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Farewell to Dr. R. Sambasiva Rao

Dr. R. Sambasiva Rao handed over the charge of Director, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research on 6.10.2003 consequent to his posting as Additional –Director General of Health Services, New Delhi.

A farewell party was arranged on 7th of October 2003. Dr. M.K. Srivastava, Chief Medical Officer (OSD), welcomed the gathering and compered the function. Dr. K.S.V.K. Subba Rao, Director-Professor and Head of Department of Cardiothoracic & Vascular Surgery, the senior most faculty member, gave a brief introduction to the academic career of Dr. Sambasiva Rao and spoke at length about his contribution towards the progress of JIPMER.

Dr. Ananthakrishnan, Head of Department of Surgery, Dr. Srinivasan, Head of Paediatrics and many Heads of departments and faculty members spoke on the occasion. Many staff members, including senior nursing personnel, residents, students and representatives of the Employees' Union talked at length on the stable administration during Dr. Rao’s tenure as Director. Mementoes were given to honour the outgoing Director. Finally the Medical Superintendent, Dr. Badrinath and the Dean, Dr. K.S. Reddy, spoke on the occasion and wished Dr. Rao the very best in his forthcoming assignment. Dr. Sambasiva Rao then talked to the gathering, specifically highlighting how close JIPMER was to him. The function came to an end with the vote of thanks by the Administrative Officer, Shri. K. Venkatasubramanian.

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International CME in Cytopathology

The Department of Pathology conducted an International CME in Cytopatholgy on 21 and 22 November 2003 in which nearly 200 delegates from all over the country participated. The Dean in-charge, Dr. K. Satyanarayana Reddy, Director-Professor of Radiotherapy, inaugurated the CME. Former Medical Superintendent and Professor of Pathology, Dr. A. J. Veliath released the Souvenir. Professor S. Jayanthi, Head of the Department of Pathology and President of the CME, welcomed the delegates and invitees. Dr. Surendra Kumar, Professor of Pathology and Organising Secretary of the CME, proposed the vote of thanks.

The international faculties were Dr. Svante R. Orell, Clinpath Laboratories, South Australia and Dr. Gita Jayaram, Professor of Cytopathology, University of Malaysia.

Dr. Orell is the author of Manual and Atlas of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology, which is popular worldwide. He delivered two very informative lectures on ‘Pitfalls in Breast FNAC’ and ‘FNA of Thyroid’ and provided valuable tips to the delegates in the interpretation of these smears. Dr. Gita Jayaram spoke on ‘Problems and Pitfalls in FNAC of Salivary gland lesions’. Dr. Jayaram’s dynamic presence and stimulating lecture was an eye opener to many and beneficial to all.

Dr. V. Ramesh, Professor and Head of Oral Pathology & Microbiology, Mahatma Gandhi Dental College & Hospital, Pondicherry, spoke on ‘Cytopathology of Oral lesions’. Dr. Jyotsna Shahapurkar, Scientist ‘D’, DEBEL, Bangalore spoke on ‘Application of image analysis in the diagnosis of cervical intraepithelial neoplasms and carcinoma of cervix’ . Dr. Sudipta Roy, Consultant Pathologist, Kolkata gave a talk on ‘Guided FNA of Mediastinum’. Dr. Surendra Kumar and Dr. Siddaraju, Professors of Pathology, JIPMER also delivered one lecture each, on ‘AFB staining in AIDS lymphadenopathy’ and ‘Mesothelial cells in fluid cytology’, respectively. All the delegates rated these lectures as ‘very useful’.

Apart from the lectures, there was a session on slide discussion based on cases provided by the international faculty. Slides by Dr Orell were an opportunity for the delegates to hone their interpretative skills while Dr. Jayaram’s slides helped them to view unusual lesions of salivary glands and other sites. A competitive Poster Presentation session was another feature of this CME. The poster put up by Dr. Jeevana N and Dr. Chandrakumar S, Residents of Pathology, JIPMER on "Negative images in mycobacterial infections" won the Best Poster award.

A cultural programme followed by dinner on 21st evening was a highlight of the CME, during which the invitees enjoyed some melodious songs rendered by "Genesis", a professional troupe from Pondicherry. Feedback from the participating delegates indicated that the CME was a big success in terms of scientific progammes. The Department of Pathology is proud to have hosted a CME of this magnitude after a long gap and hopes to continue to hold more such events.

