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100-bed ESIC hospital to come up at Ompora

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100-bed ESIC hospital Ompora

LG, Union MoS Labour lay foundation stone of Rs 160-cr project

BK News

Srinagar, Dec 21: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Kumar Sinha and Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Labour and Employment, Santosh Kumar Gangwar Monday laid the foundation stone of 100-bedded ESIC (Employees’ State Insurance Corporation) Hospital at SIDCO Industrial Complex, Ompora, Budgam.

Constructed at a cost of Rs 160 crore, the hospital would be equipped with modern healthcare facilities and will have OPD, IPD, ICU, Wards, Diagnostic Laboratories, Operation Theater, Disaster management facilities, in addition to an independent sub-station. Surgery and Psychiatric departments would be established in which specialist doctors and well-trained staff will be made available round the clock.

Among others, Farooq Abdullah, Member of Parliament; Farooq Khan, Advisor to Lt Governor; BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Apurva Chandra, Secretary, Union Ministry of Labour and Employment; Anuradha Prasad, Director General ESIC; Saurabh Bhagat, Commissioner/Secretary to the Government, Labour and Employment Department J&K; Mohammad Harun, Managing Director, SIDCO; Ghulam Mohammad Dar,  Executive Director, JKEDI; Shahbaz Ahmad Mirza, Deputy Commissioner, Budgam; workers; students and citizens of the area were present on the occasion, according to an official spokesperson.

Speaking on the occasion, the Lt Governor termed the occasion as yet another step to boost healthcare infrastructure in J&K.

“We are working to provide world-class health facilities at affordable prices to the people of the UT. My aim is to strengthen the preventive, primary and secondary health care ecosystem in J&K,” the Lt Governor said.

The LG said that the facilities in the hospital would be on the lines of those available in the hospital in Ahmedabad, and there is no cap placed on the expenses during the treatment, so that needy people are benefitted.

A time limit of two years has been set for completing the hospital with 23 specialties. “I want this hospital and the expansion of ‘Bari Brahmana’ hospital to be completed in the next One and a half years so that health facilities like Delhi-Mumbai can be provided to the beneficiaries in J&K,” he added.

He observed that there has been a new wave of development across Jammu and Kashmir. I am constantly meeting people, communicating, and every person talks about new opportunities, progress, social and economic advancement.

The Lt Governor said that there are more than 6000 Factories and Establishments in Jammu and Kashmir, under ESI Act and about One lakh 33 thousand insured people and their dependents are given benefits in Jammu Branch Office and five Other Dispensary-Branches at Kathua, Samba, Udhampur, Katra and Srinagar.

“Agreement has been made with many other Super Specialty Hospitals so that there is no lack of necessary health facilities”, he added.

While reiterating Government’s commitment for providing better healthcare facilities across J&K, he said that many progressive initiatives have been undertaken in the field of health sector to ensure best healthcare facilities being provided to the people.

The Prime Minister is going to launch SEHAT – Health Insurance scheme for the entire J&K, in convergence with Ayushman Bharat, to provide free of cost health coverage up to Rs 5 lakhs per household per year without any discrimination, he maintained.

The Lt Governor said that about 1 crore residents of J&K who were not eligible under Ayushman Bharat scheme will also be provided insurance cover under the SEHAT Health Insurance Scheme.

Similarly, the World Bank has agreed to provide financial assistance to the extent of Rs 367 crore to the UT of Jammu and Kashmir for strengthening the healthcare institutions to provide better services to the people and to tackle the global COVID19 pandemic more effectively. This project includes equipment for hospitals, strengthening of Intensive Care Units, Operation Theatres, Laboratories and Critical Care Ambulances, he observed.

In order to streamline the supply of Oxygen in Health care institutions in J&K and to reduce the dependence on the system of storing and supply of oxygen, we have approved the installation of oxygen generation plants in all tertiary care hospitals, district hospitals and other major hospitals, thereby increasing the oxygen availability pool for which Rs 227 crore have already been earmarked, said the Lt Governor.

Maternal and infant health indicators in Jammu and Kashmir have recorded improvements as per the report of the National Family Health Survey. The report states that in Jammu and Kashmir, there has been a decrease of 22 numbers in neonatal morbidities and a decrease of 16 numbers in infant mortality, he added.

