City-based doctor and professor of Andhra Medical College ( AMC ) Dr N N Raju, who is also the superintendent of Government Hospital for Mental Care, Visakhapatnam, has been nominated to the five-member expert panel of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), New Delhi.
PHFI, headed by Dr Srinath Reddy from Delhi, is said to be the biggest health organisation in the country that works on various projects in collaboration with the government, industrial organisations and international NGOs. It helps building institutional capacity in India for strengthening education, training, research and policy development in the domain of public health.
“The prevalence of mental illness is almost 10% and it’s estimated that one-third of those attending general physicians suffer from emotional disorders resulting in incapacitation. The objective of this nomination is to build the capacity of primary care physicians and general doctors on the evidence-based management of mental disorders. We would be concentrating on the grassroots level, upgradation of primary health centres through training of the staff,” said Dr Raju, who has 25 years of experience in teaching, training and administration.
He will be involved in formulating policies of empowering primary health centres (PHC) all over the country in dealing with mental illness.
Besides Dr Raju, the four other members in the expert panel include Dr Sabita Malhotra from Chandigarh, Dr Asim Malik from West Bengal , Dr Jaggibala from Surat and Dr Indira Sharma from Benaras Hindu University.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Visakhapatnam> Primary Health Centres / by TNN / August 20th, 2013
With an aim to discuss the latest advances and improved outcomes of Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgeries (MICS) and educate the surgeons in and around India, Yashoda Hospital is organizing and conducting a live international workshop on MICS for the third time from August 10. Dr. Alla Gopala Krishna Gokhale, HoD, department of Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery, Yashoda Hospital will preside over the live workshop to facilitate smooth interactions between the audience and the faculty and contribute to the workshop’s success.
Explaining more on MICS, Dr Gokhale said, a minimally invasive procedure uses small incisions to access the heart without stopping the heart or cutting the breastbone and ribcage. It causes lesser trauma with faster recovery time and lowers risk of complications such as bleeding and infection. In just three weeks, patients can resume day-to-day activities and even return to their jobs”. He said, one day most of the cardiac surgeries have to become minimal access procedures without compromising on the long term results and patient safety and the goal of this workshop is to taking surgeons in this direction. Two live cases a bypass surgery and mitral valve surgery will be performed using the minimal access approach in this workshop.Speaking on the occasion, Dr. GS. Rao, managing director, Yashoda Group of Hospitals said, “We have made great strides in cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery performing thousands of procedures and surgeries with precision and success. This live workshop will not only highlight the advantages but will also talk about taking this procedure to its next logical level.”Nearly 200 eminent doctors from all over India and Sri Lanka and renowned international cardiac surgeons will attend the workshop as faculty. International faculty include Dr. Jaishankar Raman from Rush University Medical Center, Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, USA and Dr. Theo Kofidis, associate professor, head opf division of Adult Cardia Surgery, Deptartment of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery, National University of Singapore.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service – Hyderabad / August 10th, 2013
As many as four doctors were elected to the Medical Council of India (MCI) from Andhra Pradesh, in the elections conducted at the Dr NTR University of Health Sciences on Monday.
Dr G Bhaskara Rao of Rajamundry, Dr P Guna Sekhar of Visakhapatnam, Dr K Venkatesh of Hyderabad, and professor K Ramesh Reddy of Niloufor Hospital, Hyderabad, have been elected. In all, 64 voters cast their votes in the polls. Registrar of the Dr NTR University of Health Sciences Dr S Babulal was the presiding officer.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Andhra Pradesh / by ENS – Vijayawada / August 20th, 2013
The first consignment of phosphoric acid from Tunisian Indian Fertilisers (Tifert), a Tunisia-based venture of Coromandel International Limited (CIL), has arrived at Kakinada , where CIL’s complex fertilisers plant is located.
The Tifert vessel, which left La Skhira Port in Tunisia about a fortnight ago with 31,269 tonnes of phosphoric acid, arrived at Kakinada Port and delivered the CIL’s share of 12,498 tonnes.
It will leave on Thursday for Sikka Port on the west coast to deliver the remaining part of about 18,771 tonnes to Gujarat State Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited (GSFC), the other Indian shareholder of Tifert. Phosphoric acid is a key raw material used in the manufacture of various grades of fertiliser.
Tifert, set up in La Skhira in Tunisia by CIL and GSFC, the partners from India and Groupe Chimique Tunisien (GCT) and Compagnie Des Phosphat De Gafsa (CPG), from Tunisia, (both being Government of Tunisia entities), was inaugurated on July 12, 2013.
