seliamedu RHC.

Voluntary Blood Donation camp was organised on 27/11/09.

Poster competition for students of MGMC&RI, IGIDS and KGNC was successfully organized on 28/10/2009 in which students of KGNC partici-pated enthusiastically. The topic of the competition was “Creating awareness in HIV and AIDS.”The 1st was won byJayasree,2nd was won by Ragavi and ,3rd place was won by Uvarani , Consola-tion prize was won by P. Sai Venkatesh respectively of Katurba Gandhi Nursing college.

HIV/AIDS awareness week pro-gramme for public was organized on 30/11/2009 at Ariyankuppam UHC.

On 1st December, on WORLD AIDS DAY, a highly sucessful Inter Col-legiate Debate competition was orga-nized the topic of which was “Is HIV testing mandatory before mar-riage?” in which 1st place went to Anil Mathews and Vandhana Singh from



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Mr.Parthiban, Social worker, Depart-ment Of Community medicine, spoke to the children and mothers, about the life of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and his fondness for children.

This was followed by a Lilliput show by students of KGNC. The program showcased the need for explained the values of good nutrition, timely food and the micronutrients. The Lilliput show was enjoyed by the children. The conversation between two girls while travelling in a bus formed the core of the show. The students also performed a skit on health education. This was fol-lowed by songs, rendered zealously by the children admitted in the Paediatric ward and the students of KGNC.

A drawing competition was held the previous day; the children participated in large numbers and came out with very interesting and beautiful drawings using fabulous colours. The faculty and post graduate students also participated in the drawing competition.

Prizes were distributed in the sing-ing and drawing categories.

Gifts and chocolates were distrib-uted to all the children in the ward and much to their amusement and pleasure.

The function ended with refresh-ments and a formal vote of thanks.

Indira Gandhi Institute of Dental Sci-ence, 2nd place went to Immanuel Paul Thayakaran and Shivaprasad from Sri Vekateswara Medical College & Research Institute and 3rd place went to Aruna Rajan Sheela.R,Nitish Muku-ndan M from Sri Lakshmi Narayana Institute of Medical Science.

Children’s DayChildren’s day was celebrated in the

Department of Paediatrics, on 14.11.2009. The day signifies the birthday of the First Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawa-harlal Nehru.

The program started with an invo-cation song, Prof. VT Ramakrishnan, Head, Department of Paediatrics welcomed the invitees and her guests.



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OUTREACH SERVICES

C ommunit y services – Dermatol o gy

A team of doctors comprising Dr. Seethalakshmi G.V, Dr. Rahul K.K, Dr. Soujanya D and Dr. Ashish Singh vis-ited Clariant Chemicals on 6.11.09 to investigate the occurrence of occu-pational dermatosis in factory workers.

ACTIVITIES OF THE HEALTH CENTRES

» Comprehensive health care is being provided to the community through two outreach centres namely Urban Health Centre (UHC), Ariank-uppam & Rural Health Centre(RHC) at Seliamedu.

» During the last quarter (Octo-ber to December, 2009) 3657 patients were provided preventive, promotive & curative service at RHC. This included 1985 male and 1672 female patients. It is encouraging to note that the number of beneficiaries has been increasing steadily and the quality services that is being provided is acknowledged suitably.

» Similarly at UHC 4751 patients were provided treatment, (1868 male and 2883 female). The patient number has increased as compared to the previous year during the same period.

» These centres are not only providing curative treatment, but are actively engaged in various health educa-tion awareness programs for the benefit of general public, school students and attendants of patients.

» As the menace of “Swine Flu” still persists in India, especially the southern part, it was decided to

create awareness about the same and that among general public of Selia-medu. This was accomplished by way of a health talk provided by the medi-cal officer incharge, Seliamedu. About fifty people benefited and the attendants of the patients were also briefed by the interns on the importance of personal hygiene.

» 120 students of K.V.Govt High School, Seliamedu were involved in a group discussion on personal and oral hygiene at the behest of medical officer and interns. An awarness program on AIDS was conducted in the RHC, as a part of AIDS awareness week celebra-tions (25.11.2009 to 01.12.2009). 80 per-sons attended this program and emerged as beneficiaries.

» School health program is a continuous feature of the activities of both the centers. 230 students of Govt. Primary School, Seliamedu were ben-efited by the health talks and discussion. The program was coordinated by the medical officer incharge with input from interns.

» An awareness talk on “Swine Flu” was organized for public in the UHC service area at Ariankuppam. 39 persons attended the same.

» A discussion on breast feed-ing practices was initiated amongst 27 patients of the antenatal clinic, UHC. The lady Medical Officers at the centre were actively involved in this program.

» 150 students of Bharath High School, Ariyankuppam attended the talk prepared by the interns on personal hygiene & sanitation. This talk was sup-ported by various charts & posters avail-able with the centre.

» In co-ordination with Depart-ment of Dermatology & Community Medicine AIDS Awareness programme was conducted at UHC Ariankuppam on 30.11.09 in the centre premises. 75 persons attended the programme.

» An awareness program on locally endemic diseases was arranged for the students of Periyar High School (AKM) on 10.12.2009. 200 students attended. Another health education talk was held for the benefit of Bharath high School students in which 75 participated. Awareness regarding diarrhoeal diseases was in the same school, in which 150 students were present.

» 75 inmates of Jawahar Children observation home were educated on sca-bies, the most prevalent skin disorder.

MGMCRI ever believes in reaching out to the under-privileged people and lending them support by way of looking after an important aspect of their lives — their health. This is being facilitated through regular conduct of health camps and awareness programs especially by the department of Community Medicine, in association with the other departments of the Deemed University.



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Academic Activities

Symp osiumA symposium was organized on

“Recent Trends in Diabetes” by Dr. K. Sembulingam, Professor of Physiol-ogy on 13th October, 2009.

Dr. Vasantha N. Subbiah, Dean, Shri Sathya Sai Medical College & Research Institute gave welcome address.

Dr. D. R. Gunasekaran, Vice Chan-cellor, Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth University delivered the presidential address and inaugurated the program.

