The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

HEALTH

Lamenting less pay, PGI doctors see brain drain
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 13 — The Executive Committee of the Faculty Association of Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) at a meeting held today alleged that the Central Government's decision to turn down the Bakshi Committee recommendations on the pay scales of faculty members was contrary to the assurance given by it to the Delhi High Court earlier.

In a press note issued here today, the President of the association, Prof Sudha Suri, pointed out that the faculty of the PGI was disturbed by the unilateral declaration of the Central Government regarding the pay-scales which have been finalised without consulting the faculty. The pay-scales recommended by the Fifth Pay Commission have yet to be finalised by the faculty of PGI and AIIMS. The same had not been fixed earlier as these two autonomous bodies have been created by an Act of Parliament.

The note added that the revised pay-scales declared by the government on the basis of Fifth Pay Commission recommendations were much less than what Bakshi Committee had recommended for the faculty members of nation's two premier hospitals — the PGI and All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). This would result in financial loss of over Rs 10,000 in case of faculty members of the rank of professor and Rs 5,000 in case of junior faculty members. Important allowances pertaining to research and training such as non-practicing allowance and research pursuit allowance have been withdrawn. The major difference in the salary will however be on account of withdrawal of 15 per cent of the basic salary as training allowance and risk allowance. The heads of various departments would lose another Rs 1500. The starting pay of a professor as recommended by the Bakshi report is Rs 22,400 as against Rs 18,400 in case of Central Government health services.

Following an agitation by AIIMS faculty to press for the implementation of the Bakshi Committee recommendations, the Delhi High Court had in an interim order in March last year directed the government to pay them salaries as per the recommendations, pending a final decision after negotiations. Sources reveal that litigation is still pending and the Government of India, which is the respondent, is to appear before the court on January 17 to inform them about the outcome of these negotiations.

Senior doctors have reacted sharply to the government's decision.

Most of them revealed that many doctors have already resigned from the PGI and AIIMS to wok in the private sector for better pay packages. A few doctors who had decided to stay back after the Bakshi Committee recommendations were implemented following the Delhi High Court directive will once again move abroad or to the private sector medical institutes for better pay and perks, maintains Dr S. Prabhakar, Head of the Department of Neurology, PGI.

The further loss of emoluments is likely to result in greater brain drain and loss of prestige of these national institutions. In the recent selections for various vacant posts in PGI, a considerable fall in the number of applicants for these posts has been noticed and some posts could not be filled for want of candidates. Another senior doctor lamented that if the government is not prepared to give the two institutes the status due to them, the day is not far when there will not be enough doctors ready to work in these institutions. The faculty of the PGI is planning to join hands with the faculty of AIIMS to request the Central Government to reconsider the decision.

A senior doctor said that this attitude of the Government would have a serious effect on the morale and commitment of dedicated doctors who have given their best to these institutions and not bothered about money. In the long run, the academic work, quality of research and training will also suffer, he said, adding that it is step in the backward direction.

A few others are pained about being equated with the staff working under Central Government Health services and state governments. Another senior doctor revealed that the Government of India had never accepted the recommendations of the Bakshi Committee, so where is the question of rejecting it. By doing so, it has only violated the interim orders of the Delhi High Court, following which doctors have been receiving the revised salaries since March 1, 1999. The court has so far not issued any order withdrawing its earlier directive. Neither has the Central Government provided any document specifying the package finalised for the professors and additional professors. He further questions as to what is the relationship between promotional avenues and the pay-scales of faculty members.

The package of the Union Cabinet includes their promotional avenues subject to the condition that the scales notified in January last year were accepted by the faculty of AIIMS and PGI. To provide the additional professors a higher start, two additional increments would be given, it is learnt. Half of the eligible additional professors and with seven years of service in that grade may be promoted as professors under the assessment promotion scheme without linkage to vacancies.

