Bathinda, February 3
Since the construction of the out-patient department (OPD) of the local Max Super Speciality Hospital, popularly known as cancer hospital, inaugurated by the ruling dispensation in the state, in August last year, over 660 cancer patients have been examined and administered treatment here so far. However, the radiation therapy was started at the hospital only on November 11 last.

According to information available, as many as 40 cancer patients have so far been treated with radiation therapy. Of them, treatment of 30 patients has already been completed while the radiation therapy on the remaining ten patients is still going on as each patient requires 25 to 30 sittings. All these patients were reportedly in the age-group of 40 to 70 years. These patients were suffering from various types of cancer, including cervix, prostate, brain tumour, carcinoma of the tongue and breast.

Out of the over 660 cancer patients, during the past several months, 240 were admitted to the hospital and discharged after the treatment by the hospital.

It may be mentioned here that the Bathinda-belt of the Malwa region is adversely affected by cancer. But in the absence of a specialised cancer treatment hospital at Bathinda, the patients from this belt earlier had no other alternative except to go for treatment to Chandigarh, Ludhiana or even Bikaner in Rajasthan.

Due to this, the people were demanding from the state government the setting up of a cancer hospital here, but the Badal Government adopted a middle path and signed an MoU with the Max authorities for setting up the super speciality hospital here. However, the number of cancer patients, receiving treatment at the Max hospital here, indicates that the patients have started preferring treatment at this hospital here.

At the hospital, a LINAC machine, that destroy cancer cells with radiation, has been installed at a cost of Rs 8 crore in a basement. The LINAC is the latest technology for radiotherapy to treat cancer patients. The machine started functioning on November 11 last while the brachytherapy machine will be installed in the last week of this month. Besides the radiation therapy facilities, the hospital has also been providing chemotherapy daycare facility for all types of tumours.

When contacted, Dr Rajesh Vashisht, senior consultant, radiation oncology, Max Hospital, Bathinda, said the hospital had all facilities for treatment required for the cancer patients. It had radiation oncology department, surgical department and medical department for the cancer patients.

Dr Vinay Kumar, senior consultant, radiation oncology, Max Hospital, Mohali, said, “Punjab tops in the cancer incidence rate in the northern region followed by Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.”

He said there were 70 to 80 per cent chances of cancer cure in the first and second stage but only 30 per cent patients visited the specialised hospitals in the first or second stage.

He said the causes of the cancer include smoking, high level presence of uranium in the drinking water and excessive use of chemical fertilizers.

It may be recalled that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s wife, Surinder Kaur, also lost her life to this disease last year besides the countless who are battling the scourge.

Bathinda, February 3
Struggling against contaminated water, fly ash, the side effects of age-old thermal plants and refinery, Malwa region is steadily registering an increase in the number of cancer cases being registered in the region. Yet a question remains, are the reports exaggerated or inversely, understated to keep the fear at bay? Can we trust the data that is offered to us on a platter?

“According to various studies, 8 lakh new cancer cases are expected to be reported in India every year and majority of these cases are related to tobacco use and hence, preventable. But we do not have any authentic data for the state of Punjab or the Malwa region,” said Dr GPI Singh, speaking at the panel discussion organised at the Central University of Punjab to mark the World Cancer Day.

“The data that is available to us is only implied data and is based on the figures that are available with various hospitals. Yet, this data does not give us a true picture of the extent of the spread of the disease in the area and is only indicative of it. The data that reaches us is what is collected under the National Cancer Registry Programme which collects hospital-base and population-based data,” he added.

Talking about what may be the possible causes of increasing cases of cancer in the region, he said, “Punjab is an agricultural belt and according to studies, 54 per cent of the total pesticides used in India are used in Punjab. There has also been an increase in the use of chemical fertilisers in the region which induce nitrates and nitrites in the human food chain. All the pesticides have been proven to be carcinogenic and metabolic and endocrine disruptors. Chlorination of drinking water is also known to cause cancer. There is a good reason for us to believe that all these reasons are causing a rise in cancer case in this region.”

