Category Archives: Science & Technology

Young at 85, this doctor’s heart beats for the poor

Leaders, Science & Technology
(I dont believe in tomorrows. Ive always wanted to do everything right now. My motto has always been to fulfill all my ambitions so that I dont have any regrets left. Dr Sita Bhateja | GYNAECOLOGIST)
(I dont believe in tomorrows. Ive always wanted to do everything right now. My motto has always been to fulfill all my ambitions so that I dont have any regrets left. Dr Sita Bhateja | GYNAECOLOGIST)

Bangalore :

At 85, Dr Sita Bhateja looks a sprightly 65 or so. Impeccably dressed, her bright eyes twinkle as she talks. In a career spanning over 60 years, she has helped deliver more than a lakh babies. And no, she’s not ready to remove those surgical gloves yet.

“I don’t believe in tomorrows. I’ve always wanted to do everything right now. I’m spiritual, but I don’t think I’m coming back, so my motto has always been to fulfill all my ambitions so that I don’t have any regrets left,” she says.

After a long career at Bangalore’s St Martha’s Hospital, where she started the obstetrics and gynecology department, she set up Sita Bhateja Speciality Hospital 40 years ago. Today it’s a flourishing institution that believes in extending world-class healthcare to every citizen irrespective of their financial background. With a robust philanthropic wing that treats the underprivileged practically for free,

The hospital is run as a non-profit one with the for-profit arm sustaining it. Till a few years ago, Dr Bhateja used to give up 50% of her own income towards its upkeep, but a charitable trust takes care of it now.

“There is no difference in the care given to paying and non-paying patients. The same doctors see them and they are given access to the same beds and facilities,” says Bhateja. The ratio of privileged patients to poor ones is about 50:50, while the trust also runs the Sri Jetha Nand Hospital for the Poor, a 20-bed facility on the same premises. As part of its activities, the trust conducts free clinics in OBG, medicine, orthopedics and neurosurgery every week. Patients have to prove their eligibility for treatment under the charitable wing by providing a green card (BPL card) or a family income certificate issued by the local taluk office.

Dr Bhateja’s day starts at about 8am and ends at 7pm – doing surgeries in the morning, seeing at least 50 patients daily and doing hospital rounds. At 85, where does she get all the energy from? “I’ve always been high on energy,” she says, smiling. “I don’t let my age bother me. If I did, I’d have to sit down. I don’t believe in rest and holidays,” she says, admitting that she’s taken all of two real ‘holidays’ in her life – once to Kashmir many years ago with her husband and three sons, and more recently, a holiday in Greece with her elder son. “I feel restless when I’m on holiday. I’m happiest while working,” she adds.

That doesn’t mean she has no other interests. A passionate philatelist, Dr Bhateja’s enviable collection of rare stamps has been internationally recognized and won her won several awards in global philately contests. One of the rarest and most valuable stamps in her collection is an Indian stamp from 1854 with an inverted head of Queen Victoria. “There are only three square-cut stamps from this batch, of which only one is a used cover – which means it was actually used – and that belongs to my collection. Yes, it is the only one of its kind in the world,” she says with some pride.

A home for kids too

Dr Bhateja also started the Child Foundation, which runs a home for poor and abandoned children, where they have been fed and educated for free for the past 30 years. The foundation, started 30 years ago, runs a Kannada medium high school in Padmanabhanagar. The school is supported by the state government, which pays teachers’ salaries.

Her prescription

I don’t use cooking oil in my house. Food is cooked by sprinkling water on non-stick pans. The taste is just as good. I don’t eat anything made of maida and I rarely have rice. I have a lot of salads every day and eat one chappati at night. I also eat one carrot, one gooseberry and lots of spinach. No junk food, obviously – I’ve tasted pizza twice in my life. I don’t take any sugar in tea or coffee though I use honey to sweeten tea sometimes. Besides walking, I go to the gym four times a week and exercise for 45 minutes, making sure all the joints and muscles are active and supple.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Bangalore> Charitable Trust / by Shrabonti Bagchi, TNN / August 12th, 2013

Now traffic lights to run on solar power

Green Initiatives / Environment, Science & Technology

Hubli :

With the Hubli-Dharwad police commissionerate contemplating upgrading traffic signals in the twin cities with the latest technology, the crossroads in the twin cities will soon wear a brand new look.

