Department of Biochemistry Conducted a CME

Department of Biochemistry , Amrita school of Medicine ,Health care campus conducted a Continuing Medical Education Program on Recent advances in Laboratory management on 31st July 2010.This program focused on the most recent developments in the field of laboratory management. The topics covered are recent cardiac markers that help to diagnose myocardial infarction within a short time after onset of pain,importance of Immunofluorescence tests in the diagnosis of autoimmune diseases and the procedures for accreditation of laboratory.Dr KN Subhakumari. Dr Sreekumari, Dr Kannan Vaidyanathan, Dr Ramesh kumar and Dr Jagatlal talked in the program.

Revised list of successful MBBS students of AIMS

Revised list of successful MBBS students of AIMS in the 2010 PG Entrance Examination in various institutions.

1. Dr. Subhash - MD,General Medicine Calicut,
2. Dr. Ganesh - MS, Orthopedics, Salem
3. Dr. Aarathy Kumar - , MD,Gynecology, Trivandrum Medical College
4. Dr. Jyothipriya J - Trichy, Medical College, MD, General medicine
5. Dr. Shamni - Kerala, MD,Gynecology
6. Dr. Arya Chandran - Madras Medical College, MD,Geriatrics
7. Dr. Lekshmy Kurup -MS,ENT , Kilpak,
8. Dr. Sudeshna Mohapathra - MD,Biochemistry, Moulana Azad, Delhi
9. Dr. Vivek Sukumar - MS, General surgery, Thrissur
10. Dr. Kriti Arora - MD
11. Dr. Jaseera Veeran - Manipal, KRLMPCA, MD
12. Dr Ameer Bavae - Kerala, MD
13. Dr. Rohini Jose - MS, General Surgery, St. John's Medical College, Bangalore
14. Dr. Athira Upendran Nair - USMLE, Family Medicine
15. Dr. Lakshmi Suseelan - USMLE, passed
16. Dr. Mely Mary Mathew - USMLE, Pediatrics
17. Dr Donald - MD, Radilogy, T N
18. Dr. Resmi Premji - USMLE, General Medicine
19. Dr Revathy - MD,Dermatology, Kannoor
20. DR. Vijay Shanker T - MD, Anesthesiology, AIMS
21. Dr. Soumya Srikumar - MD,Anesthesiology, AIMS
22. Dr. Thushara Madathil - MD,Anesthesiology, AIMS
23. Dr. Ramakrishnan U K - MD,Forensic Medicine, AIMS
24. Dr. Priya Nair - MD,General medicine , AIMS
25. Dr Roopa Vijayan - MD,Pediatrics, AIMS
26. Dr Sumana Moorthy - DA, AIMS
27. Dr Litha Velayudhan - DDVL, AIMS
28. Dr Surya Sudhakaran - DO : Ophthal, AIMS
29. Dr. Parrot Prasannan - D Ortho, AIMS
30. Dr Lakshmi Yatheendran - DTCD, Pulmo, AIMS
31. Dr Rohith R S - DCP, AIMS
32. Dr Thankam, - USMLE Passed
33. Dr. Lakshmi Menon - MS, ENT, Kolar Medical College
34. Dr. Shankar Vishwanath - MS, General Surgery, Assam
35. Dr Renu Joy, MS, ENT, Kottayam Medical College
36. Dr. Shankar Ram - MS, General Surgery, Manipal
37. Dr. Ashwathy - MD, Pathology, Thrissur Medical College
38. Dr. Arun Thomas - MD, Pediatrics, Manipal
39. Dr. Eldose - MD, Anesthesia, Manipal
40. Dr. Anwin - MD, Pulmonology, Trivandrum Medical College
41. Dr. Gagan - General Medicine, Calicut Medical College.

ABCD forum Celebrates Fifth Anniversary

The Amrita Blood Collectors and Donors Forum, popularly known as the ABCD Forum, celebrated its fifth Anniversary on June 28, 2010 at the health sciences campus.

Human blood has no substitute. Requirement of safe blood is increasing and regular voluntary blood donations are vital for blood transfusion services.