Speaking about how although Depleted Uranium (DU), a heavy metal that emits very weak radiation, but is used in making of armour plates of military tanks, armour penetration bullets, rockets, missiles, landmines and bunker busters, can also be one of the causes of rise in cancer in the region, surgeon Dr Santokh Singh said, “Presence of (+-)500 micrograms of Depleted Uranium in our bodies is acceptable. But there is a reason for us to believe that the winds coming from the Middle East, where the amount of DU increased manifold after the wars, are bringing DU along with them and it is getting deposited in the soil. DU can forever affect the testis and ovaries, damage the genetic cells and in effect, cause the death of our future generations even before they are born. It is high time government conducted a study to quantify the amount of DU in Bathinda, Faridkot soil.”

Bathinda, February 3
Observing the World Cancer Day, which falls on February 4, the Central University of Punjab, organised a special lecture on 'Radiations in Health Care — Atoms for Peace' at its Bathinda campus on Friday.

During his lecture, Dr BR Mittal, professor and head, Department of Nuclear Medicine and PET, PGIMER, Chandigarh, dwelled upon how nuclear medicines help in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Quoting the Union for International Cancer Control report, he pointed out that 12.7 million people receive cancer diagnosis across the globe while 7.5 million die of the disease every year.

"We've heard of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and more recently of Fukushima and Mayapuri and know very well about how the radiation can harm us. But nuclear medicines and radio isotopes also help in early detection, diagnosis and treatment of cancer and various cancer-related therapies," he said, while talking about how Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography (PET-CT) helps in better detection of the malignant cells in the body than a simple CT scan.

The lecture was followed by a panel discussion on 'Prevention and treatment of cancer'. The panellists included Dr Daljit Singh (ophthalmologist), Dr Santokh Singh (surgeon), Dr Bhola Singh Sidhu (surgeon), Dr Navdeep Singh (oncologist), Dr GPI Singh (community medicine), Dr HS Bhalla (languages), Dr Paramjit Singh Raja (radiotherapist) and Dr Rajesh Vashisht (oncologist).

While Dr Santokh Singh talked about how the presence of higher quantity of depleted uranium in our bodies may affect us and cause cancer, Dr GPI Singh spoke of the possible causes behind the increase in cancer cases in Malwa region.

Dr Rajesh Vashisht spoke about the work that is being done at the Bathinda Max Super Speciality Hospital in the field of cancer.

Speaking about the advancements in the field of medicine, Dr Navdeep Singh said, "Major advancements have been made today. A patient of blood cancer, who would have survived for only two years in the year 1987, can now hope to have the disease fully cured.

The longevity of a breast cancer patient has increased from six months to 10 years. Medicine has made prostate cancer pain-free." He also requested the doctors and hospitals to administer the right dose of medicine to the cancer patients to ensure proper treatment.

Emphasising how local media and language can play a major role in making the general public aware about the causes, prevention and treatment of cancer, Dr HS Bhatia said it is for the local media to spread the awareness about not only the causes and treatment of the disease but also about the prognosis and diagnosis of the disease and also about how the spurious medicines are being circulated in the market.

Ophthalmologist Dr Daljit Singh stressed upon the role of alternative medicine in fighting the disease. He also pointed out that cancer has become an industry now and only 4-5 per cent of the patients are fully treated while only 14-15 per cent get temporary relief. If a cancer patient lives for five years, doctors think they've won against the disease. Talking about naturopathy, he spoke about role of Vitamins C and B 17 in fighting the disease.

Busting the popular myths, he said that the sun rays, popularly suspected to cause skin cancer, actually produce Vitamin D which curbs the growth of cancer. Instead, he said the various creams and lotions that are sold over the counter to protect one from the 'harmful' effects of the sun rays have chemicals that can cause cancer.

The panel discussion was followed by an interactive session with the audience during which the panellists answered the questions posed by the audience members.

Soon after, CUP vice-chancellor Prof Jai Rup Singh thanked and felicitated the speaker and the panellists at the end and Prof Paramjit Ramana, Dean, Students’ Welfare, proposed the vote of thanks. 

Bathinda, February 3
Lack of fuel due to paucity of funds in the police department has hampered the patrolling the traffic police and other departments.

Senior police functionaries cited over usage of police vehicles for VIP duties in 2011, the election year, as the reason behind the exhausted fuel supply.

Apart from heavy vehicles, all the nine patrolling motorbikes of the traffic department are lying non-functional for the last more than two months.