CIL stated in a press release here on Wednesday that has made an investment in Tifert for securing uninterrupted supply of phosphoric acid for the company’s operations. The company and GSFC have entered into a long term agreement with the Tifert to import the entire production of phosphoric acid directly to India. CIL and GSFC hold 15% each in the share capital of Tifert.
source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> Companies> News / by BS Reporter / Hyderabad – August 07th, 2013
Hyderabad-based Rainbow Hospitals, which primarily focuses on paediatric and maternal care, has raised $17.5 million (Rs 107.3 crore) from the UK-based development financial institution CDC Group Plc and Dubai-based private equity investor Abraaj Group for the sale of an undisclosed stake.
Rainbow, which started as a 60-bed hospital in 1999, currently runs six hospitals in the country. Four of these hospitals are based in Hyderabad while the other two are in Vijayawada and Bangalore.
The company plans to expand its number of beds from the current 450 to 1,000 by 2017. It will also look at expanding to Chennai, Pune, Visakhapatnam and Kurnool, among other cities.
“The patient investment approach taken by CDC and Abraaj gives us the space to focus on longer-term business quality and performance essential in multi-specialty paediatric care,” said Ramesh Kancharla, chairman and managing director of Rainbow Hospitals.
The hospital chain will also quadruple its workforce from the current 1,000 as it plans to increase its portfolio.
Rainbow Hospitals is the first direct investment in India by the CDC Group, which is a wholly owned development finance institution of the UK government’s Department for International Development.
CDC, which focused on fund-to-fund investment across Asia and Africa, changed its strategy to focus only on South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. It also announced that it would make debt and direct investments in these geographies as opposed to a limited partner’s role in private equity/venture capital funds.
“This is an exciting first direct equity investment in India for CDC. We will work closely with the company to give it the long-term capital and support it needs to build the business,” said Srini Nagarajan, CDC’s regional director for South Asia.
For Abraaj Group, the other private equity player investing in Rainbow Hospitals, this is the 28th investment in India. The PE player manages $7.5 billion across 25 sector-specific and country-specific funds, and invests in growth markets such as the South-east Asia, West Asia, Africa, Latin America and Central Asia.
“There is a pressing requirement in the Indian healthcare sector for paediatric healthcare infrastructure due to the demographics of the country, which witness high fertility, maternal and infant mortality rates,” Balaji Srinivas, managing director of Abraaj Group, said in a statement.
Last year, Abraaj Group acquired Aureos Capital, a global private equity fund management group investing in small and medium-sized enterprises across Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Indian healthcare services space, which forms more than 60 per cent of the healthcare sector in the country, has seen a high number of PE investments this year. Some of the recent deals include DEG investing $12.21 million in Ivy Hospitals, IFC and Standard Chartered investing over $46 million in Fortis Healthcare and Multiples Alternate Asset Management investing $33.15 million in Vikram Hospitals, among others.
source: http://www.in.reuters.com / Reuters / source: by VCCircle.com / Wednesday – August 14th, 2013
K. V. Raghavan (left), Chairman of Global Cancer Summit 2014, addressing a press conference in Hyderabad on Wednesday. Beside him is D. S. Bajaj , Secretary-General of Federation of Asian Biotech Associations. — P.V. Sivakumar / The Hindu
Hyderabad :
Open access publication group, OMICS Inc, the Federation of Asian Biotech Associations (FABA) and BioGenesis will be organising a global cancer summit in Hyderabad during September 16-18, 2014.
The conference, to be attended by medical professionals from across 35 countries would deliberate on the theme of recent advances in cancer diagnosis and therapy, Srinubabu Gedela, Chairman and CEO, OMICS told newspersons here on Wednesday.
K.V. Raghavan, Secretary-General, FABA said the federation was associated with the event as it would add significantly to the knowledge on treating cancer.
source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> News> National / The Hindu Bureau naga.gunturi@thehindu.co.in / Hyderabad, August 14th, 2013
Just over a year ago, Prem Watsa said Research in Motion , now re-named BlackBerry, was a “Canadian success story,” a good buy and a likely turnaround story, despite declining market share.
BlackBerry’s fortunes have only deteriorated since then, but Watsa, chief executive of top BlackBerry shareholder Fairfax Financial, is an old hand at looking wrong today and right tomorrow.
(Prem Watsa, chief executive…)
Fairfax, both an insurance holding company and Watsa’s investment vehicle, was on the losing end of bets against the market in the mid 2000s as Watsa waited for the US mortgage industry to collapse.
