Bathinda, May 12
The Bhai Mani Singh Civil Hospital in Bathinda is in urgent need of attention and patients coming here for a check-up are affected by the inadequacies plaguing the institution.

A visit to the OPD block of the Civil Hospital on Monday revealed that care for the patients is inadequate as they were seen waiting for the doctors outside their cabin since morning. When asked if the doctor was on leave, the patients said they had no information and they were only waiting with the hope that the doctor would be arriving shortly.

Baljit Singh, a patient, said the government claims that it is providing better health services to the people, but there are no doctors and machines are lying defunct. This can't be called better facilities, he pointed out.

Sanjiv Kumar, who had come for the treatment of an orthopaedic ailment, said they have been waiting since morning for a doctor and now after a wait for more than three hours, they have come to know that the doctor is on leave.

Even the ultrasound and mammography machines at the hospital have been lying defunct due to the non-availability of any radiologist or a specialist doctor. This is pinching the pockets of the patients hard as charges for the ultrasound and mammography tests at the Civil Hospital are nominal, at Rs 250. With the machines lying non-functional, patient get these tests conducted at private hospitals which charge around Rs 2,000-Rs 5,000.

Adding to the worries of the patients is the fact that there are no proper seating facilities for the patients and a large number of them can be seen sitting on the floor outside the doctor's cabin waiting for their turn. The water cooler installed on the first floor is not working due to which cold drinking water is being provided to the patients by an NGO.

It was also seen that on the first floor, all the fans were running without somebody operating them, but outside the dental OPD where patients were sitting, the fan was not working.

Patients coming to the Bathinda Civil Hospital are facing the heat even from the parking contractors, as the Health Department has given the parking lot on contract and the contractor is charging a high amount from the vehicle owners for parking their vehicles on the premises.

It is surprising to see patients being charged a nominal fee of Rs 5 for the medical facility at the out-patient department (OPD), whereas the vehicle owners have to pay Rs 5 for parking a two-wheeler and Rs 10 for parking a car inside the premises.

Patients blamed the officials of the Health Department for pinching the pocket of the common man. According to them, they come here for receiving treatment at a nominal fee but if hidden costs like parking fee are charged at the Civil Hospital like at private hospitals, they take healthcare away from the common man.

It has become a hurdle for the ambulances as parking contractors have laid barricades at the entrance of the Civil Hospital. During an emergency, even a delay by a minute can prove to be critical for the patients as they have to wait for the contractor to open the barricades.

The complaint box which was installed at the OPD by Member of Parliament Harsimrat Kaur Badal has been installed just behind the entrance, due to which the patients hardly see it.

Senior Medical Officer (SMO) Satish Goyal said they are facing a problem in finding a radiologist for the ultrasound and mammography machines as they are highly paid for in private hospitals. He also stated that even doctors do not want to get involved in court cases as in a government hospital, sometimes the officials end up becoming a witness in the cases.

Bathinda, May 12
Residents of Bathinda and its surrounding areas got a respite from the harsh sun after the skies opened up and drenched the city post noon. As per the agri-met department of the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) regional station, Bathinda, the city received 5.2 mm of rainfall today.

The rain also brought down the temperature of the region. While on Sunday, the maximum temperature was recorded at 38.2 degree Celsius, it tumbled to 22.2 degree Celsius on Monday. The minimum temperature, however, rose from 19.6 degree Celsius recorded on Sunday to 22.2 recorded on Monday.

If the forecast of the weather room is to be believed, the region is poised to experience similar pleasant weather for at least two more days. As per the prediction, the region may receive light showers and experience a cloud cover over the next two days as well.

As per the forecast released by the Indian Meteorological Department for the next six days, while the maximum temperature will hover around 36 degree Celsius, the minimum will remain around 22 degree Celsius. The forecast also assured the residents of pleasant days ahead as it would experience a mainly cloudy sky with thundery development followed by light rain.

Commuters were taken by surprise as the rain, which began as a drizzle developed into a downpour. Although the rain stopped by 3 pm, the weather remained pleasant after that as well.

As per the weather room, the development may have been caused by the south-western disturbance which affects parts of North India every four-five years. The weather experts also stated that after a short spell of pleasant weather, the sun will be back and will beat down hard till the end of June when the monsoon traditionally sets in the region.

