Ask any Vizag cricketing enthusiast who has played first-grade cricket and they will recall the Major Ebden Memorial Cup that is still played annually in Waltair. Drawing entries from college teams in and around Vizag, many promising cricket players have honed their skills through the history of this tournament with its final played at the Ebden Memorial Sports Complex at Andhra Medical College (AMC)

Both KGH and Victoria Hospital need improvement’. The Minister said he visited the 191-year-old KGH and Victoria Hospital on Wednesday evening and both were ‘sick’ and needed to be improved. Health Minister Kamineni Srinivas has said the priority of the government will be to ensure health care to the poor..

In an interaction with the media at the BJP office here, Mr. Srinivas said in reply to a question, that a view on collecting user charges that would allow authorities to take up small repairs at hospitals would be taken later. Earlier, addressing the party cadre, he said the Cabinet would consider options on whether to make the much-delayed Visakha Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) functional in phases by allotting Rs.40 crore to Rs.50 crore now or whether to convert into AIMS with the money spent being reimbursed by the Union government. The Minister said he visited the 191-year-old KGH and Victoria Hospital on Wednesday evening and both were ‘sick’ and needed to be improved. He said the priority of BJP Ministers would be to serve people without giving scope for any corruption. Stating that BJP getting the endowments portfolio would help in safeguarding the Hindu dharma, he said BJP workers would be accommodated in the temple trust boards. With the party in power for the first time in Andhra Pradesh, though in coalition with TDP, Mr. Srinivas was the first minister to set foot in the party office, party city president P.V. Narayana Rao said. Though Endowments Minister P. Manikyala Rao was also scheduled to visit the party office, he had to accompany the Chief Minister to the Simhachalam temple. Senior party leader P.V. Chalapathi Rao recalled Dr. Srinivas’ association with the Janata Party in 1977. Bandaru Ranga Mohana Rao said VIMS, Railway Zone that remained on paper for a long would be a reality now. Party leaders Ch. Ramakotaiah, J. Pridhviraj and Ch. Mahalakshmi were among those present.

A student of Andhra Medical College G. Siva Nageswara Rao received a gold medal instituted by students of the 1979 batch in recognition of his paper having been published in the reputed Indian Journal of Pathology and Microbiology.

Principal of AMC G. Shanta Rao presented the award at a function organized by the AMC Research Forum at the college on Tuesday to mark the National Science Day celebrations.

King George Hospital will be upgraded into a super speciality hospital at an estimated cost of Rs. 50 crore to be contributed by various Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the next five years..

Announcing this at a media conference here on Tuesday, MP T. Subbarami Reddy said Visakhapatnam Port Trust had agreed to give Rs. 25 crore, Visakhapatnam Steel Plant Rs.15 crore, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited Rs. 5 crore and NTPC agreed to release Rs. 5 crore in a phased manner. He said a multi-storeyed, multi-speciality building would be constructed in the hospital premises. He said that the construction would begin in April this year after approval of the plans. He said he had already given Rs.2.5 crore for construction of a shelter for the attendants of patients. The construction of the retaining wall was completed and construction of the shelter would be completed by July this year. He said he had already given Rs. 41 lakh from his MPLADS funds for provision of 10 incubators for the neonatal ward, ambulance with life supporting systems, a van for outreach camps, and modernisation of the gynaecology ward. Dr. Reddy, who is also Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests, recalled his plan to plant 40 lakh saplings to mitigate pollution in the city. A meeting was held with the representatives of PSUs and the PCB on Tuesday. The target was to plant eight lakh saplings during 2012, he said.

A student of Andhra Medical College G. Siva Nageswara Rao received gold medal instituted by students of the 1979 batch in recognition of his paper having been published in the reputed Indian Journal of Pathology and Microbiology.

