DANGEROUS FAD! Water and workouts to become compulsory for NSW toddlers

What a picnic for lawyers the first time a toddler gets seriously hurt as a result of this nonsense! It looks like the kids are to be given lots of water one way or another but THAT IS DANGEROUS EVEN IN ADULTS -- to the point of death. And quite small amounts of water given to children can lead to water intoxication, resulting in brain damage. See also here, where it speaks of an "epidemic" of water intoxication among U.S. children. Blasted know-nothing faddists!

Children as young as three will undergo compulsory exercise regimes of up to two hours every day in preschools. The New South Wales Government's anti-obesity program also phases out junkfood with kids now drinking watered down juices and low-fat milk and parents receiving a list of recommended foods for their children's lunchboxes. Star jumps, action-singing songs as well as catching, jumping and running are just some of the exercises included in the roll call of daily activities.

The Munch 'n' Move blueprint aims to bring down the rocketing rates of childhood obesity [Utter rubbish! Obesity peaked in the late 1990s] in NSW with one in five preschoolers now either overweight or obese.

Nearly 1000 preschools will implement the new healthy lifestyles policy within the next 18 months, with childhood teachers in 14 centres receiving their initial training this week. "We do music and movement every day but this program also encourages us to do more structured exercise outside where we are teaching children the finer points in jumping, running, hopping, galloping and fundamental movement skills," said educator Vicky Smith from Five Dock preschool, which is implementing the program.

NSW Health's Centre for Health Advancement director Liz Develin said once the preschools were completed the program would be rolled out in long-day care centres. She said that while some parents might question the need to force active three-year-olds into exercise, Ms Develin said recent research showed 89 per cent of children aged four to five spend more than two hours watching a screen every day. "A lot of three to five-year-olds have started these bad habits early," Ms Develin said. [PROVE that it's a bad habit!] "If children are well equipped in fundamental movement skills they are more likely to participate in physical activity and sport later - they'll have the basic skills of how to run, throw and jump rather than just running around erratically."

Early childhood teachers will receive a 188-page manual outlining the details of the new exercise and food program, which includes giving children water rather than fruit poppers and cordials so that kids don't develop a sweet tooth. It also recommends limiting giving juice to once a day and to the 100 per cent variety, which is then diluted by water by at least half, and suggests reduced-fat milk for children over two.

NSW Health Minister Reba Meagher said the program was devised to combat the growing number of overweight preschoolers as well as educate parents. "There is clear evidence that the number of people who are overweight or obese is increasing," she said. "By the time NSW children reach kindergarten nearly 18 per cent of them are either overweight or obese."

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MORE MEDICAL MAYHEM

Three current articles below:

NSW paramedics being worked to death

An inquiry into the New South Wales Ambulance Service has heard many paramedics feel so stressed and overwhelmed by their workloads they are contemplating suicide. The Upper House inquiry has heard Three in Four ambulance officers feel over worked in the job, while a number of submissions have raised serious concerns about bullying.

Phil Roxbrough, Ambulance station manager in Moruya on the NSW south coast, told the hearing bosses needed to do more to address the problems associated with stress. "I hear stories from so many people who have come so close to attempting suicide or have gone through some really horrific experiences and someone needs to be a voice for these people, to care for these people," he said.

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Tasmanian public hospital bed shortages

Ongoing pressures at the Royal Hobart Hospital have surfaced again with staff and patients reporting issues across a number of departments yesterday. Australian Nursing Federation state secretary Neroli Elis said up to five ambulances were ramped outside the Emergency Department yesterday because of a drastic shortage of staff and beds. She said one patient in emergency had arrived at 8pm on Thursday and had not received a bed by 4.30pm yesterday. It follows an emergency meeting between staff and management last weekend after complaints that emergency patients were being left to wait on trolleys in corridors for up to 36 hours before beds were found.

Ms Ellis said the hospital was admitting elective surgery patients in order to meet its Commonwealth targets while emergency patients were left in crowded waiting rooms.

RHH spokeswoman Pene Snashall said the emergency department had not been abnormally busy. "I cannot find any evidence to substantiate their claims," Ms Snashall said. "The individual patient they refer to is not in (the emergency department) -- not on a trolley -- she is actually in the short-stay facility of ED under the care of neurosurgery specialists. "It is mischievous to suggest this person waiting in a waiting room or sitting in a chair for that amount of time."

