New rules inside tiger reserves
Guidelines issued by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) on June 5 regarding operation of national parks and tiger reserves are likely to affect tourist traffic to Corbett and Rajaji, which are yet to be opened to tourists. According to the NTCA guidelines, entry inside the reserves is prohibited to children below 10 and senior citizens above 65 years. As per the directions, tourists will not be allowed to step out of gypsies used in jungle safaris and nor will they be able to sit in close proximity to each other.
Strict rules for medicine shops
The Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) in Uttarakhand has asked medical stores and pharmaceutical shop owners to refrain from selling medicines for cough, cold, headache or fever without a doctor’s prescription. The stores have also been asked to maintain a record of details such as address and phone numbers of all people buying flu and fever medicines even if the buyers have a doctor’s prescription. FSDA commissioner Dr Pankaj Pandey said medical store owners were told to paste these guidelines outside their shops and ensure that they are strictly maintaining the records. Not just medical stores, private clinics and hospitals have also been directed to provide details of people coming to them with symptoms of fever, cold and cough to the health department.
Biodiversity park
In Uttarakhand, the forest department dedicated a biodiversity park in Haldwani to the people of state and country. The ‘Sarv Dharm Vatika’ spans over 18 acre area with 40 different sections and 479 plant species, many of which have a special place in Hinduism, Islam and Christianity, Buddhism, Sikkhism among others. “Our efforts are to bring together every aspect of life to the fore in connection with plant kingdom. Every aspect of our lives is dominated by plant species. Here, one can connect with nature and realise invaluable gifts we have been bestowed upon,” said a senior officer.
Bizarre medical case
Doctors at a private hospital extracted razor blades, iron nails, and hair pins from a 30-year-old man’s abdomen by using an endoscopic procedure. The entire process took less than an hour. The patient has a history of alcohol and substance abuse. Doctors who treated him told that the patient was brought in the emergency ward with the complaint of severe abdominal pain. His relatives told the doctors that he might have swallowed these sharp objects while no one was around. Test revealed multiple foreign bodies, including three portions of razor, four nails, and a hairpin, in the small intestine.
Vineet Upadhyay
Our correspondent in Dehradun
vineet.upadhyay@newindianexpress.com