The speakers were

1. Dr. M. Chandrasekar, m.b.b.s., m.d., d.a., ph.d., Vice Principal and Pro-fessor & Head of Physiology Depart-ment Meenakshi Medical College and Research Institute, Kancheepuram

Topic: “Pathophysiology of diabetes”

Introduced by Dr. Stanley, Rob-ert Professor and HOD of Physiology Dept., Mahatma Gandhi Medical Col-lege, Puducherry

2. Dr. V. Mohan, m.b.b.s., m.d., frcp., ph.d., d.sc. fnasc., Chairman & Chief Diabetologist, Dr. Mohan’s Diabetes Specialities Centre, Chennai

Topic: “Management of diabetes”

Introduced by Dr. Baba Krishnan, Vice Principal, Shri Sathya Sai Medical College & Research Institute

SHRI SATHYA SAI MEDICAL COLLEGE & RESEARCH INSTITUTE

3. Dr. Rema Mohan, m.b.b.s., d.o., ph.d., fabms. Managing Director & Chief Ophthalmologist, Dr. Mohan’s Diabetes Specialities Centre, Chennai

Topic: “Complications of diabetes”

Introduced by Dr. Prema Sembul-ingam, Professor of Physiology

Dr. R. Balaji, Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Ms. Carisa Manilal, I year student wonderfully compeered the entire program. The students were much benefited by the symposium. Students also displayed many thought provoking posters on “Diabetes”. All the posters and the interaction by students with the speakers were much appreci-ated by everyone including the guest speakers.

Dr. Sembulingam delivered the vote of thanks.

Symp osiumThe department of Microbiology

conducted a symposium on “Chang-ing Facets of Swine Flu” under the auspices of Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth Uni-versity, Puducherry. The symposium was conducted on 26.11.1009.

The program was inaugurated by Prof. Gunasekaran DR, the esteemed Vice Chancellor of Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth University. He appreciated the efforts of the department and announced his unrelenting support.

Smt. Gowri Rajagopalan, Chairper-son sssmc & ri, lighted the traditional lamp and graced the occasion with her presence.

The enthusiastic audience were treated to a fest of knowledge by the three learned speakers. The details are provided below

1. Introduction, cl inical

manifestations & treatment of swine flu – by Dr. Nandhitha Arun , Dr. Ram-achandran Diabetes Hospital

2. Genomi(x)cs of Human Swine Avian Influenza virus & pathogenesis – by Dr. Sujatha , JIPMER, Puducherry.

3. Lab diagnosis, Prophylaxis & Preventive Measures of Swine flu – by Dr. Selvi , Stanley Medical college, Chennai, Tamilnadu.

The program was well attended by students & staff of MGMCRI, SSSMCRI, Chengalpattu Medical College, JIPMER and SRM Medical College.

The enthusiastic students of II M.B.B.S participated in the poster pre-sentation contest and the guest speakers were the respected judges. Three best poster presentations were selected and prizes were given away.

OutreachHealth C amps

Shri Sathya Sai Social Service, a unit of sssmc & ri organized a health screening camp for schools in and around Ammapettai to commemo-rate Children’s day. The first phase of the camp was organized by Dr. Vas-antha .N. Subbiah, Dean sssmc & ri on 15.11 2009 and around 300 students of Suddanandhavidyalaya were exam-ined by consultants deputed from ent, opthalmology, paediatric and den-tal departments of sssmcri. Medical problems of the students were iden-tified and appropriately treated. The second phase of the camp meant for the government school students is already underway.



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Finally the special cynosure of this extravaganza was ‘Aatish’ – The Night of fireworks on the last day. It was the most memorable day as it had rained that night and the firework display was a feast for all of our eyes that night.

A major health problem facing the medical world right now is stress that is manifested in many ways. We Doc-tors and students of medicine are no exception and taking part in such cul-tural festivals acted as “stress busters”, for all of us. We will always be thankful to our management for giving us such an opportunity.

Spotlight

DEPARTMENT OF PATHOLO GY

The department of Pathology was established in the year 2008 as per the norms of Medical Council of India (MCI). The first batch of students was received in 2009. The department has a well established practical laboratory endowed with the state- of-the- art microscopes for students. The labora-tory feels proud to have a digital micros-copy unit which helps the students to understand the microscopic features better, which hither to remained a mystery. This will also be useful for PG students in future. The department has a fairly well established research labora-tory. The museum is a well conceived proposal which houses a good number of mounted specimens and systemati-cally arranged for students to facilitate better understanding of diseases. The department also houses a library with a good collection of books and journals.

DEPARTMENT OF PHARMAC OLO GY

Pharmacology is a dynamic scien-tific discipline in its own right with an importance beyond that of providing a basis for the rational use of drugs in therapy. The biggest challenge facing the

discipline is to cope with the constant flow of new drugs into the market and acquire the correct and critical update regarding such new entrants.

The faculty uphold the tenets of pharmacology and clinical pharmacology and provides, basic as well as advanced information to the student in order that they know their moral & legal duties of their would be patients care. The depart-ment is initiating projects in post mar-keting surveillance of drugs prescribed at Shri Sathya Sai Medical College & Research Institute and also pharmaco-vigilance studies. It also trains students in prescription writing, rational drug use besides fostering clinical research.

In addition to the regular teaching programs, the faculty advocates students participation in seminars, research proj-ects and small group discussions. The department of Pharmacology has 5 research projects in hand that are ready for presentation to ethical committee and are to be despatched to ICMR as a student short term projects.

The department is fully equipped with exclusive rooms for teaching and non –teaching staff.The infrastructure provides facilities in experimental phar-macology to help promote for better understanding of therapeutic drugs. There is Pharmacy/Clinical Pharma-cology laboratory for imparting practi-cal training in the respective disciplines. There is also a research laboratory for pursuing research activities by faculty and the students. A preparation room and two demonstration rooms are avail-able for enabling small group demonstra-tions and tutorials.

An informative museum with com-prehensive charts on drug toxicities, sources of drugs and about 300 drug formulations aid in the learning pro-cess. A departmental library with 50 books and a store room for chemicals and glassware are also provided. A par-ent –teacher meeting was conducted in the month of December 2009 and that was highly appreciated by the parents.

Recharging the soul

splendour MIxed wIth elegance, varIety, unIqueness & style…!!!!!

Excitements fuelled with passion, wisdom and creativity are the power-ful weapons of our budding SSSMC doctors! The ‘FUSION CHETTI-NAD 2009’ a cultural meet broke our children’s inhibition and ignited their socio cultural passion at our neighbouring, scenic CHETTINAD HEALTH CITY, Kelambakkam between 12.11.09 and 14.11.09.

