Mumbai: Grant Medical College and Sir JJ Hospital is all set to introduce robotic surgery next month.

The hospital has received a robotic operating system worth Rs 30 crore and installation is currently underway. A team of three doctors and a nurse from the surgery department recently underwent training in Delhi to operate the system.

The hospital dean, Dr Pallavi Saple, said the system will allow doctors to perform complex surgeries with ease using a console.

Dr Ajay Bhandarwar, the head of the surgery department who also completed the training, said that patient selection will be done carefully, and they will also conduct prostate surgeries with the help of experts.

Currently, robotic surgery is only available in private hospitals, where it costs an additional Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh per procedure. With the introduction at JJ Hospital, poor patients will now have access to advanced surgical care at no cost.

New Delhi, Jan 29: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that residence-based reservation in Post Graduate (PG) medical courses under state quota is constitutionally invalid.

A bench, headed by Justice Hrishikesh Roy, said that providing for domicile or residence-based reservation in PG medical courses is constitutionally impermissible and cannot be done.

It opined that residence-based reservation is impermissible for the reason that such reservation runs counter to the idea of citizenship and equality under the Constitution.

It clarified that institutional preference or reservations to a reasonable extent permissible under the Constitution in PG courses, yet reservation in PG medical courses and other higher learning courses, on the basis of ‘residence’ violates Article 14 of the Constitution.

“We must also remember that, to a reasonable degree, residence-based reservation in a state is permissible for MBBS course, but the same reservation for PG courses is not permissible,” added the Bench, also comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and S.V.N. Bhatti.

It referred to previous decisions of the apex court, where it was held that at the PG level, merit cannot be compromised, although residence-based reservation can be permissible to a certain degree in UG or MBBS courses.

In Chandigarh’s Government Medical College and Hospital, 64 PG medical seats falling under the state quota were reserved either for the ‘residents’ of Chandigarh or for those who have done their MBBS from the same college.

The prospectus provided a very wide definition of ‘residents’ of Chandigarh and even included a person who studied in Chandigarh at any time for 5 years or the children of parents who had property in the Union Territory for a period of 5 years at any point of time.

After several petitions were filed before the Punjab and Haryana High Court challenging this residence-based reservation, the high court held that the reservation was given on the basis of a long-discarded principle of domicile or residence and was bad in law.

Upholding the decision, the Supreme Court said: “We are all domiciled in the territory of India. We are all residents of India. Our common bond as citizens and residents of one country gives us the right not only to choose our residence anywhere in India, but also gives us the right to carry on trade & business or a profession anywhere in India. It also gives us the right to seek admission in educational institutions across India.”

It said that the benefit of affirmative action in educational institutions to those who reside in a particular state can be given to a certain degree only in MBBS courses, but considering the importance of specialist doctors in PG Medical Course, reservation at the higher level on the basis of ‘residence’ would be violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

“If such a reservation is permitted then it would be an invasion on the fundamental rights of several students, who are being treated unequally simply for the reasons that they belong to a different state in the Union! This would be a violation of the equality clause in Article 14 of the Constitution and would amount to a denial of equality before the law,” the top court added.

It stressed that state quota seats, apart from a reasonable number of institution-based reservations, have to be filled strictly on the basis of merit in the All-India examination.

Mumbai: Mumbai’s Saboo Siddik Hospital has become a topic of discussion these days. Although this hospital is called charitable, the fees here are no less than any private hospital. This hospital, run by the Muslim Ambulance Society, has been a victim of controversies many times before. Patients admitted here have to pay a huge amount in the name of charity hospital. According to the information received, many illegal activities have taken place in this hospital and now BMC has become active regarding this. BMC has issued a show cause notice to this hospital. If sources are to be believed, the place where the MRI and pathology lab has been built is actually a car parking space which the hospital administration has occupied and converted into a lab and given it on contract to a private company which arbitrarily charges money from patients in the name of MRI and blood tests. Along with this, the upper floor of this hospital has been illegally converted into a general ward. In this connection, Mumbai Municipal Corporation’s Executive Health Officer Dr. Daksha Shah has ordered an inquiry into this.

According to the information, many officials of the health department of B ward have also been involved in this whole matter. Although, according to the hospital, they had got the illegal works done in the parking lot approved from BMC, but they have failed to show the documents of the same. On which BMC has now asked the hospital for all the documents on the basis of which this illegal construction was made legal and pathology and MRI centers were built on it. If reports are to be believed, a huge amount is charged from people in the MRI center and pathology lab. If patients are to be believed, they have to pay a charge of three and a half thousand to fifteen thousand for getting an MRI done.

In the same pathology lab, 1500 is charged for CBC and a huge amount is charged from people for doing other tests. This business of loot in the name of charity has been going on for many years. Which has now come to the notice of BMC. A huge amount is being charged from people by occupying the upper floor under the guise of general ward. Apart from this, fire systems and storage items have been kept in the entire building on the stairs, which is against government norms. The hospital also does not have the license of Bhabha Atomic Research Center, which is said to be necessary for X-ray. Now it remains to be seen how BMC puts a stop to this story of looting that has been going on for many years.