'Honour killings' bring dishonour to India

The public beheading of a woman by her brother in Kolkata highlights a surge in so-called 'honour killings'.

The policeman jumped to his feet as the man walked into the station and placed the head of his sister, along with the butcher knife that decapitated her, on the table in front of him.

The incident in Kolkata on December 7 was another killing in the name of "honour" and there has been a surge in such attacks over the past several months.    

Nilofar Bibi, 22, was only 14 years old when she left home in an arranged marriage. Alleging torture carried out by her in-laws, Bibi returned to her parents on November 28, but vanished days later.

Her brother, Mehtab Alam, 29, had discovered his sister was living with an old boyfriend, Firoz, an auto-rickshaw driver. Alam stormed into the home and dragged Bibi onto the street in broad daylight.

Passers-by looked on in horror as he cut off Bibi's head while saying "she had sinned and had to be punished".

Alam left his sister's body in a pool of blood on the road, and calmly walked to the police station, her head in hand, to surrender himself. The siblings' family expressed support for Alam, saying they were proud he upheld their honour.

In a country currently caught up in collective outrage over a gang rape of a medical student in New Delhi, Bibi's killing registered only a passing reference in the national media.

But the coverage - or the lack of it - failed to hide the true extent of a scourge that bedevils many Indian women.

In a similar incident, a 17-year-old girl, a resident of Khoraon village, Kaushambi in Uttar Pradesh, was hacked to death by her father for having an affair with a 20-year-old from another religion from the same village, on December 24.

In the south, a 19-year-old woman in Sangameshwar village in Dharwad, Karnataka, was allegedly killed and burnt by her parents on December 23.

Read more here.

Bus attack highlights India's rape epidemic

A brutal assault in New Delhi has led to public outrage and calls for tougher sentences for rapists.

Rarely has India, a country of more than a billion people, been so vigorously shaken out of its collective stupor than it has been in the recent days over the horrifying ordeal of a young woman on a speeding bus.

Ever since news broke that the 23-year-old medical student was brutally gang-raped by several men at the back seat of a bus in the nation’s capital New Delhi, shock, shame and outrage have engulfed India in equal measure.

Angry residents across Delhi and other cities have taken to the streets to protest. Stung by the outpouring over anger, even normally inert politicians and bureaucrats have joined the clamour for the harshest punishment for the culprits.

"It’s a day of national shame," lamented Jaya Bachchan, a member of Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian parliament which saw members cutting across party lines sink their differences to join ranks in condemning the crime. 

"Rapists should be hanged," said Neeraj Kumar, Delhi’s top police official, who said that he had never come across any other attack in his long career that matched the recent one's brutality.

Read more here...

QR319,000 collected in fines from smokers

Long criticised for non-existent enforcement of anti-smoking law, Qatar’s public health authorities have swung into action and handed out fines to some 829 people so far this year for lighting up in public places.

And the fines the health inspectors collected from the violators totalled an impressive 

QR319,000 — which means that on average a smoker caught paid QR385 in fine.

The places raided by the inspectors included popular hangouts like the City Centre, The Mall, Villaggio, Hyatt Plaza, Landmark and Royal Plaza, among others.

Interestingly, the health inspectors didn’t spare government offices, including ministry buildings, and raided them as well and caught violators.

Responsible for ensuring a smoke-free Qatar, the Supreme Council of Health (SCH) said in a release yesterday that inspectors from its anti-tobacco unit conducted 1,330 raids between January and mid-November this year at public places where smoking is banned.

The SCH has reiterated in its release it would intensify monitoring and conduct more raids, especially as many violators were caught in shops located closer to schools.

The SCH campaign assumes significance as it comes ahead of a law that is reported to be on the anvil, and, which many expect, could see the mushrooming ‘sheesha’ joints, especially in residential localities and near schools, close down.

During the latest anti-tobacco campaign of the SCH, however, what is surprising is that no ‘sheesha’ outlet has been raided by its inspectors and no fines have been handed out to users to ‘sheesha’ addicts, who, understandably, also include an increasing number of women and children.

The current anti-tobacco law is described by anti-smoking activists as weak and lacking teeth as the punitive measures provided for are not deterring enough.

Official figures suggest that some 16 percent of the Qatari population is addicted to smoking, and that includes ‘sheesha’ as well. 

School students aren’t immune. A survey has recently been conducted by public health authorities to determine the extent to which smoking is prevalent in schools.

Its findings are expected to help the SCH come up with ways that are effective enough in fighting this menace among youngsters.

The authorities have recently made it mandatory for cigarette packets being sold in the local market to carry graphic images of deadly ailments smoking can cause, but its impact on the prevalence of smoking in the country is yet to be assessed.

Some youngsters, instead of kicking the habit, have begun buying small steel — and sometimes silver — boxes so they could shift the cigarettes from what is a repulsive looking pack to a fancy case.

