11ovember 2007

Thanks : NDTV
Lakshmi is doing very well: Doctor

Little Lakshmi who underwent a complex and risky surgery to remove her parasitic twin, is making good progress and had solid food on Sunday, doctors said.

''Lakshmi is doing very well. She not only took full oral liquids like water and milk but also had Idlis during the day,'' Dr Ashley D'Cruz, chief paediatric surgeon of the Sparsh hospital, where she was operate upon, said on Sunday.

''She continues to be quite stable with all her vital parameters functioning normally,'' he said.

''We (the team of doctors) will take a decision as to when to move her out of the ICU, probably tomorrow'', D'Cruz said adding her parents met her frequently during the day.

Two-year-old girl, with eight limbs, had arrived at the hospital on October 3 with an abnormal body structures. Her body was fused at the pelvis with her parasitic twin.

Thanks: IBN Live
Mumbai still a clean city after Diwali fireworks

New Delhi/Mumbai: After a grand Diwali celebration on Friday night, citizens across the metros had to deal with a grand mess of waste paper from firecrackers.

However, the streets of Mumbai looked spic and span even after Mumbaikars burst countless firecrackers. The city made sure that none of the night’s leftovers littered the spot.

And it was the combined efforts of the BMC, citizens and corporate houses in keeping the city clean.

The BMC cleaned the public places and citizens cleaned their personal spaces. The senior citizens also contributed their bit.

But the national capital, Delhi did not match up. The city woke up to roads full of waste material from the firecrackers. And though citizens admit they had a role to play in the clean-up process they were only quick to pass the buck.
Mumbaikars are setting an example for others so maybe it is time that citizens here take part in the collective responsibility of keeping the city clean

Thanks : IBN Live
Medical tests a must in schools: Health Ministry
New Delhi: Some good news for the kids in school. For the basic illnesses parents need not take them to the doctor but they can be screened in school. An initiative by the union health and the HRD ministry has come as happy tiding during Diwali.

It's a Diwali gift for schoolchildren across the country, from the health and the HRD ministries. A national school health program, under which all school children from class five to twelve will be screened for basic ailments, will take off next year.

The ministries say children in private and public schools will be screened regularly - free of cost - for vitamin deficiencies, heart ailments, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes, among other ailments.

Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss says, “School children all over the country will be screened. Yearly they will be given health card. This will be a yearly phenomenon.”

The program will be implemented under a public private partnership, but the details, like how often the screenings will be done, are yet to be worked out.
The ministries say child health is a priority, and have also declared that health will be taught as a separate subject in schools from next year.

Ramadoss adds, “Health subject is going to be at least once or twice a week. All the children in the school should learn what are the health issues. ”

This program is already there in states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat but replicating it across the country would not be an easy task as experts say that enforcement, infrastructure and capacity building would be the major challenges.

Thanks: IBN Live
Mumbai website helps reunite missing children
Mumbai: Eleven-year-old Vivek Vishwakarma, who had run away from home after being shouted at, was reunited with his family after over a week of anxiety. Vivek, was tracked down by the Don Bosco shelter in Wadala and handed back to his parents.

“My mother had scolded me but I will not run away again,” Vivek said.

Vivek may have been found but many others are not so lucky. However, now there's hope for such parents. In a first-ever attempt of its kind in Mumbai, a website www. homelink.in is helping reunite missing children with their families.

Mumbai has a bad track record as far as missing children are concerned. On an average more than 650 children remain untraced every year.

More than 4,000 children were reported missing in 2007 of which 260 these children have been successfully tracked using the website.“We have 46 organisations working. We are a team of 15 in Vijaywada but we are never slack in searching lost children,” Sapna, who is part of a team that works for the website, said.

The shelter also keeps a tab on the children's lives after they are back with their families.

"We counsel the children as they sometimes don’t want to talk to people. We bring them back into the system,” Sapna said.

The website has certainly brought a ray of hope for children who go missing in maximum city. But the challenge now is to extend help to families of all missing children and ensure their safe return.