This activity promoted a common sense of brotherhood among the vari-ous segments of students and staff of the Institute besides providing the much-needed diversion from busy academic and service routine.

This is the first time such a Cul-tural meet was organized for our chil-dren to take part in various events beginning with fine arts events like vegetable carving, pot painting, glass painting, rock painting, and rocking dance performances, skits, music and lovely fashion shows.

‘FUSION CHETTINAD 2009’ gave us a chance to explore our stu-dents talents and it gave a fabulous opening to celebrate cultural diver-sity & achieve harmony with mutual respect. It happened to be a merry occasion to celebrate & reflect the vigour & virtuosity of our students from different parts of our country. Beyond participation, enjoying music, dance, artistic display this developed a strong spirit of team hood.

The cultural extravaganza com-prised of a spectrum of around 23 events such as Western group dance, Indian group dance, Ad zap, Fashion Show, Rangoli, T – shirt painting, Solo singing, Mehendi, flower arrangement, vegetable carving etc. K.DEEPAK II year M.B.B.S won the III Prize for Rock painting



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Stem Cell Therapy

I t was in 1998 that researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, extracted the first human

embryonic stem cells that could be kept alive in the laboratory. Ever since, it has been a fascinating piece of intelligence, with myriad innovative and invaluable applications in regenerative and repara-tive medicine. It is therapeutically both promising and novel; a breakthrough beyond biological conventions. Stem cell therapy(SCT), seemingly unfurls a template for therapeutical ventures of many illnesses, believed to be refractory, until recently.

What are Stem C ells?Stem cells (SC) are a class of undif-

ferentiated cells that are able to differ-entiate into specialized cell types. Com-monly, SCs arise from two main sources: embryonic and adult stem cells. Both types are generally characterized by their inherent potential to differentiate into different cell types (such as skin, muscle, bone, etc.).

Embryonic stem cells (ECT) are derived from a four or five day-old human embryo i.e. blastocyst. Follow-ing four to six days, the blastocyst, before implantation in the uterus, develops into an outer cell mass that develops / dif-ferentiates into the placental unit, and an inner cell mass that differentiates to become all the structures of an adult organism. The “inner cell mass” when placed in a culture dish containing a nutrient-rich broth, in vitro, lacking the necessary stimulation to differenti-ate, begin to replicate still maintaining pluripotency.

Adult stem cells or somatic stem cells exist throughout the body, follow-ing embryonic development in differ-ent types of tissues such as the brain, bone marrow, blood, blood vessels, skel-etal muscles, skin, and the liver. They remain in a quiescent state for years

until activated by disease or tissue injury and are capable of even regenerating the entire original organ.

Stem cell lines Once the stem cells propagate in

a controlled culture, the collection of healthy, dividing, and undifferentiated cells is called a stem cell line.

PotencyEmbryonic stem cells are the most

potent since they must become every type of cell in the body. Depending on their differentiating potential, they are labeled:

» Totipotent - the ability to dif-ferentiate into all possible cell types. e.g. zygote and morula cells.

» Pluripotent – the ability to dif-ferentiate into almost all cell types. e.g. embryonic stem cells and cells from the inner cell mass

» Multipotent – the ability to dif-ferentiate into a closely related family of cells. e.g. hematopoietic (adult) stem cells that can become red and white blood cells or platelets.

» Oligopotent - the abil-ity to differentiate into a few cells. e.g. (adult) lymphoid or myeloid stem cells.

Unipotent - the ability to only pro-duce cells of their own type, but have the property of self-renewal required to be labeled a stem cell. Examples include (adult) muscle stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells with their plu-ripotency, remain a theoretically poten-tial source for regenerative medicine and tissue replacement after injury or disease. They require specific signals for correct differentiation.

Milestones in Stem C ell research

•2005-ResearchersatKingstonUniversity in England claim to have discovered a third category of stem cell, dubbed cord-blood-derived embryonic-like stem cells (CBEs), derived from umbilical cord blood. The group claims that these cells are able to differentiate into more types of tissue than adult stem cells.

•2007-Twosimilarpapersreleasedby their respective journals prior to for-mal publication: in Cell “Induction of pluripotent stem cells from adult human fibroblasts by defined factors”, and in Science “Induced pluripotent stem cell lines derived from human somatic cells”: pluripotent stem cells generated from mature human fibroblasts.

It is possible now to produce a stem cell from almost any other human cell instead of using embryos as needed pre-viously, albeit the risk of tumorigenesis is there.

•2008-Thefirstpublishedstudyofsuccessful cartilage regeneration in the

human knee using autolo-gous adult mesenchymal stem cells (Published by the clinicians from Regenerative Sciences ).

Therapeu tic p ossibilities

Organ and tissue regenera-tion: Tissue regeneration is a unique application of stem cell research. Adult hematopoietic stem cells found in blood and bone marrow have been used for years to treat diseases such as leukemia, sickle cell anemia, and even congenital immune deficiencies. Stem cells that lie just beneath the skin, for example, have been used to engineer new skin tissue that can be grafted on to burn victims, for optimal healing.

Stem cells immortalized?




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disease,Tay-Sachs disease and Sandoff disease, unfurls new hope even before the babies are born. Donor stem cells are injected directly into the fetus’s abdomen at 12 to 14 weeks’ pregnancy. At birth, the baby will be tested to see if the donor cells are present, and if they’re fixing the malfunctioning genes. If not, the baby would be eligible for conventional cord-blood stem cell transplant within a few weeks.

Decoding the gene code in mutations: Undifferentiated stem cells eventually differentiate partly, because, a particular gene is turned on or off. Stem cell researchers may help to clarify the role that genes play in deter-mining what genetic traits or mutations we receive.

Appropriating optimal drug permutations: Further, it may throw light on the effect of drugs on healthy, normal tissue by testing the drug on tis-sue grown from stem cells rather than testing the drug on human volunteers.

The l o oming controversy

The main critique of this research is that SCT not only requires the destruc-tion of a human blastocyst, but also a fertilized egg thereby not providing the chance to develop into a fully-developed human. When does life begin? Many assert that life begins at conception, when the egg is fertilized. It is often argued that the embryo deserves the same status as any other full grown human. Therefore, destroying it is akin to murder. Others, in contrast, have identified different points in gestational development that mark the beginning of life - after the development of certain organs or after a certain time period.