With AMMA’s blessings, the ABCD Forum was begun as a student initiative by the 2005 batch of MBBS students.

The student fraternity and faculty at the health sciences campus joined together for the evening function, which was organized as a part of the anniversary celebrations.

Shri. Vineeth Nambiar, renowned South Indian film actor and classical dancer inaugurated the evening function.

“ I am honored to attend such a great event. This is a great move made by the students of Amrita and should be an inspiration to youngsters,” stated Shri. Vineeth

“Blood donation is a life-saving venture. We should congratulate the students for the initiation of such great ventures,” stated Bri. Karunamrita Chaitanya in her benedictory address.

“The ABCD Forum has conducted several blood grouping camps and maintains a huge database of blood groups, which has proved useful in many life-saving situations,” informed the organizers.

Dr. S.K. Ramachandran Nair, Senior Medical Administrator and Dr. Prathapan Nair, Principal, Amrita School of Medicine also spoke.

The inaugural ceremony was then followed by student presentations including skits, mimes, and other stage shows.

International Nurses’ Day Celebrated at Amrita

For patients, nurses represent the hands of God for they are dedicated to offer compassionate services.

The program was inaugurated by Dr. Sharada Rajeevan, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Cochin University.

“Nurses are bound together in the activity of patient care; hence they need to be aware of their responsibilities in first hand. They should be well informed, motivated and skilled in their respective area of service,” stated Dr. Sharada Rajeevan in her inaugural address.

Nurses themselves are the brand ambassadors of their profession. Trained nurses are the blessings of human society.

“ The humble profession of nursing offers motherly care and affection to each and every patient. Happiness can only be achieved through Gods grace. Nursing is one of the noblest services through which one can achieve God’s grace easily. Amma’s life of selfless service should be our example,” emphasized Sampoojya Swami Poornamritananda Puri in his benedictory address.

“We are here to appreciate the valuable services of the Florence Nightingales of Amrita,” stated Dr. Prem Nair, the Medical Director.

Others who spoke also included Dr. Rajesh Pai, Medical Administrator, Mrs. P. Vishalakshi, Deputy Nursing Officer, Prof. Sunil Moothedath and Prof. Sreedevi P.A. from College of Nursing.

Prizes for the various cultural competitions as well as proficiency awards were distributed in the function. An educational session on Nurses’ Day Theme “Delivering quality, Serving Communities: Nurses Leading Chronic Care” followed the inaugural ceremony.

Best Video Presentation Award for Dr. Sujithra. H

In the recently held Delhi Ophthalmic Society Conference, Dr. Sujithra. H from the Department of Ophthalmology won the best video presentation award for the video-Amritakiranam-depicting teleophthalmic approach to diabetic retinopathy management in remote areas.

“Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy is a time bomb that ticks in eye till it bleeds. WHO projects that 75 people go blind everyday day due to diabetic retinopathy. The burden of this disease far out weighs the reach and extent of currently available eye care services,” shared Dr. Sujithra.

“To overcome this shortage, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Indian Space Research organization in collaboration with Direct Relief International has launched its Tele-Ophthalmology programme which focuses on delivery of a comprehensive screening, evaluation and management programme at the grass root level.”

“The video, Amritakiranam, describes the functioning of Tele-Ophthalmology unit at AIMS. AIMS Tele-medicine hub provides technical and logistic support for the outreach programme. Fundus photography and Fundus Fluorescein Angiography are done in Tele-Medicine unit. Comsat transmits these images to AIMS Tele-Medicine hub, where a qualified vitreo-retinal surgeon views the image and management decision is taken. Once the decision for laser is taken, laser delivery is carried out on site in mobile Tele-Medicine unit. Real time transmission of images to central AIMS hub enables the senior retinal surgeon to give technical direction and guide the procedure,” explained Dr. Gopal S. Pillai, the chief of vitreo-retinal services.

Dr. Sujithra joined Amrita in March 2004. Currently, she serves as Clinical Assistant Professor in Ophthalmology.

Dr. Sujithra obtained her Diploma in Ophthalmology from Madurai Medical College. She then pursued her DNB in ophthalmology in the year 2008 from Amrita.