(Source: The Peninsula)

Number of women drug addicts on the rise in Oman

An increasing number of women in Oman are falling prey to drugs, according to an expert from Ibn Sina Hospital, which has the country's only de-addiction facility.

Evidence based on patient visits to the facility shows that three to four new women addicts have sought medical attention here every month this year till September. Based on this, an unofficial projection for this year alone throws up a much higher number compared to the 31 women drug patients the Ministry of Health (MoH) has registered over six years from 2006 to 2011.

Acknowledging the trend, Dr Amira bint Abdul Mohsin al Raaidan, a psychiatrist at Ibn Sina Hospital, told Muscat Daily, “There has been a sharp increase in the number of women drug addicts the hospital receives. Not all are registered as patients and 30 to 40 per cent do not come back for follow-up treatment.”

The MoH data for 2006-11, which was provided by Dr Amira, also shows that all the 31 women addicts were in the 16-25 years age bracket and some were drug dealers themselves. The period recorded a total of 1,521 drug abuse cases.

According to Dr Amira, who is also the chairperson of Al Hayat Association, the only NGO working on drug awareness in Oman, and a member of the National Committee for Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, most of the women patients are either addicted to morphine or heroin.

She attributed the cause of addition to influence from peer groups, coercion, failed relationships, easy access to drugs and excess money. Many cases end in relapse due to lack of facilities.

“Some people in Oman are so rich that they don't know what to do with the excess money, and try drugs. I have had patients who are well educated, holding high posts and from good family

backgrounds. Some are drug dealers themselves.”

According to her, half a gramme of morphine costs RO10 while the same quantity of heroin costs RO50. “All the women patients I have handled use injections as the mode, for an instant high. Many of them also end up as HIV positive and Hepatitis C patients.”

Addiction can happen at any age, said Dr Amira. “For instance, an 18 year old girl dealt in drugs and confessed that she can't give up the habit. There was a case where a man forced his wife into taking drugs and later, they both turned into dealers.” She said that it has taken authorities some time to address the problem and added that people appear to be embarrassed to seek medical help in a conservative society such as that of Oman.

Rehabilitation facilities at the Ibn Sina hospital, too are limited, Dr Amira said. “It has just five beds for detoxification. I have more than 100 patients waiting to be treated. We take in patients, detoxify them and prescribe them a course of almost a month.” However, many of them go back to drugs, she said.

“I blame this on the lack of facilities. Oman had always been a timid nation and we did not regard this as an issue until now. It's a wake-up call for us.”

THE WARNING SIGNS

According to MoH figures, the period from 2006-11 registered 1,945 cases of alcohol and drug abuse (men and women) of which 1,521 were drug-related. The 1,945 cases included 1,155 singles, 692 married patients, 83 divorcees and five widows.

The most common mode of abuse was injections (1,009). The highest number of addicts (men and women) were registered in Muscat (1,149) followed by North Batinah (316).

Addicts can be identified from changes in behaviour and physical appearance. They may suffer weight loss, display violent behaviour, and have erratic sleeping patterns.

(Source: Muscatdaily.com)

Old magazines at doctor clinic spread germs

Do you often leaf through a glossy magazine while awaiting your turn at a doctor's clinic? Beware!

Experts have warned that magazines in the waiting room can provide a welcome distraction before having to face the dentist, but they could do more harm than good by spreading germs, claim infection experts.

They insist that magazines should be thrown out or recycled after just a week and not left out to be leafed through by patients for a very long time, the 'Daily Mail' reported.

The UK's National Health Service (NHS) has handed out a warning to a dentist in Lyme Regis, Dorset.

The dentist was warned that ignoring it could lead to her failing an inspection by the Care Quality Commission. 

Experts from Dorset Primary Care Trust have warned that Blu-tack on posters in her waiting room posed a health risk if re-used.

The dentist, who has practised for more than 30 years, said: "I can't believe the magazines would pose any risk to patients. We have some dating back to 2004. Generally we try to keep up-to-date but plenty of old magazines are quite interesting."

The Care Quality Commission stressed that waiting areas should be kept clear of clutter.

"There is no specific requirement for practices to remove magazines within a specified period," a commission spokesman said.

"However, practice owners, as part of a regular cleaning schedule, should ensure that the magazines are in good condition and free from obvious contamination.

"This advice will be kept under review and may be modified in the event of any future community infection outbreaks," the spokesman said.

The General Dental Council said it was heavy-handed to wage war on magazines. "Providing magazines in waiting rooms for patients is a good way of helping them relax and can ease the concerns of anxious individuals," Dr John Milne, chairman of the organisation's general practice committee, said.

He added that posters are used to give advice on oral health or provide information about the surgery and its services. Previously magazines were removed from some doctors' waiting rooms during the swine flu outbreak, the report said.

(Source: PTI)