To provide immediate relief to the workers of the unorganized sector during COVID pandemic, more than 90 thousand people have been registered in Mission Mode and cards of more than 25,000 workers were renewed.

As on date, the number of registered workers has reached 2.86 lakh and not only this, 696 Transport workers who were facing hardships due to Corona pandemic are being given Rs 1000 as relief every month under the Economic Revival Package and under COVID relief and assistance, Rs 63 crore has been provided to about 1.66 lakh beneficiaries. At the same time, under the PM Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan, nearly 1 lakh people from the unorganized sector have been registered and Jammu and Kashmir has become the first UT in the country to do so, he added.

On the occasion, the Lt Governor observed that a national-level job fair in both Jammu and Srinagar would be held so that our Skilled and Educated youth can be provided with job opportunities in corporate entities.

The Lt Governor also expressed desire to establish Labour Sarai for the Labourers who often get struck on highways while travelling during landslides and snowfall.

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Labour and Employment, Santosh Kumar Gangwar, while speaking on the occasion, said that the Central Government is very keen to ensure peace, prosperity and development in J&K. He said that the government has taken various milestone steps for the welfare and progress of labour class to uplift their socio-economic conditions. By establishing Labour Courts and Laws, workers have been provided with a lot of relief, he added. Regarding completion of construction work of ESIC hospital at Budgam, the Union Minister said that the hospital will come up with the State of Art medical facilities and cater to the medical needs of insured persons and beneficiaries in the catchment area. 50 bedded ESIC Hospital at Bari Brahmana would be upgraded to 100-bedded hospital for which additional land has been identified, he added.

The Union Minister assured all possible support to the UT government for welfare and prosperity of the people of J&K.

Later, cheques worth Rs 6.37 crore were distributed as financial assistance among 6,444 construction workers and beneficiaries of self-employment scheme by the Lt Governor and Union Minister for Labour and Employment.

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Health

CII J&K Organizes Health Conclave 2024

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Health Conclave 2024

BK News

Srinagar: Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) J&K hosted Health Conclave 2024, themed ‘Health Reimagined: Strategies for a Better Tomorrow’ at Hotel Golden Tulip, Srinagar on Saturday. The event brought together government officials, healthcare experts, and industry leaders to deliberate on the challenges and opportunities shaping healthcare in Jammu & Kashmir.

Minister for Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs, Transport, Science & Technology, Information Technology, Youth Services & Sports, and ARI & Trainings Departments, Satish Sharma, was the chief guest at the occassion. Secretary, Health & Medical Education Department, Dr Syed Abid Rasheed Shah, addressed the gathering virtually as the Guest of Honour.

Chief Guest, according to a statement issued by CII, emphasized the need to address mental health issues, promote Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in healthcare, and enhance corporate social responsibility (CSR) outreach through initiatives like mobile clinics. He remarked, “Efforts to improve the healthcare sector must focus on equitable access, innovative partnerships, and targeted outreach in underserved areas.”

Dr Syed Abid Rasheed Shah highlighted three key focus areas for the state’s healthcare policy- Enhancing PPP models for healthcare delivery, addressing healthcare access in rural and remote regions, mitigating human resource shortages and improving funding for government schemes. According the statement, he assured the gathering that all pending claims under the AYUSHMAN Bharat scheme would be cleared by December 31, 2024.

The conclave hosted different dignitaries from Government including Salman Sagar, MLA Hazratbal who in his address said, “We must prioritize healthcare in J&K by addressing gaps in the public health sector and tackling the issue of spurious drugs.” Dr Sajad Shafi, MLA Uri, said “Affordable healthcare and private sector involvement in remote areas are essential for comprehensive healthcare access.” Waheed ur Rehman Para, MLA Pulwama, said, “Key healthcare challenges faced by providers in J&K will be addressed in the upcoming assembly session.” Sanjiv M Gadkar, CEO, State Health Agency, UT of J&K, AB-PMJAY said “Revised package pricing under AYUSHMAN Bharat and extended budgetary allocations will significantly improve healthcare coverage.”