Dr. Sujithra has published several papers in regional journals and has presented papers in regional and national ophthalmic conferences. She has studied the impact of OCT in diagnosis of Glaucoma Masquerades. She won the first prize in south zone postgraduate ophthalmology quiz tournament in June 2008.

Congratulations to Dr. Sujithra on her latest achievement.

AIMS launched a tie-up in telemedicine and extended health care facilities with Malabar Hospitals, Palakkad.

Honorable Maharashtra Governor, His Excellency Shri Kateekal Sankaranarayanan, inaugurated the function on 27th March 2010 in the presence of our beloved Medical Director, Dr. Prem Nair.

Inaugural teleconsultation was conducted by Dr. Vasant P K, Department of General Medicine, AIMS.

Dr. Subramania Iyer, Professor of Head and Neck Oncology, has been appointed in the steering committee of the Eurasian Head and Neck Oncology programme. He has also been invited to give an address and represent the programme in the UICC world cancer summit to be held in August in Shenzhen, China.

Eurasian Congress on Head and Neck Oncology provides a platform to a group of head and neck cancer specialists from different countries together to conduct a meeting for head and neck cancer specialists where experts from Europe, Asia and the rest of the world could have a broad platform for interaction on diagnoses and high quality specialized treatments of head and neck cancers.

Dr. Iyer graduated from Medical College Kottayam, Kerala and completed his postgraduation from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. He did his MCh in Plastic surgery from Medical College Calicut, Kerala and then pursued his FRCS from Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburg.

An expert in the diagnosis and treatment of head and neck cancers and a specialist in the field of Reconstructive Surgery, Dr. Iyer joined Amrita in 2003 and holds the position of Consultant and Clinical Professor in Head and Neck surgery and Head, Division of Reconstructive Surgery.

Amrita School of Pharmacy organized a one day national seminar on ‘Spectral Analysis in Pharmaceutical Research’ on 22nd March 2010. The programme was inaugurated by Dr. Prem Nair , Medical Director, AIMS. The keynote Address was delivered by Dr. Jacob Philip , Director, sophisticated Test & Instrumentation Centre(STIC).

The scientific sessions included various topics such as Chromatographic techniques, Interpretation of Infra Red(IR), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Mass Spectroscopy. Dr. S. Ravi, (HOD Dept. of Chemistry, Karpagam University, Coimabatore), Dr. S.P. Dhanabal (HOD, Dept. of Phyto Pharmacy & Phytomedicine, JSS College of Pharmacy, Ooty), Dr. Prasanna Ramani (Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore ) and Dr. P. Manoj, (Asst. Professor, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Paramedical Sciences, Coimbatore) delivered the lectures.

The Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences launched a new pediatric endocrinology unit to provide treatment to children with hormonal problems. The new division was formally inaugurated by Dr. Nalini Shah, Pediatric Endocrinologist, KEM Hospital, Mumbai who is also the president of the Indian Society of Pediatric and Adolescent Endocrinology (ISPAE), on March 13, 2010. A one-day CME programme “The Amrita Pediatric Endocrinology Update 2010” was also organized as a part of the inaugural ceremony by the Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, AIMS.

Eminent endocrinologists, including Dr Nalini Shah, Dr Vijayalakshmi Bhatia, Dr R V Jayakumar, Dr M V Muraleedharan and others spoke on the common endocrine problems and the new developments in pediatric endocrinology. Delegates from all over kerala participated the function.

Dr. Pravin Thomas, Final year DNB Trainee, Dept of Neurology has won the first prize in a National Level competition for his original article -Multiple Sclerosis-"Reductionism vs Holism- Striking the right balance". This article dealt with the emerging trends in the diagnosis and treatment of Multiple Sclerosis in India.

He also won the best paper award at the Kerala Association of Neurologist( KAN ) Mid term meet in Trissur, Dec 2009. His study -"Multiple Sclerosis in Kerala ''won the first prize and a cash award of Rs 5000.

Dr. Pravin was also a part of the four-member team, which represented INDIA in the World Congress of Neurology (WCN) at Bangkok, Thailand. The team achieved, 4th place among 112 participating countries in the Quiz programme" Tournament of Minds".

