B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Amritsar gets more from cancer fund
Faridkot, February 17
After many years of fear and tumult about the prevalence of cancer in southern Malwa region, the state has yet to undertake a comprehensive exercise to determine the exact number of patients. But the financial aid provided to the cancer patients under the CM’s Cancer Relief Fund in the last 20 months revealed that it is not only Malwa region but Majha and Doaba region of Punjab also that have a high number of cancer patients.

Ludhiana man breaks world record in hang-gliding
Bathinda, February 17
The ace trainer Naib Subedar Paramjeet Singh, who belongs to the village Sangatpura near Jagraon in Ludhiana, had no words to express his feelings today when he broke the 33 years old British world record in powered hang gliding by covering a distance of 380 kms between Sriganganagar and Sanderav near Jodhpur.


Naib Subedar Paramjeet Singh

Vasectomy allegedly done forcibly on five men
Moga, February 17
Few men of Machike village were allegedly forced to undergo vasectomy by the doctors on the pretext of medical check-up in the government hospital at Nihalsinghwala in the Moga district on Friday.

Women in Malwa facing threat of breast cancer: Study
Moga, February 17
Women in the Malwa belt of Punjab are facing the threat of breast cancer, if one were to go by the reports compiled by Roko Cancer, a UK-based organisation, which is conducting free mammography tests in collaboration with the NRIs and the health department of the state for the past few years.

Amritsar gets more from cancer fund
Balwant Garg
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, February 17
After many years of fear and tumult about the prevalence of cancer in southern Malwa region, the state has yet to undertake a comprehensive exercise to determine the exact number of patients. But the financial aid provided to the cancer patients under the CM’s Cancer Relief Fund in the last 20 months revealed that it is not only Malwa region but Majha and Doaba region of Punjab also that have a high number of cancer patients.

Under the CM’s Cancer Relief Fund, Punjab government has released Rs 20.17 crore to 1843 patients since July 2011. Amritsar district of Punjab has the maximum cancer patients, 267, who approached the state health department for financial assistance for cancer treatment and 226 of these patients have already got total financial assistance of Rs 2.84 crore, revealed the information provided by Department of Health and Family Welfare, Punjab.

With 216 total applicants, 199 cancer patients have been released Rs 2.11 crore in the last 20 months in Ludhiana.

Under the scheme, financial grant up to Rs 1.50 lakh is given to the patient on the recommendation of a district level committee which has deputy commissioner as itschairperson, civil surgeon as vice-chairperson. The other members of the committee are a medical specialist, a surgeon and a gynecologist.

While Bathinda, Muktsar, Faridkot and Mansa area of Punjab is known for high prevalence of cancer but the applications for financial assistance showed that 156 patients in Bathinda, 101 in Muktsar, 87 in Faridkot and 73 in Mansa districts approached for financial assistance. In Faridkot, only 43 patients have got total Rs 51 lakh assistance and the applications of 44 others patients are still waiting for approval.

In southern Malwa region, maximum number of cancer patients, 192, of Ferozepur district, applied for the financial help. In Sangrur, the number of such patients is 134.

But in Gurdaspur and Tarantarn, districts in Majha region, the number of such applicants are 183 and 127. Even in Doaba region, the number of patients in Hoshiarpur is 88, followed by 53 in Jalandhar.

While a total of 2050 cancer patients from all over the state have approached for the CM's cancer fund, 207 cases are still waiting for final approval but the exact number of cancer patients in Punjab is much higher.

Keeping in view the high cost of cancer treatment, while the financial assistance (maximum Rs 1.5 lakh) by the state government is meagr, the procedural bottlenecks to claim this relief also make it very difficult for the patients. So, most of the patients prefer not to go for this relief fund, said Bharat Saxena, brother of a cancer patient in Kotkapura.

Ludhiana man breaks world record in hang-gliding
SP Sharma
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, February 17
The ace trainer Naib Subedar Paramjeet Singh, who belongs to the village Sangatpura near Jagraon in Ludhiana, had no words to express his feelings today when he broke the 33 years old British world record in powered hang gliding by covering a distance of 380 kms between Sriganganagar and Sanderav near Jodhpur.

