Month: September 2019

INTTUC leading hunger strike against disinvestment of 42 PSUs

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The INTTUC, Trianamool Congress’ trade union wing, has been leading a hunger strike at the foot of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue on Mayo Road, Kolkata for the last few days. The strikers are protesting against the Central Government’s decision to disinvest from 42 public sector companies.The hunger strike is being led by the trade union’s senior leader and Trinamool’s Rajya Sabha MP, Dola Sen. Besides INTTUC members, temporary workers of BSNL, one of the 42 PSUs marked for disinvestment, are participating in the protest. The employees are also protesting against their salaries due for the last seven months. Several senior leaders of INTTUC were present at the venue today to show their support and empathy for the protesters.

Some pictures:

Trinamool to hit the streets against NRC

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Trinamool Congress will hold mass protest movements across all blocks in Bangla on September 7 and 8 to protest against the imposition of NRC in Assam.

This will be followed up by a massive protest march on September 12 from Chiria More to Shyambazar in Kolkata.

The decisions were taken at an emergency meeting at party Chairperson Mamata Banerjee’s residence yesterday, which was attended by all MPs, ministers and district presidents.

She told the gathering that a fear psychosis has been created throughout the country in the name of NRC, following the publishing of the names of more than 19 lakh people in Assam who had been excluded from the citizenship.

Trinamool has also decided to keep in touch with leaders of other regional parties across the country on this issue.

It may be recalled that when the draft NRC was published in March, Mamata Banerjee had sent a six-member team comprising of MPs and MLAs from her party to Assam to meet those who had been left out of the list. The Assam Government though did not even allow them to go out of the airport, let alone meet the affected people.

 

 

New fleets of electric, CNG buses flagged off

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Twenty electric buses and 20 CNG buses were flagged off recently by the State Transport Minister from Paribahan Bhawan in Kolkata.

Both electric and CNG buses are environment-friendly and hence are being introduced by the government to curb the level of pollution in the State. Several such buses are already running in the State. In February, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had inaugurated 20 electric buses.

While the electric buses will be run by West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC), the CNG buses will be run by South Bengal State Transport Corporation (SBSTC).

Each of the electric buses is 12 metres in length. They are more spacious and have more number of seats. While the electric buses will run in and around Kolkata, the CNG buses will be plying in and around the Durgapur-Asansol zone.

It may be mentioned that the State Transport Department has planned to operate CNG buses all over the State, which will be done in phases.

During the inauguration programme, the Transport Minister said that the State Government will be purchasing 150 more electric buses. Of the 150 e-buses, 25 each will be rolled out in Asansol and Siliguri and 50 each will be rolled out in Haldia and the New Town-Rajarhat zone.

Sources: Millennium Post, The Statesman

 

To ensure best usage, State Govt makes audits at blood banks compulsory 

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To ensure that blood and blood components are optimally used, so that there is no wastage and shortage, the State Health Department has issued an order making blood audits mandatory for the blood banks at all the government-run health facilities in the State (including medical college hospitals).

There will be a designated officer at each blood bank who will conduct the audit in liaison with the superintendents of the respective medical college hospital or health facility.

On the basis of the blood audits, the concerned blood banks will prepare a report and send it to the Health Department. The Department has been given the power to take action against the hospital authorities if repeated incidents of wastage are reported from a particular hospital.

Source: Millennium Post

 

KMC to open dedicated 24×7 grievance communication channel

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In the wake of the huge success of the ‘Talk to Mayor’ call-in programme for talking about grievances directly to the Mayor of Kolkata, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has decided to open a 24×7 communication channel.

This interface with the citizens will further help the civic body understand the issues citizens face.

Through a dedicated number, residents of the city would be able to connect directly to various departmental officers and tell them about any problems that they may be facing.

 

SSKM’s new-look Woodburn Ward a big success

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The new budget service at the Woodburn Ward of SSKM Hospital, the State Government’s premier super-specialty hospital, has been an unqualified success.

According to a senior official in the Health Department, the earning comes to an average of Rs 6 lakh per month.

The service is called budget service because, compared to the best private hospitals, the cost is less. But the quality of service is as good, if not better. It was opened more than a year back, on May 26, 2018.

There are 16 cabins in all, 10 small and six big. The rates have been fixed at Rs 2,500 for a small cabin and Rs 4,000 for a big cabin.

Source: Bartaman

 

Bangla Govt setting examples in nutritional intervention

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National Nutrition Week begins from today. The Trinamool Congress-run Bangla Government has introduced several initiatives to improve the health of children through large-scale nutritional intervention programmes and improving healthcare facilities. It is an ongoing process, with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee leading the efforts, being the Health Minister as well. As a result of these efforts, both infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate have come down considerably. Eradication of under-nutrition and malnutrition has also been made one of the primary aims of the internationally-recognised Kanyashree Scheme.

