Monthly Archives: February 2013

Coimbatore to get 12 specially-fabricated ambulances

Business & Economy, Science & Technologies

  The newly-redesigned ambulance of the Department of Public Health./  Photo: S. Siva Saravanan / The Hindu /

The vans will be equipped with ECG equipment, AC and blood testing machines

Healthcare and access to medical facilities for residents of rural and remote areas in the district is all set to take a quantum leap forward as Coimbatore is getting ambulances specially fabricated in Rajasthan for providing treatment and safely transport patients.

Under ‘Hospital-On-Wheels’ (HoW) project launched across the State last year, vehicles of the Department of Public Health were being sent to a factory in Jaipur for re-configuring it to the specific requirements of operating in rural areas, Deputy Director of Health Services R. Damodharan told The Hindu in Coimbatore on Saturday.

Besides ECG equipment, the vehicles have been fitted with, among other things, an auto-analyser for blood investigation, air-conditioner, laboratory equipment, television for awareness programmes, a laptop and battery back-up.

While the fabrication cost per vehicle was Rs. 4 lakh, each van has been sanctioned another Rs. 1 lakh for purchasing equipment. The suspensions have been also modified to ensure the vehicles travel smoothly in hill terrain.

First phase

In the initial phase, he said that six vans from Coimbatore were sent to a coach factory in Jaipur and the first of such re-configured ambulances landed in the city on Wednesday and had been deployed at Sarkar Samakulam Panchayat Union.

While the remaining five were expected to arrive in a month’s time, the second batch of six vehicles would be reconfigured by December this year.

They would be stationed in the block primary health centres.

The mobile medical units, which will be staffed with a medical officer, laboratory technician, staff nurse and an attendant-cum-hospital worker besides the driver, would hold camps at remote and inaccessible/ difficult-to-access villages on a fixed day every month.

Each vehicle would cover two villages a day with the monthly target being 40 villages.

Software

Dr. Damodharan informed that all the units would have to submit reports on a daily basis through a web-based software developed for this purpose.

Further, plans were afoot to install global positioning systems (GPS) in the vehicles to help drivers find their way in remote areas and also to monitor their movement.

These ‘HoW’ vehicles, doctors and staff should not be utilised for other activities and vacancies should be immediately tackled through deputation of personnel from the PHC.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> News> Cities> Coimbatore / by R. Sairam / February 03rd, 2013

Radio Frequency Identification system for library books soon

Education, Science & Technologies

Beep will alert whenever a book is taken out at MKU library

The Madurai Kamaraj University library, which has a collection of three lakh printed books, will soon have a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system. Once the RFID system is put in place, each time a book is taken out of the library without proper entry, a beep would alert the librarian.

Varsity sources told The Hindu on Friday that a couple of proposals have been prepared to make the university’s Dr. T. P. M. Library a digital library and these proposals will be submitted to Vice-Chancellor Kalyani Mathivanan shortly.

“RFID will prevent incidents of stealing/theft of books from the library. Even if a person takes a book by mistake, it would alert us,” said B. Suresh, university librarian.

The library will soon get a collection of 3,016 e-books on various subjects.

He said the electronic version of textbooks will provide easy access to students and research scholars.

The university already has in its collection 8,700 e-journals procured through Infonet Consortium.

“The e-books will be useful for students of all colleges. They can download and copy in a pen drive or we will provide them with CDs,” Mr. Suresh said.

The e-books can also be accessed by university departments.

A proposal to develop a herbal garden on the library premises is also on the anvil, sources said.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> News> Cities> Madurai / by Shastry V. Mallady / February 02nd, 2013

3D model traces course of Vaigai

Science & Technologies

Artists at work on the compound walls of the Madurai Medical College in the city on Thursday. / Photo: S. James / The Hindu

A three dimensional model tracing the course of river Vaigai is being set up near Simmakkal here, ahead of ‘Maamadurai Potruvom’ celebrations scheduled on February 8, 9 and 10.

According to S. Chandran, Associate Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Thiagarajar College of Engineering, who is supervising the project, 50 per cent of the work is over and the rest will be completed in five days. Collector Anshul Mishra, who inspected the spot on Thursday, said the project had been initiated to educate the students on the Vaigai.

An exhibition containing photographs of the river, its dams and tributaries is also likely to be organised. Those who have relevant photographs can contact the secretariat, post box number: 107, 139,140 Kamarajar Salai, Teppakulam, to exhibit them.

The project, estimated at a cost of nearly Rs.4 lakh, will cover the entire stretch from where the river originates, its course, its tributaries and the place where it merges with the ocean, said Mr Chandran.

“We are also planning on a recycled water mechanism to portray the course of the river in the model,” he said.

Students from architecture and civil engineering departments of Thiagarajar College of Engineering are involved in the project, which will stay intact for two weeks.

Lighting and other decorations will adorn the model, and the place surrounding the ‘Vasantha Mandapam’ in the Vaigai, he added. The Public Works Department has also undertaken works to clean the hyacinths around the ‘Vasantha Mandapam’ and the corporation has initiated works to lay roads around the mandapam. Artists are portraying the glory of Madurai on the walls near the collectorate.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> News> Cities> Madurai / by Staff Reporter / Madurai, February 01st, 2013

Aero show attracts thousands

Business & Economy, Education, Science & Technologies

  Students looking at the exhibits at Aeroplus 2013 that began in the city on Thursday. / Photo: S. Siva Saravanan / The Hindu

For the thousands of children in the city who would have wished to touch aeroplanes that soar over the skies, it is a dream come true as Aero Plus 2013 was inaugurated at Nehru College of Aeronautics and Applied Sciences at Kuniamuthur on Thursday.

Being held from Thursday to Sunday, the seventh edition of this exhibition features Bell 47 GF helicopters and other single propeller aircraft such as Cessna.

A new addition is the Hawker Siddeley HS.125 1A, a twin-engine mid-size corporate jet. Going beyond just getting to see them, the children could also get to know about the thousands of components in an aircraft as the students of the college explained in detail the intricacies and engineering behind these machines.

The college has a Cessa 150 D, Lear Jet 25B, King Air C90 Beechcraft, and Bell and Enstrom f28 helicopters to provide training to its students

According to P. Krishna Kumar, chief executive officer and secretary of Nehru Group of Institutions, the objective behind the exhibition was to motivate students to take up aeronautic science and create awareness among the general public.

The institutions’ students benefit from the opportunity it provides to explain what they have learnt in the course regarding the functionality of each parts and its configuration.

Earlier, addressing the inaugural function, chief guest P. Vinodh Kumar, Regional Head (General Aviation), Air Works India Engineering, Pune, said that the aviation sector was highly interesting as it was demanding and challenging.

The company provided maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services in 12 airports in the country for business and general aviation customers.

Mr. Vinodh Kumar, himself an alumnus of the Nehru institution, said that those entering the field must be prepared to put in a lot of hard work.

R. Krishna Moorhty, Executive Director of KTVR Knowledge Park for Engineering and Technology, said that air travel was set to increase exponentially in the country.

The exhibition is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on January 31 and February 1 and between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on February 2 and 3. There is no entry fee.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com /Home> News> Cities> Coimbatore / by Staff Reporter / February 01st, 2013