If everything goes as planned, by next month the city roads will have solar-run traffic signalling system for which the government has already sanctioned Rs 50 lakh. The commissionerate has invited tenders for the work.

In Hubli-Dharwad, there are around 30 signals. Of them, 24 are equipped with solar and power while the remaining are functioning with electrical power which is expensive. Now the authorities are planning to add four more signals.

The decision was taken to reduce power usage for traffic signals Lighting will be produced by an array of energy efficient LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) that are brighter than bulbs.

B A Padmanayan, the commissioner of police, said that the solar-equipped traffic poles will help reduce consumption of electricity and maintenance expenditure.

According to sources, the spurt in number of private vehicles and also NWKRTC buses in the twin cities has increased the traffic problem. As Hubli-Dharwad is growing rapidly, streamlining of the traffic system is also becoming a big challenge for the police department.

Most traffic signals in the twin cities were installed years ago and are not visible to all road users. Considering this, moves are afoot to increase the size of the poles.

N S Patil, ACP for Traffic, said that unlike earlier when HDMC used to install traffic signals, now the department is installing traffic signals to avoid power related issues. In case the solar signals develop any hiccups, there will be an alternative arrangement using electricity connection.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Traffic Signals / by J Abbas Mulla, TNN / August 05th, 2013

NASSCOM Opens First Startup Warehouse In Bangalore

Business & Economy, Records, All, Science & Technology

Bangalore:

India’s IT industry representative body Nasscom Tuesday opened its first start-up warehouse in this tech hub for young entrepreneurs to innovate software products and solutions for the domestic and export markets.

 
“The Karnataka government is collaborating with us to create an ecosystem where budding entrepreneurs can incubate their tech start-ups in the product space,” National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) president Som Mittal said on the occasion.

 
Located on the upscale old airport road in the eastern suburb of the city, the warehouse has about 10,000 square feet space with 70 seats to accommodate 25 start-ups. The entrepreneurs will have leased internet line, power backup and four meeting rooms.

 
“We are unveiling the country’s first incubation centre with six start-ups, selected from about 4,000 applications received for our ’10,000 start-ups programme’ initiated recently to support entrepreneurs in their early stage of operation with angel funding,” Mittal asserted.

source: http://www.siliconindia.com / Silicon India / Home> Silicon India Startup> News / Thursday – August 08th, 2013

City to get its 1st genetic testing lab

Business & Economy, Records, All, Science & Technology

The city is all set to get its first laboratory for genetic testing to diagnose common hereditary and other genetic diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, eye diseases and neonatal disorders.

The laboratory, called ANGEL (Advanced Novel Genetic Evaluation Laboratory), coming up at Narayana Nethralaya, will be a diagnostic and basic research service laboratory.

Narayana Nethralaya vice-chairman Dr Rohit Shetty told reporters here on Wednesday, that the lab will have facilities like genetics, gene testing, whole genome sequencing, gene expression microarrays, proteomics and immunohistochemistry.

Sam Santosh, chairman, MedGenome, which is partnering with the Nethralaya for the initiative costing Rs30 crore, said managing inherited diseases continues to be a huge challenge for the medical fraternity. “One or two in every 100 children in India are born with genetic disorders. Through the laboratory, mothers can be tested and such diseases can be prevented at the foetal stage itself,” he said. Dr Shetty said the aim of the initiative is to make genetic screening more affordable for the masses using new generation sequencing technologies.

Gene Therapy

Meanwhile, research is on to render genetic therapy to treat diseases at the Genes Repair, Regeneration in Ophthalmic Workstation (GROW), set up by Arka Subra Ghosh, who returned to India from the Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology, Singapore.