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Workshop on emergency care

The workshop on "Care in Emergency-Role of nurses" was held in JIPMER from 3-11-2003 to 12-11-2003. 31 participants at the level of Gr-III Nursing Supdt., Head Nurses and Staff Nurses from Govt. Head Qtrs. Hospital, Cuddalore, Govt. General Hospital, Arni (TamilNadu), Govt. General Hospital, Thiruvannamalai, Govt. General Hospital, Pondicherry and also from JIPMER attended the programe.

The inauguration was at 10 AM in the NTTC Seminar Hall, JIPMER on 3-11-2003. Dr. Mohan Rao, Addl. Medical Supdt., JIPMER presided over the function. He in his address pointed out that Nursing personnel are playing the vital role in the Health Care delivery system.

Dr. S. Badrinath, acting Director, JIPMER, delivered the inaugural address. He pointed out that the Nursing Staff should learn to efficiently manage the Emergency Care Unit of all specialties with the availability of newer drugs & equipment.

Faculty from all the major specialties of JIPMER were resource persons. Various emergencies were discussed in detail. The workshop was appreciated by all the participants.

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Inauguration of the JIPMER Officers’ Club Room

The JIPMER Officers’ Club Room in the Community Hall was inaugurated by the Director, Prof. R.Sambasiva Rao, on 5th October 2003. The President of the Officers’ Club, Prof. T.K. Dutta, welcomed the Director and the members. The Director, in his address, stressed the need for the Officers’ Club to play a larger role in the welfare of the members as well as in promoting greater interaction with other categories of JIPMER employees. He hoped that the room would be utilised fully for providing various recreational avenues to the members and their families. He also bid farewell to all members of the club upon his transfer to New Delhi. Prof. T.K. Dutta, on behalf of the JIPMER Officers’ Club, presented Dr Rao a memento on this occasion. The function was followed by a Drawing Competition for children, in which there were about 25 participants from various age groups.

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Jipmer Scientific Society

1. The fourth monthly meeting of the session 2003-2004 was held on 27th October 2003, Monday at 3.15 PM in Pasteur Theatre. Dr. T.K. Dutta, Professor of Medicine and President of JSS presided over the meeting. Three papers were presented. Dr. E.S. Prakash from the Department of Physiology presented a paper entitled "Cardiovascular autonomic functions in subjects with borderline hypertension and established hypertension: a case-control study". Dr. Surendra Kumar from Department of Pathology spoke on "Acid fast staining patterns and their correlation with HIV positivity" and Dr. A.K. Mahapatra from Department of Medicine presented a paper on "Study of gastroesophageal diseases in bronchial asthma".The Secretary, Dr. Gopal Krushna Pal, Professor of Physiology proposed the vote of thanks at the end.

2. The Annual Faculty Oration of JIPMER Scientific Society for 2003-2004 was held on 10th November, 2003 at 3.15 PM, in Pasteur Theatre, JIPMER. Dr. K.R. Sethuraman, Director-Professor and Head of the Departments of Medicine and Medical Education, JIPMER delivered the oration on: "Fostering Clinical Competence: A multidimensional approach". The meeting was attended by around 130 members of JSS and faculty members from other medical institutes of Pondicherry. The programme began with Dr. Dutta welcoming the members and giving a brief introduction to the history and importance of the Annual Faculty Oration. Then, Dr. Madanmohan Trakroo, Director-Professor and Head of the Department of Physiology, introduced Dr. Sethuraman to the audience. This was followed by Dr. Sethuraman delivering his talk, which was an amalgamation of his various experiences and research works on clinical teaching methods at JIPMER. The talk was highly appreciated by all the members. The JSS President felicitated Dr. K.R. Sethuraman with a medal and certificate. Dr. K.S. Reddy, acting Director of JIPMER, presented him with a memento. The Secretary of JSS, Dr. G.K. Pal, Professor of Physiology proposed the vote of thanks.

3. The fourth monthly meeting of the session 2003-2004 was held on 24th November 2003, Monday at 3.15 P.M. in Pasteur Theatre. One scientific research paper each from Cardiothoracic Surgery and Microbiology and one clinical case from the department of General Surgery were presented Dr. Madhan Kumar K, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, presented "Muscle sparing axillary thoracotomy for persistent ductus arteriosus closure:, Dr. R. Prabagaravarthanan , Department of Microbilogy, presented "Typhus fever in JIPMER" and Dr. Adhish Basu, Department of General Surgery, presented a case report on "Machinery injury to the breast".