The company’s stock fell by 50% between mid-2003 and mid-2006 as Watsa’s purchases of credit default swaps flattened profits, while rivals feasted on a housing-fed bull market.
But when the market began to weaken in 2007, Fairfax began notching up investment gains, pulling in billion-dollar profits in 2007 and 2008. Then with markets still reeling and other investors licking their wounds, Watsa started to plow money back into equities, bringing another strong year in 2009.
Since their 2006 low of C$100, Fairfax’s shares have more than quadrupled, and the stock is up 100-fold over 28 years.
Indeed, Watsa had already shown his investment chops by selling stock ahead of the 1987 stock market crash and buying Japanese puts – or rights to sell stocks at guaranteed prices – ahead of the Tokyo market’s collapse in 1990.
Canada’s Buffet?
Often called Canada’s version of Warren Buffet , Watsa preaches a long view that suggests it may be too early to assess his decision to take on a leading 10 per cent stake in BlackBerry.
As it sits now, BlackBerry has not been a turnaround story under Watsa’s watch. Since January 2012, a period when Fairfax has raised its stake in the company from just over 2 per cent to just under 10 per cent, BlackBerry’s share price is down about 25 percent.
“Prem invests for the long term,” said Paul Holden, an analyst at CIBC World Markets who follows Fairfax. “He’s held his major stake now for what I would say is a fairly short period of time relative to his investment horizon, so I would say it’s probably too early to put any score on that investment.”
Watsa stepped down from the BlackBerry board on Monday, citing a potential conflict of interest, as the company said it was exploring the sale of itself and other options.
Holden said Fairfax, with a market capitalization of C$8.7 billion, would be too small to purchase BlackBerry outright. The smartphone maker has a market capitalization of C$5.8 billion.
But others said the signs that Watsa could be working behind the scenes were a positive.
“We have a lot of respect for the investment acumen and long-term track record Prem Watsa has established at Fairfax,” said Todd Johnson , a portfolio manager at Winnipeg-based BCV Financial, which owns Fairfax debt.
“Hearing the announcement from BlackBerry accompanied by Prem’s departure from the board should indicate something will happen this time on the strategic front.”
Low profile
Watsa, who was born in 1950 in Hyderabad, India, and trained as a chemical engineer, has a public profile that has at times bordered on the reclusive since he took over Fairfax in 1985. For his first 15 years at the company, he barely spoke to a reporter, and he only started holding investor conference calls in 2001.
Fairfax has generally not been known as an activist investor, but Watsa has not shied away from a fight, launching a $6 billion lawsuit against a group of hedge funds in 2006, accusing them of conspiring to the drive the company’s shares down so they could be shorted.
A short position enables an investor to profit when a stock drops.
To be sure, not all Watsa’s moves have been golden. Fairfax had to write off most its investment in Winnipeg-based media company Canwest in 2009 as the company filed for bankruptcy protection.
It also wrote down a significant investment in publisher Torstar in 2008-09 and took losses on its holding of forestry company Abitibi Bowater.
Speaking last year, Watsa suggested investors looking for a short-term rebound in BlackBerry might be disappointed.
“Is it going to turn around in three months, six months, nine months? No,” he told reporters. “But if you’re looking four, five years … We make investments over four or five years.”
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Tech> Tech News> Hardware> Invstment / by Reuters / August 14th, 2013
The central government has approved the setting up of 38 radar stations across the country in the second phase under Coastal Surveillance Network, said defence secretary R K Mathur, adding that the first phase of the network comprising 46 radar stations was expected to be completed by October. Out of the 46 radar stations to be set up in the first phase, six are in AP, including Kalingapatnam, Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Machilipatnam, Ramaiayapatnam and Krishnapatnam.
Speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of the commissioning the Inshore Patrol Vessel (IPV) ICGS Rajveer for the Indian Coast Guard (ICG), Mathur said the overall expansion plan of coast guard was to include 150 different type of ships with an appropriate mix of pollution control vehicles, IPVs, Offshore Patrol Vehicles and interceptor crafts depending on the needs of the coast guard. At present the ICG has 87 ships and 16 aircrafts under its control. Mentioning that the sophisticated IPV built by Garden Research Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) amply demonstrates the indigenous ship building capability of the country, he said, “The focus is now on shortening delivery periods.” Furthermore, he said that many more vessels were at various stages of construction in both public and private ship building yards. “ICG is on its way to be one of the most strongest and potent coast guards of the world. ICG is on the right path of growth,” he added.
