A two-day international conference on protected cultivation of horticultural crops, post-harvest handling and digital agriculture started at Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology And Sciences (SHUATS) on Wednesday. It is being organised by the Department of Horticulture, Naini Agricultural Institute, SHUATS.

Giving this information organising secretary Dr Devi Singh said the chief guest was Dean of Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu Dr Kishor Chandra Dahal who inaugurated it at the university auditorium on Wednesday followed by an opening prayer led by Director (Research) Dr Alok Milton Lall. SHUATS Pro-V-C (PMD) Prof (Dr) Antony J Raj was the guest of honour.  Faculty Dean Prof (Dr) Gautam Ghosh welcomed the chief guest. Director (Extension) Prof Arif A Broadway shared the extension activities of the university. Dean NAI Dr Biswarup Mehra gave a brief sketch about the international conference.  Joint Registrar and convener Dr C John Wesley briefed the delegates about the importance of protected cultivation of horticultural crops.

Chief guest Dr Kishor Chandra Dahal shared standardised production technologies under protected cultivation including use of drip irrigation, fertigation and super absorbents for improving water and nutrient use efficiency. On the first day of the technical session various issues regarding critical review of the status with respect of designing of infrastructure like greenhouse, net houses, shade net, nursery, drip-irrigation system for protected cultivation in different agro-climatic locations etc were discussed.

The vote of thanks was proposed given by HoD Dr Vijay Bahadur Rajwade. Various national and international delegates along with SHUATS faculty members and research scholars attended the workshop.

kidney transplant:  After Lucknow now preparations are being made for kidney transplant here also. This facility will soon start at Swaroop Rani Nehru (SRN) Hospital of Moti Lal Nehru Medical College (MLNMC). Till now for kidney transplant, patients had to go to SGPGI, Ram Manohar Lohia Institute and King George’s Medical  University of Lucknow or other big cities, but now within a month, kidney transplant facility will be available here.

Experts from the team constituted by the government have reached SRN Hospital to find out whether the resources required for kidney transplant are available or not.

Complete preparations have been made for this in its superspeciality building. The team                 from Lucknow and Delhi is gathering information on each point.

Dr Dilip Chaurasia, Chairman of the Urology department of MLNMC while talking to journalists said that patients from here as well as many other districts come to SRN Hospital for treatment but they have to be referred to Lucknow etc. Now having this facility here will provide relief to them.

Dr Arvind Gupta, Chairman of the Nephrology department said a large number of kidney transplant patients come to this hospital, but due to lack of this facility here the patients face a lot of inconvenience.

Efforts were being made for this for 20 years. Now the green signal is about to             be received from the government.

Before giving green signal for kidney transplant at SRN Hospital, the government is getting its investigation done by a four-member team. A four-member team including Professor Suresh Kumar of the Surgery department of KGMU, Lucknow, reached here on Tuesday.

Prof Suresh Kumar said he has inspected the blood bank, OT, wards etc. in this hospital. They will report this to the government.

Urologist Dr Shirish Mishra of SRN Hospital said serious patients come to this hospital and are referred from nearby districts. With the introduction of kidney transplant system, the patient will get the benefit at minimal cost.