172 special kids to get helping aids
Lovleen Bains

Doraha, February 25
A total of 172 physically challenged children of Doraha block have been registered under the ADIP and the Sarv Sikhiya Abhiyan for providing them with helping aids. The registration was done at a camp especially organised at Government Senior Secondary School, Payal, today. A team of doctors, including Dr Avtar Singh, Dr V.P. Soni, Dr Ravi Bala, Dr Puneet Sandhu and Dr Prabhjot Kaur, identified these children and registered them according to their disability.

Mr Pardeep Bains, Tehsildar, and Mr Parminder Singh, Naib Tehsildar, issued income certificates of these children on the spot. Various resource persons from the Education Department and patwaris were deployed for the purpose.

According to Mr Tejinder Singh Dhaliwal, SDM, Payal, “This was the last camp to be organised here in Doraha block. Similar camps have already been conducted at Dehlon and Khanna blocks. Parents, whose income is less than Rs 6,500 per month and whose children are mentally or physically challenged, are provided with helping aids so that they may be assisted and they become self-dependent to some extent. Last year too such a camp was organised and helping aids were provided free of cost to such children”. 

Annual function at college
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, February 25
The SCD Government College organised its annual prize distribution function here today. At least 400 students were honoured for outstanding performances in different fields.

Thirtyfive students were given the roll of honour. Fifty students were awarded for performances in cultural events.

A total of 174 postgraduate and 150 undergraduate students were awarded.

The Principal, Dr D.S. Gill, read out the annual report.

Mr Jasjit Singh Randhawa, Cooperative Minister, in his address, stressed on value education and core competence.

From Colleges
Crescendo begins
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, February 25
At least 500 students of 20 colleges from Punjab participated in cultural, literary and fine arts events on the opening day of Crescendo at the GGN Institute of Management and Technology here today.

The events included solo singing, corporate quiz, mock press conference, ‘rangoli’ and sketching. Giddha and bhangra were also performed.

Information technology students demonstrated their software skills in debugging and system analysis and design.

Extension lecture: An extension lecture for students of functional English was organised by the English Department of the Government College for Women here on Saturday.

Ms Poonam Bindra spoke on ‘How to conduct an interview’ and ‘The art of compering’.

She made the lecture interactive by taking up a few exercises with the students.

Conclave organised: The Ludhiana Management Association, in collaboration with the Indian Society for Technical Education, organised the Peter F. Drucker Conclave to spread management education here on Friday.

Presentations were given by five MBA students. At least 200 MBA students from management institutes attended the conclave.

Ehsaas on March 31: The Punjab College of Technical Education will organise Ehsaas, its literary-cum-cultural festival, on March 31.

Teams from Pakistan and Bangladesh are expected to participate in the festival.

From Schools
Exhibition on biodiversity 
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, February 25
A science exhibition on biodiversity was organised at the BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School, Shastri Nagar, here today. The Principal, Ms Paramjit Kaur, inaugurated the exhibition and highlighted the need to save biodiversity.

The exhibition was divided into various sections like beauty of leaves, flower magic, seed rangoli, PH scale, food chain, food web and food pyramid.

The students presented their ideas through charts, models and scrap books.

Get-together: The Baba Isher Singh Senior Secondary School organised a get-together of parents and children, in which birthdays of tiny tots falling between October and March were celebrated, here on Saturday.

At least 200 parents and 100 children attended the function. The tiny tots presented a cultural programme.

Gifts were given to students. Games like musical chairs and ball in the tub were held for parents.

HEALTH

“Don’t confuse human influenza with bird flu”
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, February 25
It is important not to confuse human cases of avian influenza with the cases of human influenza. The exact mode of transmission from birds to humans is not known, but most human cases of avian flu have been traced to direct contact with live infected birds or their droppings.

This was stated by Dr G.P.I Singh, Professor and Head, Department of Community Medicine, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, during a seminar on bird flu held at the hospital auditorium yesterday. The seminar was held under the chairmanship of Dr Daljit Singh, Principal, DMCH.

Dr G.P.I. Singh highlighted the global and national strategy with special references to current status of national preparedness to handle the perceived threat of avian influenza in India.

Dr Sandeep Puri, Medical Superintendent and Head of the Department of Medicine, discussed the facilities available at DMCH to handle the case of avian influenza. He said the symptoms of bird flu could resemble to those of human influenza, including fever, cough, aching muscles and a sore throat.

To limit potential risks, he advised that poultry and eggs should be thoroughly cooked to kill any possible viruses or bacteria. Proper safe food handling practices such as hand washing and keeping poultry and egg products separate from other food products to avoid cross contamination should be followed.

Dr Daljit Singh said, “There is no need to panic, since well-coordinated national response is apparently ensuring proper veterinary public health measures to contain the infection within the zone of occurrence in Maharashtra and Gujarat. There have been no confirmed human cases so far in India and enough expertise exists to handle the threat”.