“Gene therapy still has a long way to go because we are awaiting legislation to control gene and stem cell therapy,” Ghosh said.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Banglaore / by Express News Service – Bangalore / August 08th, 2013

Jubilant Biosys’ prostate cancer drug

Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

New Delhi :

Jubilant Biosys Ltd, a Bangalore-based subsidiary of Jubilant Life Sciences Ltd, said the USFDA had accepted its IND (Investigational New Drug) filing for a ‘novel’ molecule targeting prostate cancer with Endo Pharmaceuticals of the US.

This molecule would now progress toward the next phase of development and is anticipated to go into clinical trials by late 2013, a company release said.

Subir Kumar Basak, President, Global Drug Discovery Services, Jubilant Life Sciences, said the “successful outcome” was the result of collaboration between the scientists at Endo (a US-based specialty healthcare company) and Jubilant Biosys.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Companies / by The Hindu Bureau / New Delhi – August 07th, 2013

Manipal Health acquires hospital in Malaysia

Business & Economy, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Acquisition includes new 200-bed tertiary care hospital under construction in nearby location

Manipal Health Enterprises, the healthcare arm of the Manipal Education and Medical Group, has acquired a 70-bed hospital in Klang, Selangor District of Malaysia. This acquisition by Manipal Hospitals also includes a new 200 bed tertiary care hospital which is presently under construction in a nearby location, which will be commissioned by last quarter of the Financial Year 2014-15, said a company statement.  The hospital, was set up by Dr Poraviappan Arunasalam, an obstetrics and gynaecology  consultant in Klang about 14 years ago.

According to a statement, the hospital will focus on a combination of wellness, prevention and curative care levels – for both the domestic and an emerging overseas patient traffic into Malaysia from neighboring countries.

Swaminathan Dandapani — Executive Chairman of Manipal Health Enterprises, said,  “This acquisition is a part of the company’s strategy to expand its footprint in India and in countries of West Asia, Africa and Asia Pacific. In the near term, significant capacities will be created to add on to the present group capacity of 15 hospitals and 5,000 beds.

The Manipal group has already two campuses in Malaysia — a Medical school at Melaka since 2001 and a newly formed (in 2012) Malaysia International University at Nilai, Kuala Lumpur.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> Companies> News / by BS Reporter / Mumbai – August 08th, 2013

US pro-immigration for talented people: Gururaj Deshpande

Business & Economy, Leaders, Nri's / Pio's, Science & Technology
Gururaj 'Desh' Deshpande
Gururaj ‘Desh’ Deshpande

Bangalore :

Gururaj ‘Desh’ Deshpande is an Indian American investor, best known for cofounding Sycamore Networks and the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT in the US. In Bangalore, he co-founded Tejas Networks. Three years ago, US President Barack Obama appointed him co-chair of the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. For those new to this space, he is related to Infosys’ N R NarayanaMurthy (his and Murthy’s wives are sisters ), and it is said that Deshpande used to be introduced as Murthy’s brother-in-law in India, and vice-versa in the US. Deshpande spoke exclusively to TOI on a visit to Bangalore on Thursday:

How do you see the immigration debate in the US?
The US wants highly talented people to be part of its economy. When we went to the US in the ’70s, we didn’t have that many opportunities to come back. Now, a lot of people going there for education are not staying back and the US is getting to the point where their education is the best in the world and they are not benefiting from it. They are pro-immigration for highly talented people. But there are also 20 million illegal immigrants in US, hence there’s this big debate about granting citizenship to immigrants.

You advise Obama on innovation and entrepreneurship. How is that initiative going?
Innovation is as important in the US as it is in India. In the US, for the last 15 years, 5 lakh new companies have started every year, generating 4 million new jobs each year. This has happened independent of slowdowns . The only way to solve the long-term problem is to create more jobs and take it to 8 or 10 million. The question is how do you get startups and how do you bring them up to speed? We cameup with a policy on how to generate ideas, promote entrepreneurship and provide access to capital. The key message that applies to India also is that government should not be in the game of picking winners and losers. They should explore co-investing opportunities or give tax breaks to angel investors and VCs.