Dr. Pravin recently won the best paper award in Neurology for his presentation "Opthalmoplegic Migraine-a clinico- radiological study". He also won cash award of Rs 10,000 and a certificate of appreciation at the annual meet of Neurological society of India (NSI), Kerala Chapter at Kozhikode, Feb 2010.

In 2009 at the annual meeting of NSI, Kerala chapter, held at Trissur, Dr. Pravin had won the best paper award for his paper "Neurogenic Dysphagia in acute stroke -a prognostic study". He has won this award in successive years now.

Dr Alice Kurian, lecturer, Amrita School of Dentistry has bagged the Special Performance Award at the National Level for the Local Branch Editor . This award, instituted by Indian Dental Association was presented on 28th February 2010 in a colorful Award giving ceremony held at Mumbai. BIDA (Bulletin of Indian Dental Association Kochi branch) for which Dr Alice is the editor, had also won the best journal award of IDA Kerala state at the recently concluded Annual State Dental Conference at Calicut. Editorials, scientific content and overall quality of her journals were widely appreciated among the dental fraternity.

She joined Amrita after completing BDS from Calicut University. She was honored with the best outgoing student award as well as four gold medals for scholastic achievements. At Amrita, she placed first in the Medical Informatics class.

An excellent orator, Dr. Alice is actively involved with mentoring several student extra-curricular initiatives.

A Homeopathic OPD is functional under the department of Holistic Medicine. Lamp lighting was performed by Dr. Mattakkara Ramachandran Nair, Chief Consultant, Holistic Medicine on 04/03/2010.

Dr. Bhavya Sabarish, BHMS, has joined the department and the OP services will be available on every Mondays and Tuesdays from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm at Holistic Medicine OPD.

MBBS GRADUATION CEREMONY (2004 BATCH)

The Graduation Ceremony of the 2004 batch of MBBS students was held on 4th March, 2010 at the AIMS Kochi Campus. Padma Vibhushan Dr.G.Madhavan Nair, Former Chairman of ISRO and Secretary to the Department of Space, Govt. of India, was the Chief Guest and inaugurated the glittering ceremony. The graduation procession of the outgoing students was a colorful and glittering event.

The function was also blessed with the presence of Sampoojya Swami Poornamritananda Puri, General Secretary, Mata Amritanandamayi Matt, Dr. Prem Nair, Medical Director, Dr. Krishna Moorthy, Registrar, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. Dr. Prathapan Nair, Principal, Amrita School of Medicine administered the Oath of Geneva Declaration. In addition to the distinguished faculty and staff of AMRITA, the proud parents of the graduated students also participated the function, which was a memorable event.

Dr. SANJEEV K SINGH (Sr. Medical Administrator & Associate Professor) has been selected as a SHEA ( Society of Healthcare Epidemiology of America) Ambassador from India. The honour of Ambassadorship is conferred to the10 best professionals in infection control in the world. Four of his abstracts has been accepted for presentation in the Center for Disease Control (CDC) meeting on 18th March’ 2010 at Atlanta. He will also be attending a Health Care Epidemiology workshop in May at Missouri and would be responsible to establish Health Care Epidemiology course in the country.

He graduated from SMS Medical College, Jaipur in 1994 and completed his post graduation in pediatrics from SMS Medical College, Jaipur in 1998. He also did M.Phil in Hospital & Health System Management from BITS, Pilani and Postgraduate Diploma in Medico Legal Systems from Symbiosis University, Pune. Dr. Sanjeev did his fellowship in Patient and Healthcare Worker Safety from University of Virginia in 2008 and is a member of National Consultative Group on Health Care Worker Safety and member of National Initiative on Patient Safety. He is also Secy of Federation of Hospital Administrators and Regional Director of Indian Society of Health Administrators.

Before joining Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr. Sanjeev worked as Junior Consultant and Hospital Administrator at Paediatric Hospital at Jaipur and subsequently he was the Sub Regional Coordinator for Disease Eradication program of WHO from 2000 to 2003.

He has joined Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) as Medical Administrator in July 2003 and now continuing as the Senior Medical Administrator from October 2004 till date.