Kids to be given Vitamin A dose
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 13 — Vitamin A solution will be administered to children along with the fourth round of pulse polio immunisation on January 23. A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting held yesterday under the chairmanship of Dr V.K. Kak, Director-Principal of the GMCH, Sector 32.

It was further decided to continue the project on a long-term basis to assess the impact of mass distribution. The Department of Community Medicine, GMCH, had received a project from UNICEF to find out the feasibility of mass distribution of vitamin A solution in the slums of the city.

The department had, through a survey conducted, recently found that one-fourth of the children residing in slums were suffering from varying degrees of vitamin A deficiency. The department had subsequently taken up this matter with representatives of UNICEF and the Health Department, UT. UNICEF has promised to give logistics and financial support. Among those who attended the meeting were Dr Joginder Singh, Director, Health Services, UT, Dr K. Suresh, representative of UNICEF, Dr Satbir, Maternal and Child Health Officer, UT, Prof Sood, Head of Department of Ophthalmology, Prof Veena Parmar, Head of Department of Paediatrics and faculty members of Department of Community Medicine.

GMCH-32 website opened
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 13 — Lieut-Gen J. F. R. Jacob, PVSM (retd), Governor of Punjab and Administrator, Chandigarh, today launched the official website of Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32 by clicking a key of the computer. People can now access the website to know about the college and hospital at http://chandigarh.nic.in/gmch.

The Governor also inaugurated the information technology centre at the ground floor of GMCH. The centre is equipped with 21 computers among which 11 are on LAN, a scanner, a CD writer, a colour laser printer and number of laser and dot matrix printers.

Earlier, he went around the registration area, saw the working of computers and interacted with patients there.

The 170-page website, besides containing the history of the college and hospital, provides details about departments, staff, services and facilities available; OPD and laboratory schedules with timings and charges for various services, including those of private wards. One can make rough calculations before bringing a patient for admission to the hospital. The location of the rooms of OPDs along with doctors on duty and wards has also been specified.

For the medical college, information about the faculty of various departments, courses available, eligibility criteria and admission procedure is available.

When admissions to various courses commence, prospectus and admission forms will be made available on the site and the fee could also be remitted through that. Even certain publications of faculty members appearing in various national and international journals will be made available on this site.

There is also an option to access the telephone numbers and addresses of the staff in case of emergency. And to post the feedback or have information about GMCH, an option to send mail through the feedback option is also there.

In an informal address, Lieut-Gen Jacob expressed satisfaction with the high standards of computerisation technology available in GMCH-32 and hoped that all the medical institutes and departments would follow suit. He urged the medical faculty to tap every possible source for the upgradation of facilities and knowledge. Every dispensary in the city should have computers, an X-ray machine, ECG facility and labour room.

Going around the hospital, he hoped that construction work on the E and F blocks of GMCH would start soon and assured support from the Administration. He wanted Chandigarh to come up as a cyber city.

Earlier, Dr V. K. Kak, Director-Principal, talked about information that will be available on the website. Plans are afoot to provide intranet and internet facilities to the heads of the department at their residences this year and to other faculty members within three years, he informed. The process of putting the cables to install computers and connect them to the hospital has already started. He also highlighted the achievements and contributions of the college hospital during the past seven years.

The website has been designed and developed by the National Informatics Centre, Chandigarh, and Puncom. The site, in colour, has numerous photographs depicting information about the college and hospital.

National medical conference begins
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 13 — The 25th Annual National Conference of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons of India got underway with multi-subject pre-conference courses, including a hands-on training programme, at the CII Convention Centre here today.

A mega dento-surgical speciality conference will focus on the diseases of the oral cavity and the facial structures, besides their treatment with surgical means. Addressing mediapersons, Dr Vimal Kalia, Organising Secretary of the conference, said extraction of the teeth, removal of the wisdom molars, dento-alveolar surgeries, removal of cysts and tumours, reconstruction, facial aesthetic surgery (Orthognathic surgery), injuries to the jaws and the facial bones, the temporomanibular joints surgery, implants and other subjects will be dealt with during the conference.