Amritsar, May 12
The nursing association organised a function at the Government Medical College (GMC) here today to celebrate the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, the founder of the modern nursing. The function was presided over by the GMC principal, Dr Santokh Singh.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Santokh said, “Nursing is a noble profession. Nurses should continue to serve humanity with zeal.” Raj Bedi Anand, president of the Nursing Association, said the reason behind the naming of most hospitals as nursing homes indicated the service rendered by nurses.

She said in the government and private hospitals, nurses played a more important role in curing a patient. She encouraged the nursing community to keep up the good work despite hardships.

Government College of Nursing also organised a function to celebrate the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale. College principal Kamaljit Kaur said a poster-making competition was held on the occasion.

College students also presented a cultural programme to celebrate the occasion. Dr Kamaljit educated students about the role of nurses in the modern day medical field.

A seminar was organised at Khalsa College of Nursing in which the experts highlighted the challenges confronting the service-oriented nursing profession. They said nursing was a noble profession and with the help of the new innovations and technology, the same could be further patient-oriented for better health and care.

Dr Kawaljit Kaur Gill and Dr Balwinder Singh read papers and emphasised how pressure had been building on nurses as professionals and how they should cope with it. They said in the coming days, there would be more challenges as the demand for better health and patient care was rising.

Bathinda, May 12
There has been no respite from the power cuts in the city, as a four-hour-long power cut in various parts of the city was witnessed on Monday.

Power cuts in the city have started affecting the day-to-day lives of the people and the most affected were children and elders.

The city has been continuously facing power cuts since May 1 due to maintenance work on the power lines and tripping of units at both the Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant and the Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant, due to which production of electricity has totally stopped at these two units and this had worsened the power condition in the city.

Gurkirat Singh said power cuts have affected their business hard as for the last 10 days, four to five hours of power cut had led them to use generator for work and with less margin these days, it is not possible to earn using a generator.

Rajni Gupta, a housewife, said the schedule of their household work like washing clothes and others has been disturbed due to unannounced power cuts.

Robin Jindal, a college student, said exams are round the corner and the power cuts have totally changed his study schedule.

Unit No. 3 of the Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant at Lehra Mohabbat was restarted after the repair at 5 pm in the evening. Officials are planning to start another one unit also late at night once unit No. 3 becomes fully functional. This unit has been started to overcome the power problem in the city. It is expected that the starting of the two units will bring respite to the residents.

Meanwhile, SK Puri, Chief Engineer, said with the starting of the two units, it is expected that the worsen condition of power will become better.

Jalandhar, May 12
A girl allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan at her residence in Gajipur Mohala in Adampur this morning.

She reportedly took the extreme step as she had scored poor marks in the class XII Board exams, the result of which was declared last evening.

The deceased was identified as Ravina (17), a student of Government Senior Secondary School in Hoshiarpur. Her father Vidya Sagar is a tea vendor. The girl was alone at home when she took the extreme step. The girl's body has been sent for postmortem. No suicide note has been recovered and further investigation is on.

Ravina’s uncle Paramjit Singh, who is in the Punjab Police, said after the result of the class XII Board exam was out last evening, she was initially very excited. After she checked her marks on the Internet, she suddenly went into depression. Even the way she told her parents that she couldn't score well in the exams was giving the impression that she was under depression, Singh added.

Even the girl’s mother also called up her father and told him that Ravina was feeling dejected due to poor marks. Ravina had also told her parents that she scored below 50 per cent marks against her expectations.

“Our daughter was a very bright student and she had high goals in life. In the matriculation exam, she had scored over 87 per cent marks. She used to tell us that she would do MBBS and become a good doctor one day. Her suicide is a shock for us. She was a very jolly girl and we couldn't expect that she would take the extreme step,” the grieving family members of the girl said.

Raguvir Singh, assistant sub-inspector, Adampur police station, said the police had thoroughly searched the girl’s room where she hanged herself, but they couldn't recover any suicide note.

Bathinda, May 12
A youth’s body was found on the rail track under mysterious circumstances. The deceased was been identified as Ankush, a resident of Kothrala village in Malerkotla district.

Jalandhar, May 12
The staff at Civil Hospital, Kapurthala, remained on strike for four hours this morning, demanding the arrest of the persons who attacked a staff nurse and a peon on May 4.

All 25 doctors and about 200 paramedical staff members refused to perform their duties at 8 am as the hospital opened its OPD for the day. They all sat on a dharna in front of the hospital building. The representatives of various associations, including the PCMS Association and the Pharmacists Association, offered to give support to the protesters for the cause.