Amrita School of Medicine is one of the premier private medical colleges in India that has succeeded in implementing the PG Entrance Examination coaching classes.The students who attended our coaching classes have secured higher ranks in All India and Kerala Medical entrance examination.

This coaching programme has been prepared based on the experience and the skills of Faculty who have decades of experience in successfully training students for PG entrance exams. The well researched course material ensures comprehensive coverage of all basic concepts, with solved examples, short cuts and strategies for improvement of performance.

This programme offers

• Expertise of excellent & eminent Faculty members
• Well researched course material, most exhaustive and up to date
• Extensive & Exclusive theory & MCQ coverage
• Separate Harrison’s session
• Mock Test for AIPGEE/AIIMS/CET monthly
• Regular class test / assignments for students

Classes will be from 4.30 pm to 6.30 pm from Monday to Friday and 9.00 am to 5.00 pm on Sundays.

Download application form

Documents to be enclosed with the application form

Two Passport size photographs
MBBS Degree certificate, if not received Provisional certificate
MBBS Registration certificate with any state Medical Council
Demand Draft of Rs.12,000/ - drawn in the name of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, payable at Kochi.

The completed application form may be send to

The Course Co – ordinator
PG Medical Entrance Coaching – 2010
Office of Principal
Amrita School of Medicine
AIMS Ponekkara (PO)
Kochi – 682 041

The application form can also be collected from the office of Principal, Amrita School of Medicine, AIMS Ponekkara, Kochi.

For any enquiries, please contact:
The Course Co – ordinator
PG Medical Entrance Coaching – 2010
Amrita School of Medicine
AIMS Ponekkara (PO)
Kochi – 682 041

E mail: medprincipalsecretary(at)aims.amrita.edu

Media brief covered in the Times of India Chennai website on UGC evaluation status of existing Deemed Universities in India in three major categories as outlined in the margin is attached.
                                                                                           (click here to Download attachment)

The information interesting reading and above all may feel proud that "Amrita Viswa Vidyapeetham" stands out in category "a" among the 38 Deemed Universities, assessed as "found fit" in all aspects per the UGC Guidelines.

It may be noted that this is not an official confirmation from the UGC, but may be considered as authentic, for our understanding. Together, the narration and list under "b" and "c" categories to have an overall feel on status of contemporary institutions in the Academic field.

Kerala Plastic Surgeons Association and The Centre for Plastic and Reconstructive surgery, AIMS organised the 16th instructional course in plastic surgery on 16th and 17th January 2010 at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences Kochi.

Senior Plastic Surgeon Dr. Sam C Bose inaugurated the two-day workshop at Amriteswari hall at 8.40 am on 16th Jan.2010. The topic was ‘facial clefts and craniofacial Anomalies’.

The aim of the workshop was to impart training on reconstruction of inner tongue, congenital deformities and cosmetic surgery.

The Kerala Plastic Surgeons Association has been conducting regular CME programmes for postgraduates, designed to cover the entire spectrum of plastic surgery topics in a period of 3 years.

From Chennai Dr. Jyotsna Moorthy, Dr. Karun Agarwal and Prof. Sreedhar presented various plastic surgery techniques of cleft lip and cranio facial anomalies.

Dr. Subramanya Iyer, Dr. Jimmy Mathew, Dr. Kishore, Dr.Sundeep, Dr. Nandakumar, Dr. Sherry Peter and Dr. Maria Kuriakose also participated .

AIMS is organizing its 18th Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) training prog in association with Critical Care Education Foundation (CCEF) -India
The prog is being scheduled on Saturday, 16^th Jan’ 2010 (Full day). A certificate will be given to all trained faculty.
One senior & experienced critical care expert from Mumbai, along with our internal expert faculty, will be conducting the programme.

Highlights of the ACLS training prog includes:

Introduction to BCLS
Interaction with critical care experts
Use of ACLS software and Simulation
Hands on training on AED, Rhythm Recognition, Approach & Management, Algo-rhythm of ACLS 2007 guidelines, CPR etc., Command Stations

Seats are limited to 25 faculty members only.