Principal of AMC G. Shanta Rao presented the award at a function organised by the AMC Research Forum at the college on Tuesday to mark the National Science Day celebrations. This was the first time in the history of the AMC that a paper prepared by one of its students had been published in a national journal. The paper, which showed how a simple bedside blood test on a slide could help show the degree of red cells agglutination, was prepared by faculty members of pathology A. Bhagya Lakshmi and Uma Prasad and Ch. Venkatachalam of Cardiology Department and Mr. Siva Nageswara Rao. The 1979 AMCinas silver jubilee medals were also presented. Faculty members K.P.S. Adinarayana, M. Bharathi, and K. Satyasri received the medals for their papers on bioinformatics, fungal pathogens in HIV-AIDS, and an unusual case of congenital Ewing's sarcoma respectively. Certificates of appreciation were presented to a faculty member A. Usha Rani and two medical students – Sagar and Sarada, who presented their studies on neonatal sepsis and HIV-AIDS respectively. Dr. Shanta Rao urged the faculty and students to pursue quality study protocols and publish more papers. AMCRF chairperson Jyothi Padmaja and a student of 1979 batch M. Parvathi spoke. It is in recognition of his paper published in Indian Journal of Pathology and Microbiology

VISAKHAPATNAM: Andhra Medical College and its alumni association will be put on fast track mode of development if the proceedings at the inaugural function of the AMC Alumni Global Meet 2008 on Saturday are any indication.. .

While quite a few former students of AMC have donated some lakhs of rupees while the AMC Alumni of North America (AMCANA) has come out with similar contribution, including 20,000 dollars for the present two-day mega event. The founder Vice-Chancellor of NTR University of Health Sciences L. Suryanarayana who was also alumni of AMC promised Rs.10 lakhs to the alma mater. Incidentally he was also born in the same year when AMC was established, the year 1923. Speaking as the chief guest, Prof. Suryanarayana recalled how the Visakhapatnam medical school was formed at a strategic location between the then Calcutta and Madras on the east coast when the Raja of Panagal was Health Minister in the Composite Madras State. He turned nostalgic talking about his stint at AMC from 1940. During those days the student admissions were done in Madras Medical College which was cumbersome and then there was the freedom movement headed by Mahatma Gandhi when the college management under foreigners unleashed terror. “Quite a few of AMC students were arrested as it was thought to be a trouble spot. Then there were the war clouds hovering over Vizag which saw quite a few teachers and students migrating,” he said. Representative of AMCANA Sonti Sriram said they believed more in education, knowledge and wisdom rather than buildings. They would strive to provide electronic access to education by starting electronic learning centres in men’s and women’s hostels of AMC, he announced. President-elect of AMCANA Raja Gopal Nandyal said they were privileged and lucky to be AMC alumni. They were donating liberally to AMC and AMC Old Students’ Association (AMCOSA)..

VISAKHAPATNAM: The Department of Orthopaedics of King George Hospital on Saturday received Rs. 1 crore worth equipment that could be used in many trauma surgeries and helpful for postgraduate education..

The equipment was donated by chairman of Bronx Lebanon Hospital (New York) Ira Kirschenbaum, through the Andhra Medical College Alumni of North America (AMCANA). A representative of AMCANA and a gastroenterologist Sitaramayya Nagula handed over the equipment to Superintendent of KGH G. Shanta Rao. HoD of Orthopaedics B. Udaya Kumar while thanking AMCANA and the donor said KGH was the first Government hospital in the country to have such sophisticated equipment. All fractures could be treated with the equipment a part of which was disposable. “Poor patients in particular would benefit a lot since some of the implants would cost Rs. 30,000,” he said. Every year AMCANA is donating equipment, books, etc. to the KGH and the Andhra Medical College and this year it arranged donation of this equipment. Dr. Sitaramayya also donated 10 stainless steel saline stands, two high-end stretchers, two suction pumps, etc. to the emergency ward of the hospital to provide better emergency service to the patients. AMCANA would concentrate on paediatric and causality ward immediately and take care of other departments in future, he said. Auto-analysers would be donated to the biochemistry department and the hospital soon. He suggested to the alumni of AMC in India also to raise funds on their own. Advanced radiological services would be provided soon in the hospital at a cost of Rs. 10 crores, Dr. Shanta Rao said. A building was coming up on the old mortuary site in which an advanced MRI scan, a CT scan, a colour Doppler machine and a mammography machine would be installed. The facility would be ready in five months.