Meanwhile a pregnant woman rang the Mercury yesterday to complain of overcrowding in the antenatal ward. "There are some very tired ladies here with heavy bellies and children running around and there are no seats for anyone," the woman said. "Staff have said we can look forward to a wait of one to two hours."

Last week, RHH chief executive Craig White admitted conditions in the hospital's maternity outpatient clinic were unsatisfactory but said there were limited options for improvement because of space constraints in the ageing hospital.

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Bulgarian doctor repeatedly botched surgery

While the regulators sleepwalked about it

A doctor accused of wrongly operating on patients and lying about the mistaken removal of a woman's ovary has just re-registered to practise. Dr Ivan Lubenov Popov is alleged to have lied to patients and misled staff about his procedures in an attempt to cover-up botched and potentially illegal medical procedures.

Documents filed to the Health Practitioners Tribunal registrar reveal a string of women have suffered complications and heartache since December 2006 because of the alleged negligent practices of the obstetrician and gynaecologist, who worked at the Caboolture Hospital. In one case he allegedly removed a woman's ovary that was meant to be preserved during a hysterectomy, and while admitting the surgical mistake to his superiors, continued to lie to the woman about the reason for its removal.

Four other women suffered complications following "inappropriate" surgery, which the Medical Board of Queensland claims should not have been performed at a provincial hospital given the women's medical history and potential for the operations to be complicated. In another case he is alleged to have consented to a medical procedure on a pregnant woman which he knew would result in a termination of her pregnancy, which she had earlier told him was unwanted.

But the Medical Board of Queensland said a termination was outside Queensland Health guidelines and Dr Popov deliberately tried to obfuscate the intent to perform the termination and misled his superiors and colleagues in the case.

The obstetrician is accused of negligence in a seventh instance, when he left a woman in labour with twins under the supervision of junior staff only, after ordering the top-up of an epidural. Dr Popov was able to continue his alleged cowboy operations on patients until he left his practice in July last year. It took another 11 months for the Medical Board of Queensland to place restrictions on his practice. It has now lodged action in the Health Practitioners Tribunal to have disciplinary action taken against him.

Dr Popov has re-registered to practise as a doctor from July 1 this year. But Queensland Health said he was no longer working for them and under Medical Board of Queensland guidelines, he has not been able to practise privately since the middle of last month. Queensland Health has also referred the matter to the Crime and Misconduct Commission and the Health Quality and Complaints Commission.

Spokesmen for both Queensland Health and the Medical Board of Queensland said they were unable to provide any more information on the doctor, who is understood to have moved to South Africa. Lawyers listed as a contact for Dr Popov in a Medical Board of Queensland document last month said yesterday they no longer represented him and were unable to assist with any further information. Neighbours at his last known address at Redcliffe said Dr Popov packed up and moved to South Africa last week. Dr Popov received his Diploma of Medicine from a University in Varna, Bulgaria, in 1990.

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RUDD'S GREEN SUICIDE: DELAY CARBON TAX OR LOSE INVESTORS, ENERGY COMPANIES WARN

AUSTRALIA risked tarnishing its reputation with international investors if an emissions trading scheme was implemented too swiftly, destroying the value of existing power assets, TRUenergy managing director Richard McIndoe says. "Given that Australia is really going out on a point on this matter ... to introduce a high (carbon) tax immediately would be fraught with risk," Mr McIndoe said yesterday. "I think you'd see significantly less appetite from international investors in (energy) assets because they'd see a huge level of sovereign risk in investing in the electricity sector in Australia."

A discussion paper issued by Mr Garnaut in March sparked an outcry by recommending that all carbon permits be auctioned from the outset, without any free permits for trade-exposed and energy-intensive industries.

Australian lawmakers want to create a market-based emissions trading system that caps the amount of carbon dioxide that power generators can produce. If companies emit more than their cap allows, they would have to buy carbon permits from companies that have a surplus. The theory is that this so-called cap-and-trade system gives companies a financial incentive to clean up.

But for a generator and retailer like TRUenergy, a unit of Hong Kong-based CLP Holdings, the consequences of an emissions trading scheme could be dire. Mr McIndoe said brown coal generators in Victoria alone could see the value of their existing generation assets written down by as much as 90 per cent, or $12 billion, as an emissions trading scheme made them costlier to run than cleaner alternatives. "Clearly, if you have to write that off your balance sheet, it's going to cause some major financial impairment," he said.

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