Ethical Issues » Would apoptosis set in early

in these rejuvenated cells? Or is it just an elixir?, a panacea for histological reincarnation?

» What is the risk of mutations?

» Is it really a viable sustaining alternative in terms of quality of life?

L egal issuesProduction of embryonic stem cell

lines is illegal in Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, and Ireland, but per-mitted in Finland, Greece, the Neth-erlands, Sweden, and the UK. In the United States, it is not illegal to work with or create embryonic stem cell lines. However, the debate in the US is about funding, and it is in fact illegal that fed-eral funds be used to conduct research on stem cell lines that were created, fol-lowing August 2001.

Nevertheless, despite the universal appeal in contemporary medicine, SCT still remains enigmatic as regards its long term prospects, posing questions that only time can answer.

Dr. Vijaya, asst. prof of obs, gyn Ms. Joy John, sr. tutor, KgncDr. Ravishankar M, prof & head, anaesthesIology & crItIcal care

Cell deficiency therapy: Similarly, people with Type I Diabe-tes mellitus could have the insulin-producing cells that have been lost or destroyed by the patient’s own immune system-- replaced with functional stem cells. Replacement cells and tissues may be used to treat brain diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s by replenishing damaged tissue and restoring their function.

Trekking and tracking malignancy: Biotechnology is trac-ing breast cancer cells to their origin. Programmed destruction of the can-cerous cells by tailor-made anticancer proteins, could enable us to identify healthy stem cells and then develop, inject, and nurture them to overcome the malignant cells.

Demise of the metabolic aberration?: SCT for fatal meta-bolic disorders, including Krabbe disease, metachromatic leukodys-trophy, Pelizaeus-Maerzbacher



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T he Central Laboratory is one of the significant pillars of the Institute. The Laboratory

has grown in stature over the years, ever since its inception in 2001. The Labora-tory is endowed with the state- of- the art diagnostic armamentarium that matches the standers, synonymous with the functioning of a quality setup. The central lab is set in motion by facilitat-ing a perfect blend of infrastructure and personnel.

Patient safet y A matter of top priority right from the time the patient’s sample is collected, utmost care is taken to ensure proper processing of the sample, keeping in view the accuracy of the analysis, prompt dis-patch of the reports and patient health safety. In other words, the pre analytical, analytical and post analytical facets are given topmost priority that would even-tually culminate in providing efficient, capable and trustworthy laboratory ser-vice to the patients.

The technol o gy and technical P ersonnel: A set of user- friendly next generation analyzers provide the nodal point in the central laboratory, wherein the con-fluence of technology and able techni-cal personnel takes place to promote efficiency. The detection technologies that are in vogue include the use of spectrophotometry, ion selective elec-trodes, electrochemiluminesence and laser impedance. The use of rapid serum blood collection tubes has vastly con-tributed to the improvement of patient care. The use of BD vacutainer has led to the pronounced reduction in time, related to the prompt dispatch of the results of the investigations. This has

relevance to the patient care and hos-pital economy. The results of the vital (critical) investigations are dispatched as rapidly as within 1 minute to 9 min-utes. A comprehensive serum work area solution can easily handle workloads in excess of 900 samples within 24 hours.

The workstation ana-lyzers – providers of efficient patient care:The workstation analyzers at the cen-tral Laboratory are supplied and effi-ciently maintained by pioneers in –vitro diagnostics: ROCHE, BECKMAN COULTER, MEDICA, RADIOM-ETER and MINDRAY. These manu-facturing companies are leaders in the innovation of products and provision of quality services. They are ever com-mitted to the best-in-class performance, convenience, confidence and predictabil-ity in chemistry.

The Clinical biochemistry laboratory possesses Roche Hitachi 902 – a fully automated analyzer, designed to func-tion as a true workhorse for quantitat-ing wide gamut parameters including substrates, enzyme electrolytes drugs, narcotics etc in blood and other body flu-ids. Hitachi 902 exhibits random access with a broad menu and has a through-put of 300 tests/hr. The reagents and the samples are bar-coded which allows accuracy and precision of results.

The Roche Cobas e411 is a fully auto-mated, multi channel immunoassay analyzer for facilitating random access processing of electrochemiluminescence (ECL) based immunoassays. ECL tech-nology which is the gold standard for immunoassay testing delivers excellent low end sensitivity and broad dynamic range. The Cobas e- 411 assay menu includes thyroid and other endocrine function tests, Tumor markers, Fertil-ity profile, maternal care profile, bone

The Central LaboratorySPOTLIGHT



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markers and critical care parameters.

The Pathology laboratory boasts of possessing state-of-the-art 5-part dif-ferential analysis blood cell counters. The BECKMAN COULTER Ac T 5 diff and MINDRAY 5200 BC employs Absorbance cytochemistry and volume (Ac V) Technology. Distinct populations of monocytes, neutrophils and eosino-phils could be accurately identified based on the differential cytochemical staining of their granules as against their volumes. Lymphocytes remain unstained and the basophil population is assessed on a dis-trict channel by resorting to the use of volume grating and selective lysis.

Total commitment to qualit y control – our major tenet :An extensive and stringent quality con-trol/ assessment – internal and exter-nal, aid in the efficient functioning and management of the Central laboratory. The laboratory follows the internal and external quality assessment schemes (EQAS) from M/S BIORAD , USA BECKMAN COULTER and ROCHE who provide the whole blood and sera for the internal quality control as regards Biochemistry and hematology.

On L ine rep orting – R ep orting made quick and easyCommon data management is the key to the organization and trading of vital information. The laboratory is con-nected to the laboratory information services of the hospital management ser-vices software. This ensures minimum workflow interruptions and is based on ‘user friendliness’. It promotes rapid and reliable turnaround. Since many of the automated analyzers are interfaced online it enables the streamlining of the testing processes and alleviates the bur-den of manual entries.

O ur mission » To deliver insightful information

culminating in enhanced patient care.

» To provide a harmonious balance between the needs of hospital manage-ment and laboratory work environment.

» To provide optimum laboratory services at an economical rate.

» To offer test turnaround that meets the targets of the hospital and clinicians with very little variability in results.