Most of the urological malignancies are curable when diagnosed and treated early. The Department of urology has a separate section for Urological malignancies. The cancers of Kidney, bladder, prostate, ureter and adrenals are taken care by this section. A sub speciality clinic in Uro oncology is a unique venture in India. Uro oncology Out patient department is operated on Fridays between 11 am to 5 pm. Being a research institute with state of the art infrastructure , we have highly focussed team for the care of urological cancers . In cases where multimodality treatment is required, our institution has medical oncologist, radiation oncologists, state of the art radiology, pathology and nuclear medicine departments, all under one roof. There are facilities for brachytherapy, conformal radiotherapy, IMRT and therapeutic nuclear medicine procedures.

The uro oncologists, radiation oncologist , medical oncologists and uro pathologist discuss the cases and take combined decision on the management of all the cases at Tumor board. The follow up and further management are also done as per the current protocols.

Doctor of Medicine (D.M.) Programme in Cardiology, Nephrology, Neurology, Gasroenterology, Endocrinology AND Master Chirurgiae (M.Ch.) Programme in Cardio Vascular Thoracic Surgery, Urology and Neuro Surgery for the Academic Year 2009-2010 was inaugurated by Sampoojya Swami Poornamritananda Puri, General Secretary, Mata Amritananda Mayi Math on 29 the August 2009 in Amrita institute Of Medical Sciences.

"Through dedication and total surrender we can learn everything" Swami told in his benedictory address. Dr.Prathapan Nair, Principal, Amrita School of Medicine delivered the welcome address. Dr. Prem Nair, Medical Director, AIMS gave keynote address.

Sri. Ron Gottsegen, Administrative Director, AIMS, Dr. Santhi nair, Head of the Department, Nano Science, Dr. APS Krishnan, Vice President, Amrita Hospital were also present on this occasion.

"The emerging Intelligent biosciences promises a happy world devoid of diseases."
Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam

After inaugural address in connection with the formal inauguration of the PET CT Scanner, Dr. Abdul Kalam interacted with the students and urged the students to ask five questions. 'Ask five smart questions and I will give smart answers", he said.

A student asked, "What can we do for the development of the country?" " Go to villages' was his immediate reply. He requested the future doctors to go to villages and treat at least 20 patients every year, free of charges.

When an MBA student asked about how to insulate India from the effect of global meltdown, Dr. Kalam said that India was not severely affected as the rest of the world because of three things. One, the reforms hadn't been fully implemented due to our social commitments, Two, our banks were more orthodox in giving loans and three, Indians were saving minded. If India has to be fully insulated from the Global meltdowns in future, PURA ( Providing Urban amanities in Rural Areas) concept has to fruitiy with focus on rural development. 700 million people live in 6,00.000 villages.

A final year MBBS student asked how the economic difference between the rich and poor could be decreased. Dr Kalam said "records say that 45% of the population were below the poverty line in 1970. That has now come down to 22%. If we have to improve it further, PURA concept has to really take off where physical, electronic, Knowledge and Economic connectivity between the urban and the rural areas are there."

Another doctor asked what his vision was when he was 30. He replied that he had his vision at 10 years when his teacher, Mr Shiva Subramania Iyer taught him about how birds fly. That prompted him to take us physics, aeronautics and later rocket engineering.

He advised all to have an aim, attain knowledge, work hard and have perseverance to attain the goal.

In view of the above, AIMS is pleased to announce that we are joining with the World Health Organization (WHO), First Global Patient Safety Challenge campaign on the 5th of May 2009, "SAVE LIVES: CLEAN YOUR HANDS". This initiative is to highlight the critical importance of good hand hygiene in patient care as it is the entrance door to better infection control and safer patient care.

More over, Dept.of Infection Control organized a weeklong campaign titled "OUR HANDS TOUCH MANY LIVES", covering the complete spectrum of hospital staff along with lecture series. The activities of the campaign were lecture series, poster & slogan competition cum exhibition, quiz competition, Lucky-draw etc.

It is capable of doing interventional cardiology, electrophysiology, paediatrics interventions as well as general vascular applications

Special IC stent package in this machine enhances the visibility of deployed stent. Another similar lab is also expected to go online in a month's time.