Pointing out that coastal security remains one of the prime concerns, he said, “Induction of new assets would definitely boost the ICG’s efforts to provide a safe coastline. Establishment of coastal security network will ensure maximum protection.” He also said that the Indian Navy and Coast Guard were working in a synergised manner with stage governments to achieve the overall objective of maritime security.
On the commissioning of the seventh in series of eight ships at the Coast Guard jetty here on Saturday, GRSE chairman-cum-managing director Rear Admiral (retd) A K Verma said, “We hope to deliver the eighth IPV by end of this month. The first ship under this class was delivered in January 2012. With the delivery of this ship, we have delivered at the rate of one ship every two-and-half months.”
Stating that ship a 75% indigenisation level as most of the machinery was sourced from Indian vendors, he added that the ship is a cost effective and fuel efficient platform.
The 50 metre IPV commissioned on Saturday is equipped with the most advanced and sophisticated navigational communication sensors and equipment, said vice-admiral Anurag G Thapliyal, director general, Indian Coast Guard.
The ship is propelled to a maximum speed of 35 knots by three MTU 4000 Series Diesel engines of 2720KW capacity at 2100 rpm each, coupled with three 71S2 Rolls Royce Kamewa Jets. At an economical speed of 14 knots, it has an endurance of 1500 nautical miles.
The special features of the ship include an Integrated Bridge System, Integrated Machinery Control System and an indigenously built 30-mm gun mount with fire control system. The ship is designed to carry one rigid inflatable boat and two Geminis for search and rescue, law enforcement and maritime patrol.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Visakhapatnam> Indian Coast Guard / TNN / August 11th, 2013
With an aim to discuss the latest advances and improved outcomes of Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgeries (MICS) and educate the surgeons in and around India, Yashoda Hospital is organizing and conducting a live international workshop on MICS for the third time from August 10. Dr. Alla Gopala Krishna Gokhale, HoD, department of Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery, Yashoda Hospital will preside over the live workshop to facilitate smooth interactions between the audience and the faculty and contribute to the workshop’s success.
Explaining more on MICS, Dr Gokhale said, a minimally invasive procedure uses small incisions to access the heart without stopping the heart or cutting the breastbone and ribcage. It causes lesser trauma with faster recovery time and lowers risk of complications such as bleeding and infection. In just three weeks, patients can resume day-to-day activities and even return to their jobs”. He said, one day most of the cardiac surgeries have to become minimal access procedures without compromising on the long term results and patient safety and the goal of this workshop is to taking surgeons in this direction. Two live cases a bypass surgery and mitral valve surgery will be performed using the minimal access approach in this workshop.Speaking on the occasion, Dr. GS. Rao, managing director, Yashoda Group of Hospitals said, “We have made great strides in cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery performing thousands of procedures and surgeries with precision and success. This live workshop will not only highlight the advantages but will also talk about taking this procedure to its next logical level.”Nearly 200 eminent doctors from all over India and Sri Lanka and renowned international cardiac surgeons will attend the workshop as faculty. International faculty include Dr. Jaishankar Raman from Rush University Medical Center, Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, USA and Dr. Theo Kofidis, associate professor, head opf division of Adult Cardia Surgery, Deptartment of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery, National University of Singapore.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service – Hyderabad / August 10th, 2013
National Seed Association of India (NSAI) on Friday said it had appointed the chairman and managing director of Hyderabad-based seed company Nuziveedu Seeds Limited M Prabhakar Rao as its new president. Rao will be heading NSAI’s governing council for a period of two years starting 2013. The announcement came after NSAI’s annual general meeting was held in New Delhi on July 31.
Commenting on the development, Rao said, “I am honoured to have been bestowed with such responsibility that gives me an opportunity to work towards regulatory issues faced by seed industry, creating conducive environment for the functioning of seed industry and for intellectual property rights for the seeds varieties so as to enhance research and development (R&D) investments for benefit of farmers”.
The other members of NSAI’s office bearers include MG Shembekar, vice president, (Ankur Seeds private limited), Bhupen Dubey, general secretary, (UPL Advanta limited) and KS Narayanaswamy, treasurer, (GEO Biotechnologies private limited) among other members.
National Seed Association of India is an industry body representing 238 private and public sector seeds companies in India. The association mainly facilitates consultation between the members and central government, state governments and different international agencies. NSAI said it is also gearing up for hosting national as well as international seed conferences thus working towards an increased role for India in the international seed trade.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Business> India Business / by Swati Rathor, TNN / August 09th, 2013