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Child Health Care Programme

Jawaharlal Institute Urban Health Centre in association with P&SM department celebrated ‘Child Health Care Programme’ on 14.11.2003. Acting Director Dr. S. Badrinath was the Chief Guest for this programme. Dr. K.A. Narayan, Head of P&SM welcomed the gathering. Dr. P.B.V.P. Kumar Babu, C.M.O. In-charge presented the annual report of 2002. Mr. Kalpana Muthuraj, MSW gave the vote of thanks.

People and school children of the service area of the Urban health centre participated in various competitions and the cultural programme. Anglo French Textile and Aurofood Private Limited sponsored School Uniforms and refreshments respectively.

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STAFF NEWS

Medical Superintendent

Dr. S. Badrinath, Medical Superintendent, attended the 27th Congress (Microcon-Mumbai-2003) of the Indian Association of Medical Microbiologists (IAMM) held from 5th to 9th November, 2003 at Mumbai. He delivered the Presidential Address and chaired scientific sessions in the capacity of President of IAMM.

who/nicD sponsored Workshop

A workshop as Diagnosis and control of opportunistic infections in aids and other immunocompromised patients was held at New Delhi from 13th to 17th October, 2003. Participants from institutes in different parts of the country took part in the workshop. Dr. Abdoul Hamide, Professor of Medicine and Dr. Surender Verma, Professor of Pathology attended the workshop from JIPMER.

Department of Medicine

1. Prof. T.K. Dutta and Prof. R.P. Swaminathan took part as Resource Persons in the Workshop on Lymphatic filariasis organized by VCRC, Pondicherry on 9.10.2003. Multi-centre trial of Daflon 500 on filarial lymphadema was planned in the workshop and JIPMER has been chosen as one of the important centres taking part in the trial. Prof. R.P. Swaminathan presented a paper on "Pulmonary esonophilia" in the previous workshop held at VCRC in the month of September, 2003. Dr. D.K.S. Subrahmanyam, Associate Professor also took part in the workshop on disability scoring of filarial lymphadema held at VCRC, Pondicherry.

2. A Scientific Session on ‘Dietary Fats in Coronary Heart Diseases’ was organized by the Department on 30-11-2003 (Sunday) at NTTC Hall. The key note address on the topic was delivered by Dr. Kalyana Sundram, University of London and Consultant, Malaysian Palm Oil Promotion Council. This was moderated by Dr. M.G. Sridhar, Professor of Biochemistry. There were about 60 participants including faculty members and PG residents from various specialities. Dr. K.S.V.K. Subba Rao, Director-Processor & Head of Cardiothoracic Department, was the Guest of Honour of the session. Dr. K.R. Sethuraman, Director-Professor & Head, Department of Medicine, proposed the vote of thanks.

3. Dr. Aparna Agrawal, Professor of Medicine, attended the 44th Annual Conference of the Indian Society of Gastroenterology (ISGCON 2003) held at Chennai from 20-24th November, 2003. She also attended the pre-conference CME and a post-conference Endoscopy-CME with video workshop. The highlight of the conference was an attempt to formulate Indian Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of various gastrointestinal diseases for which committees have been formed. Dr. Aparna Agrawal presented two papers at the conference:

i. ‘UGI endoscopic evaluation in chronic renal failure’ co-authored by G. Shreepa, D.K.S. Subrahmanyam won the best poster session award of Rs. 5,000/.

ii. ‘Mosaic pattern: Is it the sine quo non of portal hypertensive gastropathy?’ in the Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy of India (SGEI) session.

Dr. D.K.S. Subrahmanyam, Associate Professor, also attended the conference. He enrolled for CME & Endoscopic workshop sections of the conference. His poster on ‘Upper Gastrointestinal Endoscopy findings in patients of Bronchial Asthma with Dyspepsia’ by Mahapatra AK, Subrahmanyam DKS, Swaminathan RP, was accepted and abstracted in the Indian Journal of Gastroenterology. The endoscopic workshop was predominantly focussed on ERCP. The other areas covered were capsule endoscopy and endoscopic ultrasound. The workshop mode was video demonstrations with discussions.

Department of Surgery

1. Dr. S. Jagdish, Professor of Surgery, attended the 29th Annual Conference of the Indian Association of Paediatric Surgeons held at Gandhi Medical College, Hyderabad from 6th to 9th November 2003. He presented a paper entitled "Paediatric Surgery Instruction for undergraduates – An Audit"

2. Dr. Sarath Chandra, Professor of Surgery, attended the 5th International Live Workshop on Advanced Laparoscopic Surgery organized by GEM Hospital, Coimbatore from 6th to 9th November 2003.

