Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Executive Officer (EO) J. Syamala Rao directed the officials to ensure basic amenities for devotees at the newly set-up SRIVANI ticket issuing counters near Annamayya Bhavan in Tirumala. The counters are scheduled to be opened to the public on July 22.

Mr. Rao, accompanied by Additional EO Ch. Venkataiah Chowdary, on Wednesday, inspected the centre and emphasised the importance of providing refreshments such as tea, coffee, milk, and drinking water to pilgrims waiting at the counters. He stressed the need for the optimum utilisation of digital display screens to effectively communicate with the pilgrims. 

He also reviewed the ongoing modernisation works at the ANC and HVC sub-enquiry offices and urged timely completion of the projects. During his inspection at the Food and Water Laboratory, he interacted with the staff to get a first-hand information regarding the testing procedures and urged them to regularly test the food and water samples without any compromise. 

The Indian Institute of Technology, Dharwad (IIT-Dh), has bagged 149 research projects in various fields worth ₹71 crore through sponsored funding.

Addressing presspersons in Dharwad on Wednesday, Dean of Research and Development at IIT-Dh Pratyasa Bhui said that along with these projects, the institute has bagged consultancy projects worth ₹5 crore, ₹9.25 crore from CSR and ₹5 crore research initiation grants.

The social impact projects include precision agriculture to improve crop yields and assist management decisions using high-technology sensors and analysis tool.

Research is also being taken up in the field of agriculture drones, android applications for periodic crop health monitoring, market, forecasts and disease and pest detection.

Prof. Bhui said that IIT-Dh focuses on indoor drones for fire fighters. “A drone prototype has been developed to locate people stuck inside the building during a fire mishap. Now, work is on developing robots for monitoring power transmission lines and pipelines,” he said.

New programmes

Elaborating on the new programmes at the institute, N.S. Punekar stated that during the current academic year IIT-Dh will start three new programmes in M.Tech and two-year M.Sc and BS in Economics from the next academic year.

At present, the institute has 983 students studying B.Tech, 120 in M.Tech and MS and 201 research scholars. In all, there are 1,312 students on campus.

The Kerala State Medical Council (Council of Modern Medicine) has decided to remove the name of a registered medical practitioner from the State Medical Register for a period of three months and has imposed a penalty of ₹1 lakh, for practising with unrecognised and unregistered qualifications, ignoring prior warnings and repeated directives of the council.

This is the second instance in recent times of the KSMC cracking the whip to ensure that all registered medical practitioners follow the ethical guidelines of professional conduct regulating the practice of medicine.

The complaint that Collin Alphonse, a registered medical practitioner in Thiruvananthapuram, was displaying unrecognised and unregistered additional qualifications while in clinical practice was received by the council in 2022. The Ethics Committee of the Modern Medicine Council had summoned Dr. Alphonse on June 14, 2022 for a personal hearing.

During the hearing, the doctor said that though he had appeared for the DNB (Medicine) examination after training from 2007 to 2010, the result was not declared. He claimed that he obtained an MD in Medicine in 2016 and a PhD in Medicine in 2019 from Nicaragua, Central America. He claimed to have applied for an equivalency certificate from the National Medical Commission (NMC) and that the registration process had been initiated with the NMC.

Dr. Alphonse said he had been practising at Jubilee Memorial Hospital since 2019 and asserted that he was unaware that unregistered qualifications should not be displayed for medical practice. He gave an undertaking to the council of corrective action and also tendered an apology.

Ethics Committee stance

The Ethics Committee, however, found that the claim that Dr. Alphonse had applied for an equivalency certificate was misleading, as the NMC does not issue such a certificate. The degrees displayed by Dr. Alphonse were not listed as NMC’s recognised qualifications and he had practised for three years using these qualifications.

The council imposed a fine of ₹50,000 on Dr. Alphonse and directed him to remove the unregistered qualifications from his name board, official seal, and prescription pads, and to submit documentary proof to the council.

However, except for paying the fine of ₹50,000, Dr. Alphonse refused to comply with the rest of the directives, even after a reminder was sent to him. On February 22 this year, the KSMC, during a surprise inspection at Jubilee Memorial Hospital, found that Dr. Alphonse was continuing to practice, displaying the qualifications, MD (Medicine), PG in Diabetology, and FCCM (Critical Care in FC).

The council then issued a show cause notice to him, directing him to appear before the council. In his appearance on June 21, Dr. Alphonse blamed the hospital administration for including the qualifications on the board placed outside his consulting room.

Doctor’s stance

He said that upon receiving the show cause notice he had instructed the hospital authorities to remove the unregistered qualifications from the name board. Dr. Alphonse, however, admitted that he was using the same qualifications in other areas where he had clinical practice, “thinking that the instructions by the council applied only to the practice at Jubilee Memorial Hospital”.

The council, however, held Dr. Alphonse accountable for repeatedly ignoring its directives and continuing his unauthorised practice even though he had paid a penalty for the same offence in 2022.

‘Not a specialist’

The KSMC on July 3, decided to remove his name from the State Medical Register for three months, noting that he had neglected his professional responsibility to ensure accurate and lawful public representation. Dr. Alphonse was also directed to implement corrective measures; not to display unregistered qualifications and not to claim to be a specialist till he was duly qualified to do so.

The doctor has the right to appeal before the Ethics and Medical Registration Board of the National Medical Commission as per Section 30(3) of the NMC Act, 2019, and as per Clause 8.8 of the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002.