The event also featured leading healthcare professionals and industry experts, including- Dr Shanty Sajan, Group CEO, Paras Healthcare, said, ‘Leveraging AI and technology is critical for making healthcare accessible to the masses.” Dr Shuchin Bajaj, Founder & Director, Ujala Cygnus Healthcare Services said “Through our CSR initiatives, we aim to bring healthcare benefits to underserved areas in J&K.”

Other eminent speakers included- Probal Ghosal, Chairman & Director, Ujala Cygnus Healthcare Services, Aijaz Khan, Executive Vice President, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd, Nigam Gupta, Managing Director, Hexa Med Technologies (India) Pvt. Ltd, Faizan Mir, President, J&K Private Hospitals & Dialysis Centers Association & Managing Director, Shadab Hospital, Iqram Ali Shafiee, Convener, CII J&K Healthcare Panel & Managing Director, Shafiee Healthcare Pvt. Ltd and Sandeep Mengi, Co-Convener, CII J&K Healthcare Panel & Director, Maharishi Dayanand Hosp & Med Research Centre

The conclave explored pressing issues such as improving healthcare accessibility, addressing policy gaps, and fostering robust public-private collaborations. The discussions underscored the need for equitable healthcare infrastructure, enhanced insurance coverage, and focused interventions in rural and underserved areas.

The event concluded with actionable recommendations to strengthen Jammu & Kashmir’s healthcare ecosystem, ensuring inclusivity and resilience while setting a roadmap for sustainable growth.

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Lack of physical activity, stress affect well-being of children

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Lack of physical activities affect well-being of children

Need to impart healthy and active lifestyle among youngsters

Dr Taizeena Khan

Lack of physical activities affect well-being of children

Dr Taizeena Khan

World Health Organisation (WHO) defines health as complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. At an early stage children not only need love and care, but also a proper road map for a healthy lifestyle. This road map should be devised by keeping in mind all the parameters of health and wellness. It should not only focus on the physical and mental health of our children but also on the social aspects of it. To achieve this goal we need to enhance the skills of parents. The health and wellness plan from the birth of a child will decide the future of our coming generations.

In recent years of my clinical practice as a physiotherapist, I have noticed more youngsters coming to me with musculoskeletal disorders. This abrupt rise of my younger generation patients, their lack of physical activity, unnecessary stress and lack of social set-up that could provide them with a platform to practice a healthy lifestyle at an early stage urged me to choose this topic today.

In recent years children as young as 12-18 years old have been coming to me with musculoskeletal disorders. While consulting/counselling these youngsters I have come to the conclusion that there is not only a lack of physical activities but also a lot of avoidable stress leading to the unhealthy choice of lifestyle in this age group these days.

To a large extent, I believe that technology has also played a great role in this. No doubt that technology has become an integral component of our daily lives. Technology has, to a great extent, made our lives easier but at the same time, it has done that at the cost of our physical, mental and our social lives. This all begins when we as a parent make a choice of offering a smartphone to our 6-month-old so that we can feed him. Children are easily attracted to new toys and a smartphone with so many features is no doubt the best form of toy for them. It has a cartoon that speaks to them anytime they hit the button. The best fictional stories they could ever watch and everything they could get their hands on. Meanwhile, we don’t realize the cost of bringing this technology to them at this early stage of their life. We happily make our child technology-dependent too early for our own convenience, as it is not only saving us time in this fast-moving world, but we also think that we are making our child happy.

Physical inactivity in children is becoming a growing problem day by day and has been considered an epidemic according to research.

WHO reports that about 70% of boys and up to 88% of girls under the age of 10 don’t get the physical activity they need for their age.

Think back to the times when we were growing up as kids. How did we spend our time in school as well as at home? There were no computers, no smartphones, and almost no technology. There was a good balance between our books, TV time and playing games. We were encouraged to go out and play. We had more real friends than social media friends whom we could talk and discuss our stress with. We also used to spend a lot of time on our vacation with our extended family members, especially with our grandparents. We used to listen to their stories, the folk stories, their real-life experiences etc. I remember going on for long walks with my grandfather and on the way bothering him with lots of inquisitive questions about the trees, the birds, or whatever we saw on our way. This helped me appreciate nature, love animals and observe things keenly.

But times have changed. Children today are hardly seen playing after school or having a good social life. Pressure from parents to perform better in academics, more and more access to technology and lack of physical activity is leading to overall physical, mental and social problems in their lives.