Department of Paediatrics

Dr. S. Mahadevan, Professor of Paediatrics was invited as a Faculty to XI MAPICON-2003 conference held under the auspices of Maharashtra Association of Physicians of Indian at Panaji, Goa from 16th-19th November 2003. He delivered a Guest Lecture on "Scorpion Sting – Current Perspectives".

Department of Pathology

Dr. Surendra Kumar, Professor of Pathology attended the 33rd Indian Academy of Cytology (IAC) conference at Pune from 27th to 30th November, 2003. He chaired a session on "HPV and carcinoma cervix". He also presented a paper entitled "Spontaneous infection in Juvenile Fibroadenoma".

Department of Radiodiagnosis

The Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry chapter of Indian Radiological & Imaging Association (IRIA) was started on 31.10.2003 and the first meeting was held at the Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, (PIMS) Pondicherry.

Dr. S. Elangovan, Professor & Head of the Department of Radiodiagnosis, JIPMER was unanimously elected as Vice-President, Dr. V. Bhuvaneswari, Asst. Professor of Radiodiagnosis as General Secretary and Dr. Puran Singh, Associate Professor of Radiodiagnosis as Joint Secretary of the Association for the year 2003-2004.

Department of TB & CD

Dr. Judo J. Vachaparambil, III Year P.G. resident attended the National Conference of Pulmonary Diseases (NAPCON) conducted at Coimbatore from 12th November to 15th November 2003 and presented a paper in the award paper category on "Effect of Diethyl Carbmazine Citrate (DEC) on Single Breath Carbon Monaxide Diffusion Capacity in TPE patients". The co-authors were S. Vinod Kumar, S.C. Parija and Ajit Sahai. Dr. K. Sundaralingam, Senior Resident, also attended the National Conference.

Department of Microbiology

Dr. S.C. Parija, Professor and Head, Department of Microbiology, JIPMER, served as a faculty for the CME cum Workshop on ‘An Update on Diagnostic Techniques for Parasitic Diseases’ held in the Department of Parasitology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh from 6th to 9th October 2003.

Department of Skin & STD

Dr. D.M. Thappa, Professor & Head, Department of Skin & STD and the residents attended the 27th National Conference of Indian Association for the Study of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and AIDS, which was organized by the Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Medical College & S.S.G. Hospital, Vadodara and IADVL, Vadodara. Dr. D.M. Thappa delivered the Dr. Sardarilal memorial oration on ‘History of Venereal diseases and Venerology in India". He also chaired a Symposium on Diagnostics of HIV/STD by Dr. Sumedha Sahini. He was also the Judge for Dr. P.S. Ranganathan Memorial Award Papers session. Dr. Thappa was elected as Joint Secretary of the Association during the conference.

Dr. Laxmisha, Senior Resident, presented a paper on "Clinical presentations of cutaneous viral infections in HIV infected patients" co-authored by D.M. Thappa and T.J. Jaisankar. He was awarded the second prize under Dr. V. Govinda Nair Memorial Award papers.

The following papers were also presented from the department:

i. Penile horn overlying verrucous carcinoma - P. Sathesh, S.V. Rakhesh, D.M. Thappa, K. Karthikeyan.

ii. Cutaneous larva migrans of the penis - Anand Kumar Dubey, K. Karthikeyan, D.M. Thappa, B. Jeevankumar.

iii. Water Can penis due to tuberculosis - M. Senthil Kumar, K. Karthikeyan, D.M. Thappa, K.N. Shivaswamy.

Department of Ophthalmology

Dr. Vasudev Anand Rao, Professor & Head of the department of Ophthalmology, was invited as Guest Faculty for the XIII Annual Conference of the Glaucoma Society of India at Tirunelveli on 20th -21st September 2003. He delivered 2 lectures:

i. Pseudo Exfoliation Glaucoma.

ii. Recent advances in the management of Neovascular Glaucoma.

Dr. Rao also delivered the prestigious Dr. P.N. Srinivasa Rao Oration on "Pseudo exfoliation Syndrome" at the 22nd Karnataka Opthalmology Society Annual Conference at Belgaum from 7th to 9th November 2003. He was awarded a Gold Medal and Citation.