“The results you can rely upon, as we are totally committed to providing comprehensive

health care, are based on efficient functioning of the

laboratory and the personnel”.



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IGIDS is fast emerging as an institute of repute in Puducherry and adjoining areas. It is well planned and landscaped in 5.2 acres. The institute is located within the premises of MGM-CRI ,Puducherry. It is three and half years old and is growing steadily in stature.

The dental block with basic sci-ences block has been designed by one of the most reputed hospital architect consultants, TCPL and the construc-tion carried out by the L& T group of companies.

The institute is approved by the Dental Council of India (DCI), New Delhi, Government of Puducherry and affiliated to Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth University.

Hospital: Effectiveness necessarily means

doing things right. Efficiency refers to the act of doing the right things the right way. To be effective and efficient, the experienced and dedicated staff should form an able team with innovative ideas and boundless vision. IGIDS boasts of such a well knit team of professionals who would enrich the professional com-mitment with core and state-of the-art skills. Presently the college has an intake of 100 students for BDS course and four batches of students are in pursuit of knowledge and excellence in their cho-sen discipline.

T he department of oral medi-cine and diagnosis forms the base

of the hospital where the patients are examined and referred to the concerned department for further treatment. The department of Oral diagnosis, medicine & radiology deals with the diagnosis of conditions, pertaining to the oral and paraoral structures. It also super specializes in imaging modalities of oral

oral surgical procedures and major surgeries including cos-metic surgeries.

The department is headed by Professor B.Karthikeyan, and also includes a reader and two senior lecturers. These faculty members have received competent professional train-ing in the field of maxillofacial trauma, reconstruction, cos-

metic surgeries and minor oral surgical procedures.

The department has a clinical area where extractions are carried out and a minor operation theatre where minor oral surgical procedures are carried out. The department is equipped with state- of-the- art fully automatic den-tal chairs. Major surgeries are carried out at MGMCRI. The students posted receive expert guidance and comprehen-sive clinical training related to extraction and minor oral surgical procedures. The department plans to accede the latest equipments such as oscillating saw, lasers and athroscopic equipments for Temporo Mandibular Joint(TMJ) procedures.

The department of Pedodon-tics, focuses on the preventive and treat-ment aspects, in children. The depart-ment of Pediatric dentistry encompasses a wide variety of disciplines, techniques, procedures and skills that share a com-mon basis with other specialties, but

and paraoral structures. The faculty is headed by Dr. Balan, an experienced professional and has two more senior lecturers.

The department is equipped with semi auto-matic dental chairs. The radiology unit has IOPA machine DVX-65 and OPG machine ASAHI-Auto III E CM which cater to the day to day needs of the patient, visiting the clinics.

The department trains the students in clinical diagnosis of oral conditions, besides educating them on additional investigative procedures required and referral to other specialty departments. The students are also exposed to the use of X-ray machines for making intra-oral periapical radiographs and ortho-pantamographs. In the near future, the department envisages starting post-graduate programs. The department has plans to procure Radio Visuo Graphy (RVG) soon.

The department of Oral and maxillofacial surgery has earned itself a formidable reputation for its out-standing management in the field of oral cancers, orthognathic surgeries, facial traumatology and facial reconstruction. The department renders comprehensive diagnostic, therapeutic and counseling services in the field of extraction, minor

INDIRA GANDHI INSTITUTE OF DENTAL SCIENCES



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are modified and adapted to match the unique requirements of infants, children, adolescents and those with special health care needs.

The department is well equipped with student’s pre clinical lab. Well furnished clinical area with recent and advanced dental materials augments the laboratory. The department has a sepa-rate reception hall and waiting room for the children with a conducive environ-ment. In addition to regular teaching programs, final year students are encour-aged to present seminars in association with discussion of clinical cases. Duties are extended to the society by means of frequent school camps and school dental health programs as well as dental health education to public.

The department of Orthodon-tic and Dentofacial Orthopedics works with the theme “Sculpting the future”. It is involved in teaching the concepts of malocclusion, methods of overcoming the same as well as thera-peutic modalities concerning the same. The department of Orthodontics has come a long way since 2006 and man-ages patients having defects ranging from malaligned teeth to mispropriate jaws. The department renders comprehensive,

diagnostic and therapeutic services and is backed by ample infrastructure. The Faculty is headed by Dr. Vijayalakshmi K, who is also the Principal of the insti-tute, a professional with vast experience in the field of Orthodontics spanning more than two decades. Presently, the department has three Readers and two senior Lecturers who have received pro-fessional raining in various aspects of the discipline.

A fully furnished clinical laboratory houses a cephalometric tracing table. The department has performed more than 100 cases of fixed appliance therapy sine 2 years. With due co-operation from the department of Oral Surgery, patients with maxillofacial skeletal deformity have been treated. Students posted in the department receive training in han-dling cases of various malocclusions. The students are also trained with an innovative teaching and best practice in orthodontics as seminar, poster presen-tation, projects and model preparation.

The Department of Periodon-tics is one of the leading specialties in dentistry rendering advanced scientific and evidence based treatments in the management of gum and bone diseases. Since its inception in2006, it has been

striving sincerely to impart fundamen-tal periodontal skills to the students besides offering effective clinical care to the community. The department is well equipped with library, semi automatic dental chairs, ultrasonic scaler unit and a minor surgical enclave.

Dental awareness posters have been displayed in the department to help cre-ate awareness of gum diseases and pre-ventive measures. The department caters mainly to the clinical undergraduate 3rd and final year students by guiding them to make a proper diagnosis and then offer appropriate treatment. Mainte-nance therapy is also emphasized by pro-viding proper oral hygiene instructions. Future applications in this field include periodontal research activity in identi-fication of periodontal disease markers, host immune response. This department is headed by highly experienced Prof. Sasirekha and also two more Readers and Lecturers.

The department of Conserva-tive Dentistry and Endodontics deals with the restoration of decayed teeth and root canal treatment. The department is headed by Professor Carounanidi Usha and has qualified and experienced faculty members. The department is determined to make the students comprehend the fundamental dental treatment procedures and trans-late them to effective and efficient care of the dental problem.

The department has numerous dental awareness posters displayed in vernacular languages and English to make it easily understandable. The stu-dents are trained in carrying out project work, seminars patient care regarding oral health. The clinical lab has 17 auto-matic chairs for restorative procedures. Esthetic light cure restorations and root canal treatments are being performed. A minor OT with fully furnished equip-ments functions effectively.