What is your assessment of the startup ecosystem in India?
I’m excited. Sometimes in India people’s expectation goes out of hand. People think that they can create entrepreneurship by building infrastructure and incubators. It doesn’t happen. It happens only by people actively engaging in it. The best policy is, you let a lot of people play and not pick the winners and losers. It’s like having a cricket team with a lot of street cricket. Once you have big platforms, you have good people coming to it.

You’ve set up what you call a Social Innovation Sandbox to nurture social enterprise and innovation in the Hubli-Dharwad region. How is that going?
If impact is what you desire, you have to get connected to real problems. If you want social innovation to happen, you have to have a deep understanding of the problem itself and then to solve it. You need new ideas that needn’t be patentable and looking for huge competitive advantage. Relevance is the most important piece in social innovation. We have 10,000 college students in Hubli-Dharwad doing about 2,000 projects. You’re using society as a lab. Even if 3-4 % of them become entrepreneurs and employ 10 or 100 people, it’s a huge booster to the economy. When you bring execution excellence to the compassion of the non-profit , magic happens. Ratan Tata  was a part of the Sandbox last year. I met him in Mumbai recently and he said he wants to do something similar. Ratan is motivated to solve huge problems . He thinks Akshaya Patra can scale from feeding 1.2 million to 100 million.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Tech> Enterprise IT> Entrepreneurship / by Shilpa Padnis & Sujit John, TNN / August 09th, 2013

Bangalore: St John’s Medical College golden jubilee celebrations from Aug 7

Education, Records, All, Science & Technology

Bangalore :

St John’s Medical College, Bangalore, which has emerged as one the best medical colleges in the country, is all set to celebrate its golden jubilee this year with many events and programmes starting from August 7.

The college was started in 1963 by the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of India (CBCI), New Delhi, with the lofty objective of training doctors to work in the underserved areas of India.

StJohnsBF19aug2013

Karnataka Governor H D Bhardwaj would be inaugurating the year-long golden jubilee celebrations on August 11 with dedication of four golden jubilee projects comprising St John’s Oncology Centre for treatment of cancer patients, Unit of Hope for treatment of children with disabilities, renovation of the auditorium and students’ dining hall.

Dr Aaron Friedman, Dean of Medical School, Minnesota University, USA, will be the guest of honour while Most Rev Francis Kallarkal, Archbishop of Verapoly and Chairman of St John’s Governing Board, will be presiding over the golden jubilee year inaugural function being held at the St John’s Medical College Lawns.

Infosys Technologies Executive Chairman N R Narayana Murthy will be the guest of honour at the public function to mark the golden jubilee year programmes on August 9, which will have Most Rev Salvatore Pennacchio, Apostolic Nuncio in India, at the chief guest and His Eminence Baselios Cardinal Cleemis Catholicos, CBCI Vice President I, will preside. The Apostolic Nuncio in India Most Rev Salvatore Pennacchio will be the main celebrant at the solemn Eucharistic celebration prior to the public function.
1500 Alumni To Attend

The actual golden jubilee year celebrations will commence with Alumni Reunions on August 7 and 8, which will be participated by over 1500 almni from all over the world, including nearly 300 religious sisters, according to Rev Dr Lawrence D’Souza, Chairman of the Organising Committee and Director of St John’s National Academy of Health Sciences.

The Alumni will be participating in the sports and cultural events organised as part of the golden jubilee year programme, he said pointing out that the Alumni occupied key positions in leading medical institutions all over the world including McMaster University, King’s College, Emory University, Mayo Clinic, University of Nottingham etc.