Dr Gagan Sharma, Dr Ramnika Aggarwal, Dr Veenu Gupta, Dr Sandeep Chabbra and Dr Vipin Kumar were among others who spoke on the occasion.

CMCH doctor Member of British Empire
Shivani Bhakoo

Ludhiana, February 25
Dr Reg Britt, a visiting consultant hematologist from UK at Christian Medical College and Hospital here, has recently been honoured by Queen Elizabeth with the honour of Member of British Empire (MBE) for his pioneering charitable work for the people of Punjab at CMCH. Dr Brit has been visiting CMCH since 1976 for various periods ranging from few weeks to few months.

He has spent his time at CMCH by helping out in research activities, assisting in provision of laboratory equipment, setting up links for some sophisticated blood tests in London and Oxford, introducing new tests at CMCH and bringing equipment and reagents from UK. Dr Britt retired as consultant hematologist at the Hamilton Hospital near London in 1993 and since then he has been visiting CMCH at least twice a year for few weeks.

During the dengue epidemic in Punjab, when many patients were admitted to CMCH, Dr Britt was actively involved in starting new confirmatory blood tests and also helping out in the management of sick patients with bleeding disorders. In the year 2000, Dr Britt was invited by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to initiate a research project at CMCH on Thalassemia.

Dr Britt also initiated a simple, inexpensive finger-prick method for investigating Hemoglobin levels. Known as the WHO Color scale, blood on a strip of absorbent paper was matched against a series of colour to obtain the result. The equipment was not expensive and the test needed no great technical skill. It was first used in the Community Health Department of CMCH and subsequently at St Stephen’s Hospital, Delhi. This method was now used extensively in many parts of the world.

Nutritious diet ‘helps’ fight allergies
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 25
Dr R.K. Chandra gave a talk on nutrition, immunity and health at Punjab Agricultural University here yesterday. He is the president of the Nutritional Immunology and Allergy Centre, Gurgaon.

To develop a proper immune system, nutritional supplements play an important role and help in the prevention of food allergies and allergic diseases. Therefore, nutritious diet in all age groups is important and any deficiency can lead to infections, including heart diseases and cataract.

Among the common allergens are milk, eggs, nuts and fish. However, dietary precautions can prevent allergy infections.

Dr Chandra cautioned that diet and nutritional supplements or multi-nutrients must be taken with care in prescribed doses so as to minimise side effects. In fact, the benefits of this supplementary “diet,” particularly in children, has been found to cut by half various infections in them. The talk was organised by the PAU Science Club and was presided over by the Vice-Chancellor, Dr K.S. Aulakh, who also presented a memento to the guest speaker.

221 polio booths set up
Our Correspondent

Sahnewal, February 25
A total of 221 polio booths have been set up and 43 supervisors deployed for Sahnewal block covering a population of more than five lakh persons. Dr S.S. Dhir, SMO, Sahnewal, informed this correspondent that other than booths, 10 mobile teams had been set up to cover the scattered areas and isolated pockets.

Dr Dhir said in order to achieve the target of administering polio drops to each and every child in Sahnewal block tomorrow, many measures had been taken, which included awareness of public by social interaction of field staff at the grass-roots level, advertisement through banners and posters, use of loudspeakers, providing information through religious places, etc.

“We are receiving the assistance of government departments as well as the general public. Teams from Satguru Institute of Nursing, Kapoor Hospital, Sidhu Hospital and Oswal Hospital are assisting us in achieving our target. The students and buses provided by them are of much help to accomplish our goal,” Dr Dhir said.

SPORTS

Sandeep best athlete
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, February 25
Sandeep Kaur, a student of M. Ed, won three titles in the annual athletics meet of the Malwa Central College of Education for Women, Civil Lines, here today. Sandeep secured the first position in 100m, 200m and 400m races and was adjudged the best athlete.

Ms Surinder Kaur Gill, former Principal of the college, declared the meet open while Mr Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, MP from Ludhiana, was the chief guest during the prize distribution function. Members of the Khalsa Dewan, Ludhiana, along with members of the Panjab University Senate were also present on the occasion.

The following were the winners in this one-day meet: 100m-Sandeep Kaur; 200m-Sandeep Kaur; 400m-Sandeep Kaur; 800m-Gurpreet Kaur; 50m chatti race-Harjit Kaur; 50m rope skipping race-Gurpreet Kaur; 50m spoon potato race-Gurmeet Kaur; 50m-Sunita; 100m obstacle race-Kamaldeep Kaur; 4x50 m relay race-Gurpreet Kaur, Sunita, Harjit Kaur and Sandeep Kaur; shot put-Nirvair Kaur; javelin throw-Harminder Kaur; discus throw-Nirvair Kaur; long jump-Harminder Kaur; high jump-Kulveer Kaur and three-legged race-Kavita and Parminder Kaur.