The department has a well estab-lished library that satisfies the needs of undergraduate students. The pre clini-cal lab is equipped with 60 phantom



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heads, typhodonts and micro motors for imparting effective training to students in dental restorative procedures.

The Department of Prosth-odontics, deals with restoration and maintenance of oral function, comfort appearance and health of the patient by facilitating the restoration of the natural teeth and/or the replacement of missing teeth and contiguous oral and maxillo-facial tissues with artificial substitutes. Extra oral prosthesis such as eyes, ears, breasts etc are also being done. The clinic is equipped with automatic chairs. The preclinical lab has a seating capacity of hundred students with centralized gas connection. The students have extensive preclinical training before they perform treatment procedures on the patient. Plans are underway to start an exclu-sive implantology clinic in the depart-ment and a postgraduate program in the near future. The department is headed by Professor Babu Rajan and has other eminent members in its ranks.

The Department of Public Health Dentistry deals with the dental needs of the population per-taining to Puducherry and adjoining areas by organizing screening camps

like Indian Dental Association (IDA) and Indian Association of Public Health Dentistry (IAPHD). The department is a recognised local centre for national oral health program. “Bright smile Bright future” – under this program around 15000 dental health packs containing toothpaste and brush were distributed to the government schools in Puduch-erry last year. The department has signed a MoU with SoS children village and government schools which would enable children undergo comprehensive dental care at the institute.

The department effectively trains undergraduate students in this specialty. Till date one batch of students has passed out from this department with 100% result. Several modern and innova-tive methods of teaching are followed in this department. They include

» Student centered teaching

» Open book test

» Self assessment

» Project and research works

» Problem based learning (PBL)

» Web based learning (WBL)

» Practical based training

The department is in forefront of public programs and undergraduate teaching. Everyday is a new day in this department where in we try to do inno-vative procedures.

The Department of Oral Pathology provides necessary infor-mation to the clinicians regarding the general health of the patient by facilitat-ing various laboratory investigations and promoting aids in microscopic research. The department is equipped with 40 monocular microscopes, one trinocu-lar microscope with mirage analyzing facilities, 100 ground section slides of tooth indigenously prepared by our stu-dents and more than 150 histopathology slides. The department has a museum with a good collection that includes 15 unique pathological specimen. It has a cytology lab with basic stains like H&E, PAP and PAS for routine oral screening

as well as treatment camps endowed with a mobile dental unit. The main aim of this department is to alleviate the burden of oral diseases in the society. To help achieve this, the department works multidirectional by conducting commemorative awareness programs on World Dentists Day, World No Tobacco Day, Oral Hygiene Day etc. Some of the noteworthy programs are listed below.

1. Dental health exhibition was organized on 06.09.2009, at Ambour Salai, Puducherry.

2. A road rally was organized to commemorate World No Tobacco Day in Puducherry town on 31.05.2008 and 31.05.2009.

The department has so far con-ducted 186 dental health camps at vari-ous schools and towns. Most of them are comprehensive camps which focus mostly on dental health awareness. Major areas of work in dental camps include health education, extraction, scaling and restorations.

The department has regular spon-sors for the programs drawn from phar-maceutical companies like Worren, Col-gate-Palmolive, N.G.O and associations



23

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and diagnosis of carcinomas and fungal lesions. In association with the depart-ment of cytogenetics, the faculty is pres-ently involved in scientific research work on the role of acrocentric chromosome in squamous cell carcinoma.

The department encourages stu-dent activities like paper and poster presentations, seminars, symposia and project work and Students have won prizes including the second prize in the poster presentation on vascular malfor-mation at the conference organized by the Indian Dental Association (IDA).

L ibrary: It is the nucleus of any educa-

tional institution. The repository of information boasts of a large number of collections such as dentistry related educational CDs, Textbooks, National and International Journals, Book CDs and Journal CDs.

Innovative teaching pro grams:

The development of unique teaching methods stimulates intellectual growth since the process of mastering information and thinking complement each other.

Lectures, Clinical lab followed by tutorials, demonstration classes, seminars, symposium and workshops are being regularly conducted as part of the teaching program.

Students are encouraged to carry out self assessment at the end of each class / clinic / lab and record their find-ings. Standard textbooks are prescribed for the curriculum to serve as reference materials. Routine class tests and viva followed by the evaluation of teachers help the students to constantly improve and hone their skills. In addition to regu-lar theory classes, the students are pro-vided extensive demonstration in the clinics. This is supplemented by instruc-tions and information dispersed through multimedia channels. The presence of adequate staff ensures that all the stu-dents get personalized attention in the clinics.

All departments have museum, poster and charts in which they have excellent teaching and patient educative models. The museums housed in the respective departments boast of excel-lent, elegant and educative models that augment teaching.

Faculty news: Dr. Vijayalakshmi K, Princi-

pal, IGIDS, has published two books on “Removable orthodontic appliance” (November 2009) and “Treatment of orthodontic problem in pre-adolescent children” (December 2009) M/s Jaypee (India) Publishers has brought out these publications. She had also attended the 1st National workshop organized by the Indian Society of Dental Research, at Chennai, Tamilnadu.

D r. K a n n a p e r u m a n , Reader,Department of Orthodontics has successfully completed M.Orth. RCPS exam, held in October at the University of HongKong. He secured gold medal. Hearty congratulations on receiving this academic laurel.

Dr.Carounanidi Usha, Professor and Head, Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontia, had delivered guest lecture at the Continuing Den-tal Education program organized by the Indian Dental Association (IDA), Puducherry branch. The lectured titled “Indirect Composite Resin restoration” was held on 04.10.09. She also delivered a guest lecture on the topic “Writing the dissertation”, at SRM Dental College, Chennai, on 31.10.09.

Dr.Senthil Kumar. M, Senior Lecturer, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Dr. Shyama and Dr. Sakthi Devi, Tutors, Department of Conser-vative Dentistry and Endodontia had attended the CDE program organized by the IDA, Puducherry branch, on the topic “Indirect Composite Resin restoration” on 04.10.09.They had also attended the CDE program organized by the IDA, Puducherry branch, on the



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topic “Post and Core restoration”. The CDE was held on 27.11.09.