The petrol station at the Police Lines is dry for the last more than two months. Now, the policemen are at the mercy of private petrol pumps in the city. The petrol pump owners usually decline to provide fuel to the policemen as they are never sure when they would get the payment from the Punjab Government through the local Punjab Police officials.

While talking to TNS, a section of SHOs deployed in the city admitted that there was problem related to supply of fuel, adding that every police station was entitled to 250 litres of fuel a month and they get it from private petrol pumps in the city.

The SHOs said they get the fuel bills reimbursed from senior functionaries. The officials pointed out that the procedure of reimbursement was quite tedious and irritatingly slow.

A visit to the office of the traffic department and the petrol pump in the Police Lines revealed that the fuel has not been provided to the police vehicles for the last over two months.

Officials at the petrol pump said they were not authorised to give any information regarding the fuel supply, adding that DSP Kartar Singh should be approached. The officials admitted that they were not getting fuel supply for the past few months due to some technical reasons.

When contacted, DSP Kartar Singh, however, said there was no shortage of fuel supply. When apprised of the lack of fuel at the petrol station in the Police Lines, he said, "I am out of station at the moment and could comment on the issue once I come back."

Bathinda SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill could not be reached despite repeated attempts made to contact him on his cell phones.

Makhan Singh, a munshi at the office of traffic department in the Police Lines, admitted that all the nine motorbikes of the traffic department were lying useless. The GPS (Global Positioning System) installed on these bikes was already not functioning ever since it was installed and now, the bikes too have been rendered non-functional, the munshi said.

Another traffic policeman deployed in the city revealed that the traffic department owes more than Rs 1 lakh to private pump owners due to the dry petrol pump at the Police Lines.

The petrol pump owners in the city said the reason behind the dry petrol pump could be due to lack of funds.

“The oil companies never supply fuel on credit basis and they do not even accept cheques but only bank draft,” said the owner of a petrol pump in the city.

SP (headquarter) Gurmeet Singh admitted that the fuel supply to the petrol pump in the Police Lines had been stopped due to paucity of funds. He, however, added that the police officials had to manage with whatever resources provided to them by the state government.

Bathinda, February 3
The number of challans issued for violation of traffic rules, which reduced to a great extent during the election year-2011, has again gained momentum with a large number of challans being issued to the traffic violators in the city.

Traffic policemen said the election year was gone and they have intensified the drive to award challans to the traffic violators.

Traffic policemen awarding challans said they avoided issuing challan during the election year in view of the political pressure.

There is a wide gap in the figures of court challan awarded in the year 2010 and during the election year-2011. While 1035 violators were issued challan in January-2010, mere 95 challans were issued during the same period in 2011.

Violators are awarded fine in the court. They also paying fine on the spot. Similarly in February 2010, the total number of challans was 1016 which came down to mere 163 in February 2011. 1010 challans were issued in March 2010 and only 199 challans were issued in February-2011. In April 2010, 1011 challans were issued as compared to only 73 challans in same month next year. In May 2010, 1005 traffic rules violators were penalised.

There was a drastic fall in the revenue collected by the traffic department in the election year-2011 as compared to the year 2010.

Maximum revenue, Rs 2, 63,050 was collected in the month of October in 2010 while mere Rs 45,000 were collected in same month next year in 2011. Similar difference of revenue is witnessed in other months of year 2010 and 2011.

Traffic policemen were seen issuing challans today near the Fauji Chowk, most of them being issued for driving on the wrong side. Traffic policemen said the commuters were used to take wrong turn to cross the Fauji Chowk.

As many as 22 on-the-spot challans were issued and Rs 2,400 as fine were collected from the violators. Also, there were three court challans issued for flouting the traffic rules.

Sub-inspector Natha Singh, in-charge of Bathinda traffic police, while admitting leniency shown by the traffic police towards violators during the election year, said they were all geared up now. “We hardly listen to the violators and carry out our work without bothering much about the status or political connections of the violators,” he said.

No senior police official, including SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill, was available for their version.

Bathinda, February 3
The annual survey of the out-of-school children has begun. On the directives of the education department, under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA), all the children who are not studying in schools would be surveyed and their names tabulated.