This sedentary lifestyle arising due to various problems discussed above is the leading cause of childhood obesity, hypertension, cardiac problems juvenile diabetes, anxiety, aggression, depression and other behavioural changes and musculoskeletal disorders in children. Delayed growth and development in infants and toddlers are also seen due to changing patterns of raising our children and more and more technology taking over our burdens. In recent years, more infants and toddlers are facing delayed speech and learning disabilities.

Investing time and effort in early childhood development starting from infancy is pertinent to stop this epidemic and give our children the best life. Plan a proper balanced healthy lifestyle program for your child’s health and wellness.

Here are some tips to lay a foundation for the health and well-being of our children whose benefits last a lifetime.

·  Do not introduce technology to your children at a very early age.

·  Instead introduce games which stimulate their brains, e.g. educational and learning toys such as building blocks, numbers, shapes, colours etc.

·  Spend more and more time with them while they are still in their infancy. Read a storybook for them, this encourages them to read and write.

·   Feed them while they are observing nature and not offering them a smartphone, this helps them enjoy their food and develop their taste buds better.

·   Encourage them to feed themselves as soon as you think they are ready for it.

·   Encourage them to do small independent activities e.g. feeding themselves, combing, brushing, tying shoe laces, etc. This will not only help them stay physically fit but also independent.

·   Introducing a healthy balanced diet plan and avoiding junk food is imperative.

·   Regularize the feeding and sleeping time.

·   Encourage going to bed early and do not give them access to technology at bedtime.

·   Limit the technology, TV and video game time, e.g. you can allow technology time which includes any form of technology only 1-2 hours a day.

·   Encourage them to spend more time playing games with friends, and extended family members, especially grandparents.

·   You can also select a day to play with your kids e.g. weekends, this will help you bond with your kids and also help you and your kids stay physically fit.

·  Encourage them to spend more time playing outdoors.

·  Encourage them to spend time with grandparents, let them listen to their real-life experiences and learn from them, and encourage physical activity as much as possible.

·  Bond with your kids. Listen to them with open mind and heart. Do not put pressure on them to achieve academic or any other goals in life, instead encourage them to do well in life by giving them all the support they need.

·  Last but not least be a practical example for your own kids. Practice a healthy lifestyle and they will follow you.

 

The author is a physiotherapist. She has done BPT from Bangalore, PGDMS from London, MBA from USA, MIAP. Besides, she has fellowships in Geriatric Rehabilitation, Pediatric Rehabilitation and is a certified women’s health exercise expert. She can be reached at drtaizeenkhanphysio@gmail.com 

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Education

SKUAST-K to hold 2-day international conference on impact of viral infections

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Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir is going to hold a two-daConference on impact of viral infections

BK News 

Srinagar, Nov 1: Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir is going to hold a two-day international conference on the impact of viral infections at the Shalimar campus on November 5&6 (Saturday and Sunday), 2022.

The international conference ‘Emerging and Re-emerging Viral Infections Impacting Humans, Animals, Plants, Fish and Environment’ will be part of  XXX Annual Convention of the Indian Virological Society to be held at SKUAST-K this year.

Renowned virologists and scientists including, Dr RK Ratho, PGI Chandigarh; Prof Parvaiz A Koul, SKIMS, Soura; Dr Pragya Yadav, NIV, Pune; Prof NN Barman; AAU, Assam; Dr Anirban Roy, IARI, New Delhi; Dr Amit Pandey, Bhimtal; and Dr Manoj Kumar, Hester Biosciences Limited will be keynote speakers at the conference.

The conference on viral infections is being held against the backdrop of the emergence and re-emergence of viral outbreaks like Covid-19, severe liver inflammation in kids, monkeypox, polio, and “tomato flu” etc.

The recent outbreak of the LSD virus has killed over 1 lakh cattle and is still unabated. Each viral disease appears to be the result of unusual manifestations and proliferation of viruses previously known.

The conference on viral infections will bring scientists from different disciplines at National and International levels to discuss preemptive measures for anticipating such outbreaks, control measures to be taken, and readily available diagnostic and therapeutic measures. The keynote speakers will talk about research going on emerging and re-emerging viral diseases and the policies surrounding them.

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