Adressing a news conference on Saturday, Fr D’Souza said two other important events forming part of the Golden Jubilee on August 9 will be the special orations by Dr Sr Lucian, President of Sister Doctors’ Forum in India, on ‘Contribution of St John’s to the promotion of health and prevention of illeness in the medically underserved areas’ and Dr Salim Yusuf, Endowed Chair at CVS Research for Heart and Stoke Foundation, Ontario, on ‘Contribution of St John’s to the promotion of medical and clinical research.’

There will be two other orations by Dr K M Venkat Narayan, Emory University, who is a world-renowned authority on diabetes and public health, and Dr Mario Vaz, a former student and staff of St John’s Medical College, on the history of St John’s, along with a programme for felicitation of all retired teachers.

“The golden jubilee year will be a befitting occasion for the institution, its students, staff and alumni to celebrate this glorious journey and a recognition to the yeomen service rendered by the staff and students in the field of healthcare,” said Fr D’Souza, adding: ”This is an occasion for reflection, re-evaluation and setting new goals and missions to meet contemporary social needs in a rapidly changing country.
Intake Increase from 60 to 150

With clamour for admission in the college over the years from different parts of the country, Fr D’Souza said the intake for admissions for the MBBS course was proposed to be increased from the present 60 to 150 from next academic year.

“We will submit a detailed proposal to the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) by this year end and Medical Council of India is expected to inspect availabilities facilities in coming February,” he explained.

He said the college and its hospital had the necessary infrastructure to accommodate the increased intake. ”We wish to fully utilise the teaching material and infrastructure available on the campus,” the Director said.

The college conducts all India entrance test for admission of MBBS students and the practice was started from the very first batch with examinations conducted in Bangalore, Mangalore, Belgaum, Trivandrum, Chennai, Vijayawada, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Ajmer, Nagpur, Ranchi, Allahabad, Kolkata, Shillong and Delhi besides Hyderabad, Ernakulam, Panaji, Mapusa and Colombo, which were added as examination centres later.
Compulsory Rural Service for Docs From 1973

”One of the distinguishing quality about the St John’s Medical College is the reservation of 15 seats for religious sisters every year, who will be permanently serving in rural areas,” explained Fr Glen Mascarenhas, adding: ”The college has made 2-year compulsory rural service bond for all students from 1973 itself.”

Over 250 religious sister almni were permanently serving in rural and remote hospitals, including disturbed areas in Kashmir, Jarkhand and north-east, Fr D’Souza said. As many as 25 per cent of the graduates were permanently settled and working in undeserved and remote areas including Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Kashmir, tribal belts of Orissa, Assam, Meghalaya and Andaman and Nicobar islands.

The college offers graduate, postgraduate, diploma and super specialty degrees recognised by the RGUHS, said Dr Prem Pais, Dean.

Dr Ranganth Nayak said the college has specialized facilities like kidney dialysis, critical care, neonatal intensive care, renal and corneal transplantation, open heart surgery, cardiac catherisation lab. It offers super-speciality training courses in D.M. (Cardiology), M.Ch (Plastic Surgery), M.Ch (Paediatric Surgery), D.M. courses in Neonatology, Nephrology, Neurology, Endocrinology and Gastroenterology and M.Ch courses in Urology and Neosurgery.
First Medical College to Teach Medical Ethics

”St John’s is the first medical college to include teaching of medical ethics as part of MBBS curriculam and has set up a full-fledged department of medical ethics,” he said,

The college will be opening a new e-library facility and establish a clinical skill laboratory to meet the basic and highly advanced training requirements of students and faculty during the year.

The present college building came up in 1968 and was inaugurated by late Dr Zakir Hussain, the former president of India. The college gets students from various parts of the globe and also receives externship students from countries like USA, UK, Germany, Australia, Canada, Sweden, UAE, Oman and Malaysia.

Equipped with a full-fledged Department of Medical Education, the college conducts regular training programmes for doctors from several medical colleges across the country. It also has a research society conducting round-the-year training and programmes in research methodology.