As this happened, the patients who had come from far and near kept on waiting for the doctors to attend to them, but to no avail. The agitating staff refused to get back to work. Finally after four hours, Civil Surgeon Dr Balvir Singh and DSP Headquarters, Kapurthala, Gurmail Kaur managed to convince the protesters to lift their dharna.

The staff said they had been assured that the arrests would be made this evening. The staff is also seeking some financial aid for Balwinder Sharma, the peon, whose both hands are injured and is recuperating at his home in Sheikhan Mohalla.

The staff lifted the dharna around noon and said in case no effort was made by tomorrow morning, they would again resume their protest.

Civil Surgeon Dr Balvir Singh said he had discussed the matter with the Deputy Commissioner and SSP Kapurthala, apprising them of the demand of the staff. Over the demand to step up security, he said, “We earlier had five policemen in the compound on day and night shifts, but now we have been promised that five cops would stand guard all the time. The management of cops has been handed over to a psychiatrist at the de-addiction centre, which was the target on the day.

It was on May 4 when staff nurse Sarabjit Kaur and peon Baljinder Sharma at the hospital were attacked with sharp-edged weapons by two youths, badly injuring them while they were on duty giving daily dosage to the 186 addicts registered under a programme of the United Nations on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) at Navjeevan Drug De-addiction Centre in the hospital.

The hospital is running a pilot project on imparting Methadone Maintenance Therapy wherein addicts are required to visit the hospital for 365 days consecutively and take the dosage in front of the staff.

The peon has suffered sharp injuries on both his hands and has even undergone surgeries for the same. The nurse too sustained some blunt injuries and has not gone back to duty. While an FIR has been lodged in the matter under Sections 307, 323, 324, 380, 353, 186 and 34 of the IPC at the Kapurthala city police station against the youth Deepu Kara and Sunil alias Neelu of Shergarh locality (identified on the basis of Platina bike they came on), no arrest has been made so far. 

Bathinda, May 12
The State Bank of Patiala today held a meeting with Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Sonali Giri in relation to its Rural Self- Employment Training Institute (RSETI) that is being run by the bank and aims to make the unskilled and unemployed youth self-reliant.

During the meeting, the officials shared detailed information regarding the camps held for the youth belonging to the BPL category in 2013. They also announced their future plan of action and camps to be held in 2014.

Director of the institute, DD Sharma, accompanied by the assistant director MM Behl, said in 2013, as many as 16 camps were held wherein 519 unemployed young girls were trained.

They said all of them were now self-reliant and leading a financially secure life.

They added that these girls were also engaged in encouraging others girls to undergo training from RSETI.

They said the institute had planned to train 750 unemployed youth in 2014-15.

Appreciating the institute and its efforts, the ADC assured the officials of all possible help from the administration.

SBoP chief manager RK Seth, director of AIR, Bathinda, Rajiv Arora and several other officials were also present at the meeting.

Amritsar, May 12
A five-day Pakistani trade expo, an exhibition to sell merchandise of the neighbouring country, concluded here today. People from the two nations expressed their love and affection for each other on the occasion.

“The aim of forging better people to people relations, culminating into B2B trade relations between the two nations through these expos seems fulfilled satisfactorily,” said Dalip Sharma, director, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, adding that, “you can see the nationals of both the countries mingling with each other, sharing the common rich cultural heritage, language, besides dresses. Visitors in large numbers are thronging the Pakistani stalls and buying products.”

The cultural programmes during the five-day event, including performances by noted Pak Sufi singers Arif Lohar and Malkoo, did strike a chord with people asking for more, said Sharma.

More than 60,000 people visited the exhibition during the five days, which shows the overall response to the fair was satisfactory.

The Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry called on the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry to organise such events in Pakistan as well, where people from India could visit Pakistan and a people to people bond could be established on their side as well. This will not only boost trade and commerce, but also make people on their side more and more receptive to their Indian counterparts and create a conducive environment for acceptance of each other.

Exhibitors and officials from Pakistan were optimistic that the new governments, both in India and Pakistan, will be able to plan and organise things for better bilateral trade environment.

They seemed visibly happy with the response their products received from the local populace. Khrsheed Barlas, CEO, Pak World Trade and Expo Centre, said, “Next time, there shall be more additions to products and variety. Credit goes to exhibitions and expos as these will help build confidence in the long run. Bilateral trade is perhaps the only such thing, which can pave the way to a peaceful and harmonious co-existence of the allies.”

