The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Diagnostic centre for air pollution linked diseases inaugurated

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 26, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Diagnostic centre for air pollution linked diseases inaugurated

Staff Reporter

It is 17th such unit backed by Gas Authority of India Limited

LAUNCHED: B.S. Negi (third from right), Director (Business Development) of the Gas Authority of India inspects facilities at the Air Pollution Related Diseases Diagnostic Centre opened at SRMC

CHENNAI: The Sri Ramachandra Medical College (SRMC) and Research Institute on Monday opened an Air Pollution Related Disease Diagnostic Centre (APRDC) with the support of the Gas Authority of India (GAIL). The centre will combine surveillance and data gathering with diagnosis and treatment.

The APRDC is the 17th GAIL unit established in key cities across India as part of the `corporate social responsibility' initiative to tackle increasing levels of air pollution. The initiative extends diagnostic and treatment facilities to the poorer sections of society.

The centre at SRMC will operate from the Departments of Environmental Health Engineering headed by Kalpana Balakrishnan and Chest Medicine led by Vijayalakshmi Thanasekaran.

The APRDC will reflect the multidimensional focus evolved at the SRMC on air pollution monitoring, early recognition and management of related diseases and design of engineering controls for prevention of exposure levels.

The unit will network with other GAIL centres to compile a database that would be useful in routine surveillance for air pollution related diseases.

An important mandate would be to offer training as part of capacity building in tackling air pollution. The project is also expected to facilitate identification and prioritisation of air pollution related health concerns.

Inaugurating the centre, B.S. Negi, director (Business Development), GAIL, said the supply of natural gas as part of the proposed National Gas Grid would be piped to Chennai from Kakinada by 2007. The project envisaged establishing a gas supply network of around 8,000 km at over Rs. 20,000 crores across the country.

Alka Kumar, DGM (CSR) GAIL said the centre was set up under GAIL's `Blue Sky' project, which is looking to supply natural gas across the country in a phased manner. R. Mohan Naidu, director, Environmental Training Institute, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, said it was important for whatever data that is gathered to be applied by scientists and policymakers for evolving strategies to curb air pollution.

Apart from air pollution, the board was now examining all pollution issues from the perspective of integrated environment management, he said.

Among those who spoke were S.S.K. Marthandan, vice-chancellor, SRMC and

T.K. Parthasarathy, pro-chancellor.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail