Jalandhar, December 27
After eluding patients for six months, the CT scan machine at the local Civil Hospital was finally made available to patients here today after a gap of six months.

At the hospital since June, Health and Family Welfare Minister Madan Mohan Mittal finally inaugurated the machine, bringing cheer to thousands of poor patients who will now be getting the CT scan service at subsidiSed government rates.

The first CT Scan machine at any of the Punjab Government hospitals in the state, the machine, set up at a cost of Rs 5 crore, is a 64-slice Ct Scan armed with supportive equipment like transport ventilator, anaesthesia machine, multi para patient monitor, furniture and turnkey works (like civil electrical and air conditioning).

That it is a 64-slice machine is important in the light of the fact that only a few CT Scan machines of 64 slice or above are installed in the whole state, including the private sector.

A majority of the CT scan machines in the private sector or medical colleges are also of lower specifications - 4 slice or 16 slice only.

The machine will benefit patients not just at the local Civil Hospital, but also patients from nearby government centres.

While the machine will be easier on patients’ pockets (compared to private rates), it will also facilitate a quicker and risk-free diagnosis for patients, who had earlier to be moved to private hospitals even in emergent situations.

Staff woes

The Health and Family Welfare Minister, when asked about the deputation of more staff now that the machine is (formally) going to be functional, responded that the hospital had already been provided with enough staff to take care of the scans.

The ground reality, however, is a bit different. Presently, the hospital has two persons on deputation and one permanent radiologist to conduct scans on the three machines - one ultrasound, one X-ray and another CT scan.

The two people on deputation come for three days (each) per week. Insiders, however, said that at least three permanent radiologists were required to handle the total number of scans at the hospital per day.

An average of 60 to 70 ultrasounds, 100 to 135 X-rays and four to five CT scans (based on the trial period patient inflow) have been taking place at the hospital per day.

Sources said while at least two people were required to carry out the scans, another person is required to handle the medico-legal cases each day and with the current strength of radiologists, the staff was certainly overworked.

No neurosurgeon

Since the Civil Hospital currently has no neurosurgeon, apprehensions are also being expressed that even when patients with grievous head injuries find their way to the hospital, they will ultimately have to be referred to private hospitals since even as the CT scan machine is now there, the hospital presently has no expert to offer a correct diagnosis in such cases.

Meanwhile, answering to queries on the issue that his party men had recently been labelled "weak" by the opposition, Mittal said, "Our party is strong and competent to steer the state towards development."

When asked whether he was planning any action regarding the recent assembly scuffle wherein he fell when he tried to intervene between the Congress and SAD legislators during the assembly session, he said, "I am going to file a complaint with the speaker of the Vidhan Sabha on the issue."

While Mittal was here to inaugurate the CT scan machine months after it arrived at the Civil Hospital, his previous visit (on December 13) was cancelled due to the day being declared a public holiday.

At the hospital since June, the machine had been formally inaugurated in October.

Notably, it will be the first machine to be inaugurated in any of the Punjab government hospitals under the Department of Health and Family Welfare.

The state-of-the art machine was set up with a cost of Rs 5 crore.

Thousands of patients who had to shell out money for scans from private hospitals will be greatly benefited by the newly inaugurated machine at the hospital.

When asked whether he was mulling any more CT scan machines in other hospitals in the state, the minister said, "Let the people enjoy this one first, the rest will come as and when we get more money."

The minister also inaugurated the newly constructed building of the community health centre at PAP in Jalandhar which, too, had come up at a cost of Rs 5 crore.

When asked what steps the government was taking to deal with the startlingly high number of cancer cases in the state, not just in Malwa but the Doaba region too, the minister brushed aside the issue, saying the government would think of it only when the surveys were completed.

Notably, In Jalandhar district alone, so far, as per the 82 per cent survey results completed so far, there are 1,713 confirmed cancer patients in the district.

As many as 3,091 patients have died of the disease in the past five years and 7,737 patients are suspected to be suffering from cancer as per the 12 symptoms of cancer. 

Jalandhar, December 27
Allegedly duped by a local youth after a long affair, a Malsiyan-based woman has been running from pillar to post for justice.

The agony of the woman, who is in her early 30's and is a mother of a girl, is that she was desecrated by her NRI husband when she gave birth to a baby girl. Prior to that she had sought a divorce from her first husband and then re-married to Balwinder Singh of Kala Sanghia village.

Narrating the sequence of his woes, Jaswinder Kaur, who was accompanying her seven-year-old daughter, lamented that misfortunes continued to hunt her as she was first married to a physically unfit man and then to an elderly man, who was almost 25 years elder to her.

Despite the age gap, she was abandoned by her NRI husband, just months after their marriage, she alleged. Following this, even her parents also started maintaining distance from her and virtually left on the mercy of her fortunes, claimed Kaur.

"To earn my livelihood, I started working with a call centre at Jalandhar and came in contact with an employee of the company, who belongs to Nakodar," she claimed in a complaint to the Jalandhar (Rural) Police.

