The Cuddalore district branch of the India Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) bagged five State awards at the annual Pedicon-2014 held recently at Madurai, according to V. Sivaprakasam, member of the national executive board of the IAP.
Dr. Sivaprakasam, a leading pediatrician at Chidambaram, told The Hindu that based on its overall activities the Cuddalore branch had been adjudged as the Best IAP District in the State. The branch had organised a number of programmes such as “Breast feeding week,” “Teenage Day,” “Adolescent and child health care” and “ORS Day/Week”. It stood first in the State in the first three activities second in the last one. For the past 10 years in a row the branch had won these awards. A senior paediatrician in Cuddalore, V.Namachivayam said the branch was making efforts to spread the message by organising awareness programmes on the positive aspects of breast feeding among students.
Dr Sivaprakasam noted that the government had designated him as a resource person for imparting training in teachers on adolescent health and dyslexia. He underscored the point that the symptoms of dyslexia could manifest at tender age and therefore early screening of children would offer the best bet for cure. IAP national president Vijay Yuvale spoke abou the judicial use of antibiotics. To educate doctors on this aspect September 26 would be observed as “Antibiotic Day.”
