HPV vaccination drive for MBBS students held at Zulekha Yenepoya Institute of Oncology
Zulekha Yenepoya Institute of Oncology collaborated with Departments of Community Medicine, Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Yenepoya Medical College arranged the first vaccination drive for eligible MBBS students who volunteered to get the first dose of HPV vaccine on 4 March 2024 at ZYIO marking HPV awareness Day and the first Anniversary of Zulekha Yenepoya Institute of Oncology and 25th year Silver Jubilee of Yenepoya Medical College.
Organised by Dr. M. Vijayakumar; Vice Chancellor, Yenepoya (Deemed to be University) and Director, ZYIO, Dr. Mariam Anjum Ifthikar, first Gynaecological Oncologist and First Lady Robotic Surgeon of Mangalore, ZYIO and Dr. Abhay S Nirgude, Dean, Faculty of Medicine, YMC; the first HPV Vaccination drive was a successful event which was supported by Serum Institute of India.
Dr. H. R. Thimmaiah, District Health Officer, Dakshina Kannada District was the Chief Guest along with Guest of Honour Dr. Rajesh B V , RCH officer, Dakshina Kannada District who inaugurated the program and applauded the initiative and success of the event . The program was attended by Heads of the departments of YMCH and Ms. Surmi Farhad,Director of Purchase, Yenepoya (Deemed to be University) congratulated the beneficiaries for the initiative.
Dr. Anjum , the organising chair , stressed upon the fact that cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among the females . Although being a preventable cancer , generally women present in advanced stage of cancer. More than 95% of the cervical cancer is caused by HPV virus. The HPV vaccination is more efficacious if given between the age group of 9-26 years .As the Government of India is planning to roll out HPV shots in the National Immunisation programme for the girls between 9-14 years, the special attention is given to the students of the campus between 18 to 26 years of age.
The mega vaccination drive was concluded by releasing the balloons by the dignitaries and statutory officers of the University. Organising secretaries ,Dr.Basma Reem Ameer was the master of ceremony and Dr Neha Kamath gave the vote of thanks.
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Loco pilots' union alleges manipulation of working hours to hide overutilisation
New Delhi (PTI): The loco pilots' union has alleged that various railway zones are manipulating the working hours of train drivers by falsely entering duty breaks during their 12 to 16-hour-long trips in the online Crew Management System (CMS) to hide their overutilisation.
As per railway norms, a loco pilot cannot be asked to work more than 9 hours at a stretch and no more than 11 hours in total from sign-on to sign-off. Since 2021, the Safety Department of the Railway Board has instructed all zonal railways that 80 per cent of trips should be completed within the 9-hour limit.
The Railway Ministry had earlier stated that it has not only initiated aggressive recruitment of loco pilots but also created several amenities for them, including urinal facilities in over 900 locomotives, air-conditioning systems in over 7,000 locomotives, and upgraded all 558 running rooms across the rail network.
The All India Loco Running Staff Association (AILRSA) stated that safety regulations prohibit overburdening loco pilots with excessive duty hours. They alleged that rail administrations are regularly violating these rules to compensate for a 15–20 per cent staff shortage.
"Though this illegal practice is happening in many divisions and zones, we have started by raising the issue with the General Manager of East Central Railway (ECR). We have submitted a memorandum compiling several issues that affect loco pilots' working conditions, including the false trip break," said Ashok Kumar Raut, General Secretary of AILRSA.
The ECR has not responded to the allegations.
However, following Raut's representation, one of ECR's divisions, Dhanbad, issued a circular dated July 15, 2025, warning of strict action against the false insertion of duty breaks between sign-on and sign-off in the CMS.
"A direction is being issued to all to not break duty hours between the sign-on and sign-off of the crew while registering it in CMS (Crew Management System). If it is happening in any crew lobby, it must be stopped immediately. If such cases are found, strict disciplinary action will be taken," the circular stated.
Raut explained that lobby officials record the sign-on and sign-off times of loco pilots in the CMS when their shift starts and ends, respectively. However, in cases where a loco pilot works for more than 12 hours, contractual staff at the lobby are allegedly inserting fake duty breaks -- ranging from 45 minutes to 2 hours -- on verbal orders from senior officials to conceal overutilisation.
Each railway division submits monthly crew working hours data to the Railway Board in a fixed format. These duty breaks are reportedly used to avoid detection of excessive working hours, which violates operational safety norms.
"This illegal and unsafe practice of inserting duty breaks in the system is being done on the verbal orders of some senior officials, such as the Chief Traction Loco Controller and Chief Crew Controller. Railways has outsourced CMS data entry work to private personnel, and these officials instruct them to insert such breaks," Raut alleged.
He added, "I have gathered data from some divisions on illegal trip breaks by lobby staff. In May and June 2025, in the Dhanbad division alone, there were 2,719 such cases; 1,883 in the Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Nagar division; and 785 in the Danapur division."
He also claimed that the Samastipur and Sonpur divisions manipulated working hours in 304 and 83 cases, respectively.
Earlier this year, in April, South Central Railway reviewed CMS data on loco pilots’ working hours and found that, in 545 cases in the Secunderabad division, 42 in Vijayawada, 26 in Guntakal, three each in Guntur and Nanded, and one in the Hyderabad division, goods train loco pilots worked between 13:55 and 14:00 hours but were compelled to feed incorrect times to hide actual duty hours.
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