HIGHLIGHTS

Largest child nutrition intervention programme: Bangla has the largest child nutrition intervention under the ICDS programme, reaching out to 76 lakh children below 6 years and 14 lakh pregnant and lactating women spread across 23 districts. Energy-dense protein-rich ready-to-eat food has been introduced for all severely malnourished children. Hot cooked meals are provided to all children and pregnant and lactating mothers.

Special food provisions under Khadya Sathi: As part of the Khadya Sathi Scheme, the Food and Supplies Department has introduced a special coupon for all mothers and babies admitted in Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres, and babies who have been admitted because they are malnourished. Each baby and mother together get 5kg of rice, 2.5kg of fortified atta, 1kg masoor dal and 1kg of Bengal gram against this coupon.

IMR and MMR going down, institutional delivery going up: Both infant mortality rate (IMR) and maternal mortality rates (MMR) across the State have gone down considerably in the past seven-and-half-years. The MMR has reduced from 113 per 1 lakh mothers in 2011 to 101 in 2018, which is much lower than the national average of 130. The IMR has reduced to 25 per 1,000 live births, which is also much lower than the national average of 34. What is also significant is that the State Government has increased institutional delivery from 65 per cent in 2010 to 97.5 per cent in 2018-19.

Mother and Child Hubs: The Health Department has also initiated the process to setting up 14 Mother and Child Hubs (MCH) at different facilities across the State for ensuring qualitative and quantitative improvement in maternal and child services at various hospitals. Out of the 14, nine are operational.

Upgrading of healthcare facilities: The Government has taken up a comprehensive scheme of upgrading maternal, newborn and paediatric services at 68 tertiary and secondary healthcare facilities (that conduct more than 3,000 deliveries in a year) with the aim of providing better treatment to expectant mothers and infants.

Kanyashree: Two of the internationally-recognised Kanyashree Scheme’s six primary objectives deal with nutrition: improving the IMR and MMR by delaying the age of marriage and consequently increasing the age of first birth, and eradicating under-nutrition and malnutrition of female children.

Govt to construct budget hospitals across the State

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Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has recently announced plans to set up budget hospitals across the State. A similar service was opened more than a year back at the Woodburn Ward of SSKM Hospital, where a set of cabins charging rates lower than top-quality private hospitals were made available.

The State Health Department has written to the district magistrates to look for land at their district headquarters for the proposed budget hospitals.

The project would follow three models. First, cabins that already exist at district hospitals would be remodelled after Woodburn Ward. Second, new cabins would be built where building space is available. And third, new hospitals would be constructed where there are neither cabins nor building space, and these would be full-fledged budget hospitals, that is, paid services but at reasonable rates.

Since they would be located in the districts, the cost per cabin would be less than the costs at Woodburn Ward.

It has been decided that 75 per cent of the earnings of a hospital would be ploughed back for the development of that hospital and 25 per cent would be distributed as incentive among the doctors employed there.

The State Government has to spend Rs 925 crore every year for the Swasthya Sathi group medical insurance scheme. If those who can pay for services pay, then that would lessen the load on the Government, which would then be able to provide better services for the poor.

Source: Bartaman

State Govt to set up five more nursing schools

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The Bangla Government has allotted a fund of Rs 56.58 crore for strengthening nursing education in the State.

The fund is mainly for setting up five more nursing training institutions – at SSKM Hospital, North Bengal Medical College and Hospital, Burdwan Medical College and Hospital, Suri Sadar Hospital and Alipurduar District Hospital. The institutions would conduct the general nursing and midwifery (GNM) course.

These five would add to the 89 GNM schools already running in the State. It may be mentioned that the State Health Department had decided last January to open 27 more schools for teaching GNM, many through the PPP model. There would be at least one nursing school in every district.

Source: Millennium Post

Mother Dairy Calcutta launches vitamin A & D-enriched milk

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Mother Dairy Calcutta has started selling milk fortified with vitamins A and D. The milk is being sold under the ‘Maa Shakti’ brand. Till date, the Maa Shakti brand of milk was fortified with vitamin A only.

Besides general health benefits, vitamin A and D can specifically lead to eradication of night-blindness (nyctalopia) and malnutrition, respectively.

The project was launched recently by the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and Textiles Departments at the company’s Dankuni unit (near Kolkata). Mother Dairy Calcutta is a State Government-owned company. It was at the behest of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that the Government had taken over the company.

At present, Mother Dairy Calcutta sells around 2.15 lakh litres of milk and 6,000kg of milk products (including buttermilk, yoghurt, paneer, mango pudding and ice-cream) per day, manufactured at its units across Bangla. To cater to the people of north Bengal, Mother Dairy Calcutta had started production and distribution of milk at its Matigara unit in Siliguri.

Source: Millennium Post