St John’s is one of the few leading medical colleges in the country to have academic and scientific collaborations with institutions like National Institutes of Health, International Atomic Energy Agency, Wellcome Foundation, WHO, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Biotechnology and Indian Institute of Science, said Dr Prem Pais.

The college recently received the Singh-Obama Award and got itself connected with the Harvard School of Public Health under the Harvard-India Nutrition Initiative.

Dr Prem Pais said that the college has 1250 bed teaching hospital and nearly 2500 patients receive treatment daily. About 18000 patients received various treatments, including surgeries per year.

source: http://www.daijiworld.com / DaijiWorld.com / Home> Top Stories / from Special Correspondent of DaijiWorld /  Daijiworld Media Network – Bangalore / Saturday, August 03rd, 2013

St John’s Medical College to celebrate golden jubilee

Records, All, Science & Technology

St John’s Medical College, Bangalore, is all set to celebrate its golden jubilee this year with a series of events from August 7.

Governor H.D. Bhardwaj will inaugurate the celebrations on August 11 and dedicate four newly-built buildings. N.R. Narayana Murthy, executive chairman, Infosys, will be the guest honour at a function on August 9.

Rev. Lawrence D’souza, Director, St. John’s National Academy of Health Sciences, told presspersons here on Saturday that a decision had been taken to increase the student intake for MBBS course from 60 to 150 from the next academic year.

“We will submit a proposal to the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) by this year end and Medical Council of India is expected to inspect availabilities facilities in February,” he said.

The main reason for increasing MBBS seats is to fully utilise the teaching material and infrastructure available on the campus, Dr. D’souza said.

e-library

The college would also open a new e-library and establish a clinical skill laboratory to meet the basic and highly advanced training requirements of students and faculty.

Started in 1963 by the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of India, St. John’s Medical College has grown to be listed as one of the top medical educational institutions in the country.

The college has a two-year compulsory rural service bond for its students from 1973.

“About 25 of students are permanently working in remote areas, and are committed to addressing the desperate health needs of these unreached rural populations,” he said.

The present college building came up in 1968 and was inaugurated by Zakir Hussain, the former president of India.

The college receive students from various parts of the globe and recently it has received the Singh-Obama Award.

Dr. D’souza said 1,500 alumni from across the world are attending the golden jubilee celebrations from August 7 to 11 and various cultural and sporting events.

Prem Pais, Dean, said that the college has 1,250-bed teaching hospital and nearly 2500 patients receive treatment daily. About 1,800 surgeries are conducted a year.

To mark the occasion, the college would dedicate renovated students’ dining hall, auditorium, St John’s Oncology Centre, and Unit of Hope (for treatment of children with disabilities).

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Bangalore – August 04th, 2013

Builder of Billion Dollar IT Giant, Azim Premji Turns 68!

Business & Economy, Leaders, Science & Technology

AzimPremjiBF14aug2013

# Became the Bellwether At 21

Premji completed his schooling from St Mary’s School in Mumbai, and later to pursue his graduation he went to the world renounced Stanford University, USA. Unfortunately he had to drop his studies because of the untimely demise of his father, M.H.Premji, the then owner of Wipro and so, Premji had to take over of the chairmanship.
# Tagged among the World’s Most Powerful CEOs
Premji is a person of clear vision with the ability to create a brand name through sheer integrity and innovation. Infact, he is the voted as the most powerful CEOs in 2013.
It wasn’t an easy task for Premji to guide his company for four decades which has now become one of the most successful companies in the world. In the year 2000, he was voted as 20 most powerful personalities in the world by “Asiaweek”.
Forbes recognized Premji as 100 most influential people in the world in 2000. For many years now, he was voted as one of the richest people in India and in the year 1995, he was honored with Padma Bhushan in 2009 and Padma Vibhushan in 2011.

source: http://www.siliconindia.com / Silicon India / Home> News> Business / Tuesday – July 23rd, 2013