Another trader, Shahnaaz, from Lahore, said, “The five-day event is like a bridge between the two Punjabs. During our stay here, we failed to realise even once that we are in India. The culture, food, language, and even accent are so similar that we did not even once feel out of place.”

Today being the last day of the expo, people thronged the Trillium Mall since early morning. Sharma appreciated and thanked the city residents for making the maiden expo successful.

“The potential gains from the increased bilateral co- operation between India and Pakistan are immense. Relaxed issuing of visas, rupee trade and lesser complications in customs procedures may well enhance the scope for the trade,” added Sharma.

India has developed high competitiveness in the service sector. Other areas with potential for cooperation between the two nations in the near future can be petroleum products, iron and steel, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, automobiles, heavy industries and electricity. 

Bathinda, May 12
Nearly 125 members of the PRTC Workers Union (Azad) halted work as they staged a dharna inside the bus stand here today.

They said the dharna was aimed at making the PRTC authorities listen to their demands.

Talking to Bathinda Tribune, president of the union Bhola Singh accused duty inspector (DI) Gurcharan Singh of high-handedness and alleged that he sent an ailing driver, Baljinder Singh, who had been declared medically unfit, to Talwandi Sabo.

“Doctors have declared Baljinder medically unfit to drive buses, yet the DI sent him to Talwandi Sabo. On his way back, the driver fell ill and the co-driver had to drive the bus,” he said.

The union members also alleged that the DI asked for bribes from drivers to give them their favoured routes. They demanded his transfer out of the Bathinda bus stand.

Bhola Singh said the PRTC employees had not been paid salary for the month of April and not even the overtime dues for one month. They demanded that the PRTC should adopt the policy of releasing their salaries by the 10th of every month.

They also demanded that the staff-room for the PRTC drivers be given back to them as it was locked.

Refuting all allegations, DI Gurcharan Singh said the contractual employees had no work but to create nuisance.

“Baljinder didn’t submit any medical certificate proving that he was declared medically unfit for driving buses. Had he done so, we would have engaged him in some other work,” he said.

He added that the general manager of the PRTC at Bathinda had held a meeting with the permanent employees a few days ago and had asked them to apprise him of any problem that they faced, but none of the employees, including Baljinder, said anything.

Denying the charge that he demanded money from drivers in lieu of favoured routes, he challenged the protesters to go to the senior most official and complain against him. He said all the employees staging a dharna were recruited through outsourcing and they often indulged in such practices as they didn’t want to work.

Bathinda, May 12
Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka was a proud man yesterday when the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) declared results for the Class XII examinations.

A total of 57 students of the Government Senior Secondary School, Maluka, appeared for the examination. Not only did the school register 100 per cent results, all the students passed in first division.

Although no student from the school could make it to the merit list, nine students secured more than 90 per cent marks.

The Education Minister congratulated the students and the principal of the school, Jant Singh, and encouraged the students to continue working hard and bring laurels to the school.

He assured the students of providing them with more facilities in the future. 

Jalandhar, May 12
The Government Railway Police (GRP) has yet to nab any of the eight accused booked for abetting the suicide of a local industrialist.

Sources said all persons charged with abetment to suicide, have gone underground fearing arrest.

The police have been conducting repeated raids at their whereabouts since the registration of the case, but have failed to trace them.

SHO GRP, Jalandhar, Davinder, said the police had conducted several raids at the houses of the persons figured in the FIR, but nobody was found. It seemed that the accused have gone underground. "We have formed special teams who are searching every nook and corner to nab the accused," the SHO held.

The accused were identified as Yograj Puri, Neeraj Puri, Davinder, Naresh Sharda, Ramesh Sharda, Harish Verma, Sudesh Sharda and Rajesh Verma.

On May 7, the owner of a pipe-fitting factory, PN Metals, Chander Mohan Arora (56), had reportedly gone for a walk from his plush house at Kailash Nagar near the Sodal area. Two hours later, as the family was helplessly looking around for him, it received a call that he had jumped before a Ferozepur-bound train at the Sodal level crossing and died.

A suicide note had been left behind by the victim, which stated that he was into some property business and had given eight names in the suicide note, holding them responsible for not paying him dues in the business and causing him mental trauma.

Initially, the police were not registering any case against the persons mentioned in the suicide case on the pretext that the victim's family members were not cooperating in the inquiry. — TNS