| Towards a livable, sustainable city
Many of the provisions in the new Delhi Master Plan may worry urban planners. And rightly so. But several changes were inevitable. The main one is the decision that growth has to be predominantly vertical. Yes, there are worries about the fact that the city is within a seismic zone and, therefore, making high-rise buildings quake-proof has to be a prime consideration. This will be expensive and, as we have seen in the past, many builders are not averse to cutting corners in pursuit of quick profits. Here the concept of 'incentivised development' could play a positive role. This means that the extra floors permitted will be an incentive for residents to go in for redevelopment. But, of course, this means that the extra pressure on infrastructure, like power, water and parking, to mention only a few, has to be taken into account.
Procedures erase problem veins
Editor's note: This is the first in a monthly series of stories on plastic surgery and related procedures. The stories will appear the third Wednesday of each month in the Health & Fitness section. By Monetta L. Harr mharr@citpat.com -- 768-4972 Millions of people have experienced acid reflux, that foul-tasting, burning sensation when food backs up into the throat. A similar phenomenon occurs with venous reflux disease: The valves that keep blood flowing out of the legs and back to the heart become damaged or diseased, allowing blood to back up and pool. The result is varicose veins, which may look like red or dark blue ropes that curl around a calf muscle, or a fireworks of purple spread across a thigh or face.
When caring clashes with costs - the nasty business of being NICE
It is not easy being a doctor in charge of NICE, the friendly sounding organisation that decides whether or not you die for want of a medical treatment. And decides it not on the basis of whether your life will be saved, but whether it is cost-effective to save your life. Professor Sir Michael Rawlins grimaced slightly: "I know, it is horrid, in a way . . . " and he tailed off. One of the best examples of Orwellian double speak may be the acronym for the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. This is where bean-counting meets personal tragedy, where government accountancy says "no" to a man whose wife is dying for want of drugs that neither he nor the NHS can afford. The dilemma: with limited cash in the health service, do we spend a lot on saving a few patients or sacrifice them to help many others? "You have got a tension between the patient in front of you, for whom you want to do the best you can, and then you have got the ones in the waiting room.
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