"After promising me that he would marry her, the man sexually assaulted me for a long time and finally refused. I even met his parents many times but to no avail," she claimed.

She alleged that the police has been trying to hush-up the case and favouring the suspect and his family members. She has also expressed displeasure on the way by which a woman police officer, who is investigating the case, has been forcing her to settle the issue.

Earlier, she had filed a complaint to the SSP, who subsequently marked an inquiry to the DSP, Shahkot. The victim had even tried to meet Punjab DGP, Sumedh Singh Saini, on November 26, but the police kept her at a bay.

The victim has threatened to lodge her protest before the office of the Inspector General of Police office from January 2 onwards if the accused was not brought to books. 

Kapurthala, December 27
Congress workers, led by Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjit Singh, carried out a protest march in the city on Thursday against imposition of property tax on the citizens by Parkash Singh Badal-led SAD-BJP government.

A number of workers gathered at Ekta Bhawan in Kapurthala and went towards the Municipal Council office, located at Shalamar Bagh and marched through various areas of the city, including the Mall Road. They raised slogans against imposition of property tax.

Later, the Congress workers staged a dharna against the imposition of property tax. The Congress organised the dharna as the local government deputy director had come to the city to take feedback from the councillors regarding the property tax on Thursday.

Addressing the protesters, Rana Gurjit Singh said Badal government was putting an extra burden even on the poor, the Dalit and underprivileged with imposing property tax on all the citizens. Instead of imposing property tax on the underprivileged, the MC authorities should take solid steps to recover the existing taxes from the haves of the city.

Congress district vice-president Kulwant Bhandari and its block president Manoj Bhasin were also present on this occasion. They demanded that the property tax should be withdrawn in the interest of the underprivileged. 

Kapurthala, December 27
A two-day national training programme was organised at Sardar Swaran Singh National Institute of Renewable Energy, Kapurthala, on the theme 'Production of bio-fuels from non-edible vegetable oils-processes and fundamental characterisation'.

To set up small scale liquid bio-fuels processing unit for rural applications and to develop competent human resources and researchers in the field of liquid bio-fuel, the training programme was organised.

Organising secretary and course coordinator Dr AK Sharma (Senior Scientist) informed that faculties and research scholars from various institutions and Universities of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand attended the training session.

A few among them includes Dr Sunil Mittal (Central University Punjab, Bathinda), Dr Harminder Singh (Lovely professional University, Phagwara), Dr Jitender Malik (NC and SD Group of institution -Israna, Panipat), Vivek Prakash Pankaj (NIT, Hamirpur).

Hoshiarpur, December 27
Hundreds of residents participated in a sit in organised by the Congress at Chagran village against shooting incident involving a young married woman and ‘deteriorating’ law and order situation in Punjab.

Kamaljit Kaur, hailing from Chagran village of Hoshiarpur district and married in New Delhi, was shot at and injured by a masked unidientified person on Monday night when she went out to nearby fields to answer nature’s call alongwith her mother.

The protest was led by senior Congress leader Dr Raj Kumar. The interesting part of the protest was that protesters played a flute in front of a buffalo in an effort to highlight the state government’s alleged indifference towards what they termed as “growing lawlessness” in Punjab. They raised slogans and displayed placards to highlight the issue.

Dr Raj Kumar, a protester, alleged that Dalits and common people were being subjected to atrocities in various places in the state. “A series of atrocities, including the murder of ASI in Amritsar, assault of SPO Assistant Inspector General (SS Mand), the rape of teenager girl in Ferozepur, another episode of shooting of a Dalit married girl in Chagran village has made it clear that Punjab has become a crime and victimisation state. Life and honour of people is no longer safe in Punjab,” rued Dr Raj Kumar.

Jalandhar, December 27
As many as 35 youngsters participated in the percussion and non-percussion (senior) categories during the third and final day of the Harivallabh Pratiyogita in Jalandhar today.

As many as 25 participants performed during the percussion contests.

Surjit Singh (tabla, teen taal) of Ludhiana stood first, Kalyan Vaid (teen taal) of Chandigarh stood second and Surtaal Singh of Jalandhar stood third during the percussion contest.

B. Manohar of Delhi (Mridnagam, Adi Taal) was given the special prize in the contest.

In the non-percussion category, 10 students participated.

Tausheen (Santoor, Raag Charukeshi) stood first, Avtaar Kaur (Sitar, Raag Jhinjhoti) stood second and Isher Singh (Taar Shehnai, Raag Madhuwanti) stood third in the non-percussion category. Al three are from Jalandhar.

A special performance in the non-percussion category stood out for its simplicity and dedication.

Harivansh Singh who presented Raag Des on violin and was accompanied by Samuel Vassi on the tabla stole hearts at the pratoyogita. While both of them are students of the Andh Vidyalaya, Amritsar, their spirit of love for music was lauded by one and all at the festival.