Dr.Senthil Kumar. M, Senior Lecturer, Department of Public Health Dentistry was honored as a “Commu-nity Dental Health Convener” for the second year in succession. The honor was given during the annual general body meeting of the IDA, Puducherry branch, held on 29.11.09.

Dr. Baburajan K, Professor and Head, Department of Prosthodontics has attended a CDE Program on “Fail-ures in Complete denture” organized by the IDA, Kanniyakumari branch on 13.12.09. The CDE was held at Madurai.

Dr. Vineela Katam Reddy, Senior Lecturer, Department of Periodontics had attended the Conference organized by the Indian Society of Periodontists held at Dharward on 04.12.09. He pre-sented a paper on “Free Gingival graft: Cyanoacrylate Vs Suturing” in treating grade III gingival recession. She had also attended the CDE program organized by the IDA, Puducherry branch, on the topic “Indirect Composite Resin restora-tion”. This program was held earlier on 04.10.09.

Commu-nity health services:

T he department of Public Health Dentistry organized a school den-

tal health program at the Government Middle School, Adhingapet, Bahour Commune on 24.11.09. In this program, 160 children had actively participated. The children were provided free den-tal check up and dental health packs were also distributed. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by the school Headmaster that would enable IGIDS to carry out comprehen-sive dental care for the children at the department of Pedodontics, IGIDS.

Students news 49 Students of IGIDS had par-

ticipated in the intercollegiate cultural meet “Fusion Chettinad”held at Chet-tinad Health City, Chennai between 12.11.09 and 14.11.09. IGIDS secured the third place overall. The prize winners and the cash award they’d received are provided below.

Details of the prize list :

1. Solo singing - Darshit (2nd prize) - Rs 2000/-

2. Foot Loose - Pavithra (1st prize) - Rs 3000/-

3. Pot pouri - Anil Mathew, Nara-yanan, Vandana (3rd prize) –Rs 2000/-

4. Vegetable carving - Sneha, Shouvik, Ramkumar, Shyamala (1st prize) –Rs 3000/-

5. T-Shirt designing - Sneha, Shouvik, Dayanidhi (3rd prize) – Rs 2000/-

6. Pot decoration -Shouvik, Pooja (3rd prize) – Rs 3000/-

7. Group dance - Nimisha, Pavithra, Lismy,Neethu (2nd prize) – Rs 4000/-

Anjali, Anitha, Maria,Reshmi,

Sherin, Amrutha, Chinchu, Ashmi

18 Students had participated in the essay competition organized by the SAF, MGMCRI to commemorate the World Education Day, on 11.11.09 on the topic “Single education system- Is it the need of the hour?”. Shamini Begum H, 3rd year BDS student received the first prize and Rebekah Chibborah P of 2nd year BDS bagged the second prize.

15 students had participated in the Prescription writing training /competition conducted by the depart-ment of Pharmacology, MGMCRI on 24.11.09. Shamini Begum H, 3rd year BDS student secured the second prize and Karthika N and Shanmuga Priya M of 3rd year got the third place.

Appointments:Dr. BabuRajan K,

Professor and Head, Department

of Prosthodontics.- 02.11.09

Dr. Carounanidi Usha,

Professor and Head, Department

of Conservative Dentistry and

Endodontia. 02.11.09

Dr.Suresh,

Reader, Department of

Pedodontics 01.10.09

Dr.Ashwin Preetham Kumar.J,

Senior Lecturer, Department of Oral

and maxillofacial surgery 03.12.09

Dr.Karishma Tresa Cherian,

Tutor, Department of

Orthodontics, 03.12.09

C ontinuing Dental E ducation pro grams:

S AF, IGIDS organized a Continu-ing Dental Education (CDE) pro-

gram on “Use of CT scan in Dental treatments”. The guest lecture was delivered by Dr. Easwar, Professor and Head, Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, SRM Dental College, Chennai.



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2009

T he students of the MGMCRI campus have been participating in “Spandan”, the annual mega

sports and cultural event organized by JIPMER, Pondicherry, for the past nine years and this year too, was no exception. Spandan was held between 6.10.09 and 9.10.09, at the JIPMER campus.

The program began with Indian music. The music team from our insti-tute bagged three prizes in the competi-tion. The prize for the best male vocalist was awarded to R. Ramkumar, the first place in Group Instrumental went to K. Prathaban and Sukanta Dutta and the team was adjudged the third best band among all the competing teams. The participants in this event were S. Vishnou kumar, G. Jeevaraj and P. Sowntharya from the batch of 2006, M. Nirmal Daniel, R. Ramkumar and V. Anuhya from the batch of 2007, Shijo John Joseph, K. Prathaban , Sukanta Dutta and Amrutha Elizabeth Varghese from the batch of 2008.

The team for Fashion show from MGMCRI enthralled the judges and the audience with their innovative cre-ations of apparels and accessories and were awarded the first prize for the same. The participants were Swetha Pannier selvam from the batch of 2006, G. Roshni, Varadhi Jyothi and Amrutha Elizabeth Varghese form the batch of 2008, Reshmi Mallick from the batch of 2007 and Fathima Mubeen and S. Nimisha from the IGIDS. The CRRIs in the team were Dr. S Harsha, who was the narrator of the events. Dr. S. Abilash and Dr. P. Mathan Kumar. The post-graduate students, Dr. Deepak David, Dr. Riyaz M. Panchbhaya and Dr. Ameer Jan also participated in the show.

The first prize in Indian Dance was bagged by our dance team compris-ing of C.H Tharani, C. Dhatchayani, G. Saranya(2007 batch) Grace David, S. Gayathri, P. Joe keerthi, S. Alhana Begum and M. Sowndriya lakshmi (2008 Batch) and S. Nimisha from

RECHARGING THE SOULStudents win the Cultural Cup at SPANDAN

IGIDS.

In the Fine Arts Category, Nishitha Reddy won the third prize in the mehendi competition

G. Bhuvanesh (2006 batch) won the first prize in painting while the third prize went to P. Devanatha Sharma(2008 batch)

The first prize in “Rangoli” was bagged by K. Amritha, A. Avinash and R. Shanmugapriya while the team compris-ing of G. Bhuvanesh, P. Barjis sulthana and J. Gomathipriya won the third prize. All of them belong to the batch of 2006.