Teachers from the primary and the senior secondary schools have been deputed for the job. The survey is being conducted from February 1 to 6.

The schools in rural areas have been assigned different villages, while those in the urban areas have been given different hamlets and 'bastis'. All the teachers in these schools have been entrusted the job of tabulating the data of the children. The teachers will conduct a door-to-door survey talking to people about their children and reasons for their not going to school.

An annual exercise, the survey has at times been mired in controversy over ambiguous data collected from certain places.

"This is because the teachers are laden with many other non-academic works. It is not an easy task to go from door to door. People being surveyed are illiterate and hostile towards education and the teachers. At many places, it becomes impossible for us to get data from them," said one of the teachers covering villages in the Nathana block.

The migratory population proves to be the biggest deterrent in this exercise. "The data collected plays a pivotal role in framing basic policies meant to benefit these children by streamlining them. For instance, these children are first taken at the alternative inclusive education (AIE) centres wherein they undergo bridge courses and then are admitted to government schools as per their age and IQ (intelligence quotient) level," said the officials at the district education department.

However, by the time policies are framed and funds released for a particular area, the migratory population changes its demographic profile. In the mean time, the funds received prove to be inadequate.

The figures also reflect the standard of education in the state and it is on its basis that the Centre releases funds under the SSA.

Bathinda, February 3
The city today got respite from severe chill to some extent on Friday as the minimum temperature touched the double-digit mark, for the first time in the recent past.

The 'real' spring though is seemingly yet to arrive in the region as the overcast sky is playing a spoilsport.

Overcast sky and light drizzle greeted the residents today in the morning and caused the mercury to continue its northward swing giving a much-needed breather to the residents from the cold wave.

Further, pleasant weather conditions continued to elude as the sun played hide and seek throughout the day.

After a long period, mercury crossed the double digit mark in the morning, recording 11 degree Celsius, as per the agri-met department of the Punjab Agriculture University, regional station, Bathinda.

The day's high was 19 degree Celsius, almost similar to yesterday.

Meanwhile, the news from the weather room emanated on Friday suggesting that the residents' wish to enjoy the spring is apparently not going to be fulfilled soon, at least in the next 48 hours as there is a possibility of light rain in the period.

As per the weather forecast, there is a possibility of light rain and thundershowers in isolated places in the region in the next 48 hours.

Hailstorms may also be witnessed in isolated places during the period, weathermen said, adding that the night temperature, however, is likely to increase due to the presence of clouds, bringing some respite from the chill.

Bathinda, February 3
The local Satguru Sri Ravidass Maha Sabha and the local Maha Shakti Bhalai Sangathan have urged the Prime Minister and the Union Railway Minister to run a direct special train from Bathinda to Banaras in Uttar Pradesh for six days on the occasion of birth anniversary of Guru Ravidass every year.

In a press note issue here today, Pawan Kumar and Mohinder Pal, an active member of the Satguru Sri Ravidass Maha Sabha and the president of Maha Shakti Bhalai Sangathan, respectively, said every year, thousands of followers of the Satguru went to Kashi (Banaras) to celebrate the birth anniversary of Satguru Ravidass from the Malwa belt.

They said due to no direct train from Bathinda to Banaras, the followers had to face various types of inconvenience during the journey.

So, the Union Railway Ministry should run a special train from Bathinda to Banaras for six days every year to protect the followers from facing difficulties, they added.

They also said that they had already been demanding a direct train from Bathinda to Banaras during the birth anniversary celebrations of Satguru Ravidass, but to no avail so far.

Meanwhile, a group of followers of Satguru Ravidass today departed from Bathinda for Banaras through train to celebrate the 635th birth anniversary at Kashi with religious fervour.

Bathinda, February 3
Guru Kashi University, Talwandi Sabo, organized a guest lecture on 'Winning strategies in corporate world' by experts. BS Dhaliwal presided over the programme.

The lecture was coordinated by TPO Amit Sachedeva. PRO of the university Sukhdevinder Kaurra welcomed the resource person and all the participants. Jayant Chakrabarti, Dean, IIPM, Chandigarh, and the other speakers gave tips to the students of final year engineering and MBA on developing leadership qualities, communication skills and team building etc.

Baljinder Kaur, HOD of the ECE department, delivered the vote of thanks.