Department of Physiology

Dr. Gopal Krushna Pal, Professor of Physiology, received SIRI Research Award from Indian Association of Biomedical Scientists (IABMS) for the year 2003, for the research paper on Neurophysiology of Stress. Dr. Pal received the award in the inaugural ceremony of 24th Annual Conference of IABMS, held in Indian Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Science (INMAS), New Delhi, held on 1st Nov. 2003. Dr. Kaviraja Udupa, Senior Resident in Physiology received PGIBMS Award in the same conference for the best research paper presented by a PG student/resident in the PGIBMS Session of the conference. Dr. N. Padmanabhan Memorial Award from IABMS for the year 2003 for best research work carried out by a PG student in Physiology, was also presented to him in the inaugural ceremony of 24th Annual Conference of IABMS. Mr. Anirudh Mukherjee, MBBS (pre-final) student of JIPMER received the Dr. Leela Krishnamurthy Award for the best research paper presented by an undergraduate medical student in the UG Best Paper Session of the conference. Dr. Kaviraja Udupa and Mr. Anirudh Mukherjee received their prizes in the valedictory ceremony of 24th Annual Conference of IABMS, held on 4th Nov. 2003. Dr. Pravati Pal, Assistant Professor of Physiology, also attended the 24th Annual conference of IABMS and presented a scientific paper in the conference.

Department of Cardiology

Dr. J. Balachander, Professor & Head of Department of Cardiology was invited as faculty member to attend the Annual Conference of the Hypertension Society of India on 17th -18 th of October, 2003. He delivered a lecture on "Hypertension-role of Genes and Environment". He also contributed a chapter on ‘Oxidative Stress in Hypertension’ towards the CME book of the Conference.

Dr. J.Balachander and two Senior Residents from the department, Dr. R.S. Varma and Dr. Santhosh Sateesh, attended the one day Annual Conference of the Tamil Nadu Cardiological Society of India on 15th of November, 2003 at Vellore. Dr. Balachander was a faculty member at this conference and he talked on ‘Beta blockers in heart failure’.

Dr. J. Balachander was invited to conduct the ‘Physicians’ update in Cardiac Rhythm Management’ at Baroda from 21st to 23rd November, 2003. He conducted the three day workshop along with Dr. Mohan Nair, Consultant Cardiologist, Delhi Heart & Lung Institute and Dr. Sriram Rajagopal, Senior Cardiologist from Railway Hospital, Chennai. 25 Physicians and Cardiologist from all over India attended the workshop.

Dr. R. Anil Kumar, Professor of Cardiology, was invited as a faculty member at the National Heart Failure Symposium held at Care Hospital, Hyderabad, on 8th and 9th of November, 2003. He delivered two lectures during the conference ([i] Lead problems in Defibrillators and [ii] Pocket problems in pacemakers and defibrillators) and actively participated in the discussions during the symposium.

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Additional Charge

1. Dr. S. Badrinath as Director, from 6.10.2003.

Charge Assumption

1. Dr. M.V. Ranga Reddy, Additional Medical, Superintendent on 19.11.2003.

2. Dr. A.C. Dharmarajacharya, Chief Medical, Officer on 1.10.2003.

TRANSFERED

1. Dr. Purna Chandra Rao, Chief Medical Officer, to CGHS, Hyderabad, 3.10.2003.

Promotion

1. Shri. A. Rajavelu as Private Secretary to the MS, 6.10.2003.

2. Shri. Muthaiyan, Technical supervisor as 8.10.2003.

3. Smt. Selvam Sree Ramachandraraj as Technical, Supervisor, 16.10.2003.

4. Mrs. Saroja Baskaran as Deputy Nursing, Superintendent, 13.10.2003.

5. Mrs. P. Vasantha as Deputy Nursing, Superintendent, 16.10.2003.

6. Mrs. Kalarani Parthiban as Deputy Nursing, Superintendent, 20.10.2003.

7. Shri. S. Muthaiyan, Technical Supervisor, 3.11.2003.

8. Mrs. Revathy Srinivasan as Dietician on 7.10.2003.

retirements

Superannuation

1. Mrs. P.J. Mary Koshy, Senior Dietician, 30.9.2003.

2. Shri. M. Deivasigamani, LDC, 30.11.2003.

3. Shri. L. Gopalakrishnan, Technician, 31.10.2003

4. Shri. D. Neelakandan, Lab Attendant, 31.10.2003.

5. Shri. R. Chandrasekaran, Technical Supervisor,

30.11.2003.

Voluntary retirement

1. Dr. S. Ramasamy, Professor, 14.11.2003.

2. Dr. Gita Rajagopalan, Professor, 1.10.2003.

3. Shri. V. Jayaraman, Lab Technician, 3.10.2003.

4. Shri. R. Shumugasundaram, Peon, 1.11.2003.

The staff and students convey their gratitude for the contribution made by all the retiring staff to the functioning and development of JIPMER. We wish them all the best in their future endeavours.

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