The final feather in MGMCRI’s cap was, when the coveted “cultural shield” was awarded to the participating team.

The student fraternity of MGM-CRI is very happy with their rich haul of prizes. We congratulate the team for winning laurels for the college and wish them well for achieving similar success in such events in the years to come.



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Faculty Activities

S cientific P ublications » Kripa Angeline A. Ways to pre-

vent Breast cancer. Pondicherry Journal of Nursing. 2009;2(2):17-19.

S cientific

P resentations

Dr. Kamalam S, Principal, KGNC and Head of Community Health Nurs-ing presented a paper on “The Effec-tiveness of health intervention measures on nutritional anaemia among adolescent girls in Villu-puram district,” at the International Workshop on Micronutrients and Child health, held between 20.10.09 and 23.10.09 at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.

Mr. Suthandira Balan P, Clinical Instruc-tor, presented a paper on, “Right to Motherhood of a mentally chal-lenged girl”, at the World mental health day celebration conducted by the Mother Theresa Post Graduate and Research Institute of Health Sciences, Puducherry, on 09.10.09.

Pa rt i c i pat i o n i n Ac a -demic / S cientific events

Mr. Suthandira Balan P, Clinical Instructor, participated in the “HIV / AIDS and ART Training” for nurses under “The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM)” conducted at the College of Nursing, JIPMER, Puducherry, between 9.11.09 and 13.11.09.

Commemora-tions

World Heart DayIn commemoration of the World

Heart Day, the 7th and 8th semester students of B.Sc Nursing organized a Continuing Nursing Education Pro-gramme on the theme, “Work with Heart”on 08.10.09. A mime depicting the increased risk of Heart attacks related to stress was enacted by the students.

C hildren’s DayThe 7th semester students of B.Sc

Nursing participated in the Children’s Day programme organized by the

Department of Pediatrics, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College & Research Institute, on 14.11.09. A ‘Human pup-pet show’, focusing on the importance of nutrients to the growing children was well-received by the audience. They were also educated on the importance of oral hygiene. Ms. Biji John won the first prize in the painting competition.

World AIDS DayIn commemoration of World AIDS

Day, KGNC organized a poster compe-tition on the theme, “Creating awareness on HIV/AIDS” on 1.12.09. Ms. Jayas-hree J of V semester bagged the first prize; Ms. Ragavi G of I semester and Ms. Uvarani R of III semester won the 2nd and 3rd prizes respectively.

The 7th and 8th semester students of B.Sc Nursing participated in the Inter-collegiate debate on the topic, “Is HIV testing mandatory before marriage?”

KASTURBA GANDHI NURSING COLLEGE



27

2009

Ms. Annie Vedha, Assistant Professor, Department of Community Health Nursing, Pondicherry Institute of Medi-cal Sciences, Puducherry, on “Health Information system”, on 11.10.09.

APPOINTMENT SWe take pride in welcoming the

following faculty members who joined KGNC during the last quarter of 2009.

Ms. Rumashanthini K, B.Sc (N),

Clinical Instructor, 19.10.09

Ms. Alageswari A, B.Sc (N),

Clinical Instructor, 22.10.09

Ms. Thivya N, B.Sc (N),

Clinical Instructor, 23.10.09.

Ms. Sumathi S, M.Sc (N),

Lecturer, 23.11.09KGNC extends a warm welcome to

the newly appointed faculty members.

RRC ACTIVITIESThe I year Post Basic students of

B.Sc Nursing staged a role play based on World AIDS Day theme at Kirumam-pakkam PHC, Puducherry. Mothers attending the antenatal clinic benefit-ted immensely.

NSS ACTIVITIES The NSS unit of KGNC organized

several activities during the last quarter of 2009.

» A poster presentation on Diabe-tes mellitus was organized in commemo-ration of World Elders’ day on 01.10.09, at Seliamedu, PHC, Puducherry. The elders were also educated on the various aspects of Diabetes mellitus.

» A school health programme was conducted at Govt. Primary school, Kirumampakkam, Puducherry, on 22.10.09. The NSS volunteers educated the school students on ‘Swine flu’.

» The volunteers also participated in a workshop on ‘AIDS Prevention’ organized by the State NSS Cell at Vetri College of Education, Puducherry on 13.12.09.

Academic Events

S cientific and Academic forum

The Scientific and Academic forum of KGNC organized a guest lecture by

AWARDProf. Kamalam S, Principal, Kas-

turba Gandhi Nursing College, Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth University, Puducherry, has been awarded the degree of Doc-tor of Philosophy (Ph.D) in Nursing by Mother Teresa Women’s University, Kodaikanal, Tamilnadu. The degree was awarded by His Excellency Sri. Surjit Singh Barnala, Governor of TamilNadu.

The faculty, staff and students of KGNC congratulate her for this note-worthy achievement. Wishing her all the best in her future endeavors too!

ADVISORY BOARDProf. Gunasekaran D R

Prof. Thyagarajan K R

Prof. Robinson Smile S

Prof. Vijayalakshmi K

Prof. Kamalam S

EDITORIAL BOARD

E ditor-in-C hiefProf. Ravishankar M

E xecu tive E ditorDr. Mahalakshmi V N

M anuscript Devel opmentDr. Devendra Kumar Tripathy

Ms. Gokula Priya R

Ms. Joy John

Dr. Karpagavel L

Dr. Shivasakthy M

Ms. Uma A N

M anuscript E ditingDr. Srinivasan A R

Dr, Sharbari Basu

Design, Typ o graphy & L ayou t

Mrs. Punitha S ([email protected])

PATRON

Mr. M K Rajagopalan

MAHATMA GANDHI MEDICAL COLLEGE & RESEARCH INSTITUTEINDIRA GANDHI INSTITUTE OF DENTAL SCIENCES

KASTURBA GANDHI NURSING COLLEGEPILLAyARKUPPAM, PUDUCHERRy 607 402

SHRI SATHyA SAI MEDICAL COLLEGE & RESEARCH INSTITUTENELLIKUPPAM, KANCHEEPURAM DIST, TAMIL NADU 603108

e-mail: [email protected]

website: chronicle.mgmcri.res.in

VISIT THE CHRONICLE ONLINE AT:HTTP://CHRONICLE.MGMCRI.RES.IN

chronicle vol 3, issue 4

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