Paramjeet told the TNS over the telephone, “I have no words to describe my feelings for the achievement for which I was preparing for a long time.”

He broke the world record on the second day of the expedition this afternoon. The 700 kms expedition from Sriganganagar to Udaipur was flagged off yesterday.

Paramjeet Singh, who actually belongs to the 76 Field Regiment was presently posted as an instructor in the aeronautical wing in the Devlali based School of Artillery. He has an experience of 836 hours and 35 minutes of hang gliding during his 21 years stint there.

Colonel SD Goswami, spokesman of the defence ministry, said that he was proud that the Indian army has broken the world record in hang gliding. A British pilot Gerry Breen had on May 7, 1979 created the world record by gliding 325 kms from Wales to Norwich.

The three days first of its kind expedition has been organised by the Army Adventure Nodal Centre (AANC) and 10 soldiers are flying with powered harness hang gliders. These gliders are powered with 120 cc 15 HP motor and a carbon-graphite propeller attached to it. These harness give the glider pilot the ability to take off from any small clear patch of ground and cruise at a speed of up to 70 kmph for several hours depending on the wind direction, said Goswami.

Vasectomy allegedly done forcibly on five men
Kulwinder Sandhu/TNS

Moga, February 17
Few men of Machike village were allegedly forced to undergo vasectomy by the doctors on the pretext of medical check-up in the government hospital at Nihalsinghwala in the Moga district on Friday.

The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Amarjit Singh told The Tribune he would inquire into it. “I have got some information in this regard, which will definitely be inquired into and action will be taken accordingly,” he said.

There were reports that the health department has carried out a campaign in the Nihalsinghwala sub-division to carry out vasectomy on the directions of the state government for the past few days.

Yesterday, some men were allegedly taken into confidence by a male health worker at Machike village and taken to the hospital on a rented car at Nihalsinghwala today on the pretext of medical check-up but vasectomy was allegedly performed on them. These men were also lured of getting Rs 1100 each along with a Rs 2-lakh insurance cover, it was learnt. There were also reports that vasectomy was performed on an 80-year old man Jagir Singh son of Sham Singh along with four others.

A total of 11 persons were taken to the hospital on the pretext of carrying out their medical check-up but vasectomy was performed on five out of them while the remaining six managed to run away from the hospital after coming to know the truth.

A resident of the Machike village told The Tribune over the phone that the people of the village also protested against the health department and demanded from the district magistrate to order a magisterial probe into the incident.

Women in Malwa facing threat of breast cancer: Study
Kulwinder Sandhu/TNS

Moga, February 17
Women in the Malwa belt of Punjab are facing the threat of breast cancer, if one were to go by the reports compiled by Roko Cancer, a UK-based organisation, which is conducting free mammography tests in collaboration with the NRIs and the health department of the state for the past few years.

In the last couple of years, as many as 75 women have been found suffering from breast cancer in the Moga district, 145 in the Ferozepur district, 106 in the Faridkot district and 76 in the Muktsar district, besides, hundreds of suspected breast cancer cases.

In the whole of Punjab, Roko Cancer has organised as many as 700 cancer detection camps and checked about one lakh women, out of which, 16,000 tests of mammography have been conducted on women during the past five years. At least, 950 women have been found suffering from breast cancer with another 2000 suspected cases.

Revealing this to The Tribune, Kulwant Singh Dhaliwal, global ambassador of Roko Cancer, said there is a need to make concerted efforts to spread awareness about breast cancer in state.

"Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths among women in Punjab. The mortality rate can be reduced significantly if it is diagnosed in the preliminary stages using the latest diagnostic technology, which is available with us,” he said.

Dhaliwal said that excessive use of pesticides and change in the lifestyle are the main reasons for the high incidence of this disease in the Malwa belt.

He announced to hold a walk to create cancer awareness among the masses on coming March 8 on the eve of Women's Day at Chandigarh, besides holding a breast cancer detection camp.

"We will carry out the walk in association with the students/teachers of the local colleges and non-governmental organizations, which will begin from Sukhna Lake and culminate at Sector-17 where we will conduct mammography on women by bringing our mobile cancer detection buses,” he added.