India, Belarus to strengthen bilateral ties: Lok Sabha Speaker
Belarus, June 13 : Expressing India's firm commitment in strengthening the already warm relations with Belarus, Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Wednesday emphasized on enhancing commercial and economic relations between the two countries.
"India and Belarus are time-tested friends and good feelings between the two countries need to be supported by the enhancement in commercial and economic cooperation," she said after meeting Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Mahajan is leading an Indian Parliamentary Delegation comprising of Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Jayshreeben Patel, K. Keshava Rao, Arvind Sawant and G.V.L. Narasimha Rao to Belarus, Latvia and Finland.
She said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's use of the term "security" at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit implied not merely territorial security but also security in other areas.
"The Government of India is well aware that our defence cooperation with Russia has always included Belarus and its production facilities in the background. We are keen on furthering this relationship by establishing joint ventures in the fields of mutual interest and benefit," she said in a statement issued by Lok Sabha Secretariat.
Keeping in mind India's SMART cities programme, she welcomed Belarusian technology for not just SMART transportation but also for SMART water, electricity, sewage disposal and green buildings.
During the discussion, the Belarus President emphasized the need to give a firm direction to the India-Belarus bilateral relations so that they may evolve in the right manner in the future.
"The two countries already have convergent views on most issues and support each other in all multilateral fora, but their commercial relations need a further push. Promoting joint ventures and mutual investment is the way forward," he said.
Mahajan assured Lukashenko of her support and willingness to convey Belarusian concerns to the Indian government.
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Jhansi fire: Nurse's heroic efforts helped save over dozen babies
Lucknow/Jhansi (UP), Nov 17: Nurse Megha James was on duty when the fire broke out at the Jhansi hospital and she threw herself headlong into the rescue efforts, playing a hero's role by saving several babies.
Even when her salwar got burned, she refused to give up and was able to evacuate 14-15 babies with others' help.
"I had gone to take a syringe to give an injection to a child. When I came back, I saw that the (oxygen) concentrator had caught fire. I called the ward boy, who came with the fire extinguisher and tried to put it out. But by then, the fire had spread," James said.
Ten babies perished in a fire that broke out at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Jhansi Friday night.
Faced with an enormous blaze, James's mind worked with a frenetic speed, to the extent she cared little about burning herself.
"My chappal caught fire and I burned my foot. Then my salwar caught fire. I removed my salwar and discarded it. At that time, my mind was virtually not working," she told PTI Videos.
James just wore another salwar and went back to the rescue operation.
"There was a lot of smoke, and once the lights went out, we could not see anything. The entire staff brought out at least 14-15 children. There were 11 beds in the ward with 23-24 babies," she said.
Had the lights not gone out they could have saved more children, James said. "It all happened very suddenly. None of us had expected it."
Assistant Nursing Superintendent Nalini Sood praised James's valour and recounted bits from how the rescue operation was carried out.
"The hospital staff broke the glasses of the NICU ward to evacuate the babies. It was then Nurse Megha's salwar caught fire. Instead of caring for her safety, she stayed there to rescue the babies and handed them over to people outside," she said.
Sood said James is currently undergoing treatment at the same medical college. She said she did not know the extent of her burns.
"The rescued babies were shifted to a ward very close to the NICU ward… When I recall the scene, I feel like crying," she said.
Dr Anshul Jain, the head of the anaesthesiology department at the medical college, explained the standard rescue operation and claimed the hospital followed the protocol to the T.
"In the triage process during an ICU evacuation, the policy is to evacuate less-affected patients first. The rationale behind this approach is that patients requiring minimal support can be relocated quickly, enabling a larger number of evacuations to be completed in a shorter time.
"In contrast, patients on ventilators or requiring high oxygen support demand more time and resources for evacuation," he said.
"This principle was successfully implemented in Jhansi, playing a significant role in saving many lives," Jain said.
A newborn rescued from the fire died due to illness on Sunday, Jhansi District Magistrate Avinash Kumar said.
