MSEU leaders arrested

PUDR,PUCR,Citizens'front condemned

New Delhi, 19 September. People's Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR), Delhi, People's Union for Civil Rights, Haryana and Citizens' Front in Support of Maruti Suzuki Workers' Struggle condemn the arrest of leaders of the Maruti Suzuki Employees Union last night even while the negotiations were going on.
MSEU President Sonu Kumar, General Secretary Shiv Kumar and Ravinder were arrested by the Gurgaon police around 10.30 PM on 18 September, as soon as they came out of the meeting with Maruti Suzuki officials. Talks were on since 16 September between the union, management of Maruti Suzuki and the labour department to end the lockout forced by the company since 29 August. Talks broke down late last night when the management refused to take back the dismissed and suspended workers. Apparently, the police were prepared for this and the union leaders were arrested immediately after that.
The police had filed an FIR against Ravinder alleging his involvement in a case of scuffle with some supervisors. But there was no case against Sonu Kumar and Shiv Kumar and they were leading the negotiations with the management. It is clear that the Gurgaon police and the Haryana government are acting at the behest of the company to crush the workers' struggle for fully justified demands.
We demand that the arrested leaders be released immediately and talks should be restarted. The state government must stop acting as an agent of the company and intervene to ensure that workers get justice. 

People's Union for Democratic Rights, DELHI
People's Union for Civil Rights, HARYANA
Citizens' Front in Support of Maruti Suzuki Workers' Struggle

Mother's heart stopped while baby's heart kept beating

Rare Heart Surgery Saves Life of Mother and Child

Ludhiana, 19th September, 2011:(Shalu Arora) Mrs Gurpreet Kaur – a 25 y lady - w/o Mr Manmeet Singh r/o Kidwai Nagar Ludhiana was in a dire condition. The whole family had been overjoyed when Gurpreet had got pregnant . Then at the 28^th week of pregnancy she started getting extremely short of breath. On examination it was found that one of her valves (the mitral valve) had got very tight. She was referred to Dr Harinder Singh Bedi – Head of Cardio Vascular & Thoracic Surgery at the Christian Medical College & Hospital , Ludhiana. Dr Bedi realized that due to the pregnancy Gurpreet’s blood volume had increased and so the valve which was already too small due to the disease was now functionally smaller as more blood had to pass through it. The blood was getting trapped in the lungs and so she was unable to breathe . Dr Bedi explained that this is like pulmonary edema where a patient basically drowns in her own blood . An intervention  procedure had been tried at another hospital but had failed . On admission to the CMC her condition was quite critical. She was also seen by the Head of Obstetrics Dr K Awasthi and Dr A Kellogg and a joint decision taken to perform an open heart surgery to save the mother and to let the baby continue growth in the womb. Dr Bedi told that any open heart surgery in a pregnant mother carries a high risk of miscarriage – but the surgery was essential to save the mother. With utmost care and continuous monitoring of the baby with special equipment - the delicate open heart surgery was done on 6^th July 2011 . At surgery the mother’s heart was stopped – but the baby’s heart was allowed to beat normally and was monitored by a fetal monitor. Dr Bedi said that it was quite an eerie and spiritual moment to see the flat ECG of the mother and the normal beat of the baby . Anesthesia for this delicate case was given by Cardiac Anesthetist Dr Arun Gupta  . The heart lung machine was managed by Mr Jairus and Mr William who are among the senior most experts in this field . The other members of the team are Dr Allen, Dr Viju Abraham, Dr Paul, Dr Neharika, Dr Susan, Dr Miria and Dr Arjin  .

Gurpreet then recovered well and delivered a healthy baby boy on 9^th Sep 2011 in the CMC by Dr Tapsaya Dhar Maseeh  who said that both mother and child are in the pink of health. Dr Bedi said that such cases are relatively rare . The first priority is to save the mother and also aim to have a normal baby. The whole CMC team was very happy that both mother and baby were well. Dr Abraham G Thomas – Director of CMC & H – told that a multi speciality care was essential for the appropriate management of such complex cases.