1. TMC Puts Out ‘BJP Leave Bengal’ Posters Ahead of Amit Shah Visit
Continuing with its guerrilla warfare technique against the BJP, ruling Trinamool Congress party in West Bengal has once again put up hundreds of hoardings of party supremo Mamata Banerjee and party flags at and around Mayo Road, the venue for BJP rally on 11 August, where party national president Amit Shah would address a meeting of Yuva BJP members.
On Thursday, 10 August, as preparation of putting up the stage and the barricades began and only two BJP hoardings were seen amidst the bamboos and metal frames brought in for the stage, TMC cadres brought in flex on motor vans and put those up at lightposts, trees and also atop bamboo barricade put up for the BJP event.
(Source: DNA)
2. Medical Colleges Fear AIIMS Poaching
The Union health ministry's hiring target for the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Kalyani has fuelled speculation that the only way it can find enough experienced doctors to run the super speciality departments is by poaching from Bengal's medical colleges.
A ministry official said from Delhi on Friday that the institute would require about 500 senior doctors, including faculty for super speciality departments, and not less than 1,000 junior doctors to be fully functional.
"The AIIMS network in Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh has been making up for the shortage of faculty by taking doctors from the medical colleges in those states. The same model can be implemented in Kalyani if it faces a resource problem," he said.
(Source: The Telegraph)
3. Release 10% MBBS Docs for PG Courses: HC to WB Govt
The Calcutta High Court upholding a State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) order on Friday, 10 August, directed the West Bengal government to release 10 percent in-service MBBS doctors for post graduate courses.
Dismissing an appeal by the state government challenging the SAT order, a division bench of justices Debasish Kargupta and Sampa Sarkar directed it to comply with the order within two weeks.
The SAT had on 11 June directed that the state government release 10 percent of in-service MBBS doctors in state-run hospitals, which would roughly translate to a total of over 300 MBBS degree holders getting a chance to pursue MD/MS courses, as against 196 candidates allowed by the state, counsel for the petitioner doctors said.
(Source: PTI)
4. No Need to Panic over Dengue: Bengal Minister
The West Bengal government on Friday asked people not to panic over the Dengue outbreak, saying only a saying only a few cases of the vector-borne disease have been detected.
“There is no need to panic as we have been cautious. Only a couple of cases have been reported. Those persons are from outside and they are being given proper medical attention," said Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim after a meeting with civic workers.
Hakim also said some of the patients have been admitted to hospitals with 'unknown fever.'
(Source: The Times of India)
5. Husband Strangled Wife: Cops
The husband of a 36-year-old homemaker who was found murdered at her father's apartment in Phoolbagan, is said to have told police that he strangled her in a fit of rage.
Dipak Jain admitted to have lost his cool during an altercation with his wife Puja, who was in an advanced stage of pregnancy, over her decision to stay at her father's house.
Puja's body was found wrapped in a sheet under her bed last week. Dipak had left the city hours after the murder on 2 August and was arrested as soon as he got off a train from Delhi on platform no. 9 of Howrah station on Thursday evening.
(Source: The Telegraph)
6. Sugata Hopes for Early Repair of Hostel
Sugata Bose, the chairman of the Presidency mentor group that had sought its own dissolution in January, on Friday hoped for early restoration of the Eden Hindu Hostel.
The mentor group's first report had described Hindu Hostel as "a beautiful 125-year-old heritage structure" and the conditions inside as "squalid". The report had also recommended addition of a floor to the hostel to increase the accommodation capacity.
"When I was assigned the responsibility of chairing the Presidency mentor group in 2011, I visited the hostel and found out that the students were living in the most unhygienic conditions," Bose told Metro when asked about the ongoing students' agitation over delay in renovation of the hostel.
When Metro told Bose what had triggered the sit-in, he said: "I just want to express the hope that the work of restoration will be completed as early as possible.... I don't want to comment specially, because I am apparently not even on the governing board anymore. The board probably has been reconstituted on 25 July.”
(Source: The Telegraph)
7. Won: Paid Leave for PG
The high court on Friday asked the Bengal government to grant paid leave to 105 doctors who have qualified for postgraduate studies, rejecting the argument that releasing them for the duration of these courses would cause the health care system to collapse.
The division bench of Justice Debasish Kargupta and Justice Shampa Sarkar upheld an order of the West Bengal Administrative Tribunal to grant "sponsorship" to the 105 petitioners, all of them working in state-run hospitals.
Sponsorship in this case means paid leave for postgraduate and postdoctoral studies.
(Source: The Telegraph)
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