Nearly 400 participants from all over the country, including local and regional dental surgeons, will participate in this conference from January 13 to 16. There are also a few surgeons from the UK, the USA and Saudi Arabia.

Dr (Brig) S.C. Anand, Chairman of the committee, said in North India, there was much scope for the development of this super speciality. He said the authorities concerned should encourage more centres to introduce postgraduate courses in the northern belt. Such a conference also helped educate a layman on handling these problems, besides training the fraternity dealing with these, he added. He said it was also a platform to plan for the future, confronting new perspectives and set professional goals.

Dr Vinod Kapoor, Chairman of the this conference highlighted the proceedings of the day-long hands-on programme. The programme included discussions on Frialit -2 implant system, the ITI implant system, a talk on Emergencies in Dental Practice — Basic Life Support, lecture by eminent oral and maxillofacial surgeons and a video presentation by Dr Saidul Islam on microvascular reconstruction, to expose the delegates to the latest protocols of treatment.

More than 116 papers and 12 keynote addresses will be presented over three days. Besides this, 23 posters, giving a photographic overview of surgical problems will also be displayed. The theme 25 Years of Excellence reflects the emergence of this speciality independently and its progress over the years. The conference will be inaugurated by Prof N.K. Ganguly, Director General of the ICMR and Acting Director of the PGI, tomorrow.

SPORT

UT athletics team chosen
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Jan 13 — The Amateur Athletic Association of Chandigarh has selected a 13-member UT team to take part in the 15th National Inter-State Junior Athletics Meet to be held at Salem (Tamil Nadu) from January 19 to 23, according to Mr Ravinder Chaudhary, Secretary of the association.

Sunil Yadav and Pankti Lakra will be the captains of the boys' and girls' teams, respectively. The athletes and their respective events will be as follows: Girls (under-16) — Veena Yadav (400 m and 800 m), Sakshi Sharma (shot put), Mukesh (discus throw), Pawandeep Kaur (400m); under 18 — Sapinder Kaur (high jump); under 20 — Pankti Lakra (high Jump).

Boys (under-16) — Amanbir Singh (100 m and 400 m); under-18 — Lakhbir Singh (100 m, 200 m, 4 x 100 m), Jatinder Bir Singh (100 m, 4 x 100 m), Ajit Chaudhary (200 m, 4 x 100 m), Sunil Kumar (4 x 100 m), Vikas (1500 m); under-20 — Sunil Yadav (800 m and 1500 m).

Karate team

A 30-member UT karate team left Chandigarh to take part in the OKA-ZAKI Cup, third South Asian Karate Championship and All-India Karate Championship to be held at Dehradun in the junior and senior categories.

Mr Ashwani Gupta and Mr Sukhjeevan Sharma will be the coaches, while Mr Pawan Kumar will be the manager of the team.

The team is as follows: Jabbar Jung, Angesh, Aneesh, Amar, Naresh, Abhim Sharma, Nitin Sharma, Chetan, Gurpreet, Aman Kaur, Bhupinder Singh, Vijay Prashad, Nimit, Rajnish, Chanpreet, Nitin, Tarun, Gaurav, Parminder, Sohit, Chander, Jugad Singh and Deepak.

Minister’s scheme for sports department
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Jan 13 — The UT Sports Department, which will conduct the state-level school tournaments in athletics, basketball, handball, hockey and volleyball from January 19, will come under the revised scheme of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Youth Affairs and Sports, under which Rs 2 lakh has been sanctioned.

The scheme, initiated by the ministry in 1998, was envisaged for selecting the best school teams in each district for participation in national school meets. Inter-school tournaments will be organised by the School Games Federation of India and the Sports Authority of India.

The District Education Department, has resolved to take criminal action against overaged players. In volleyball, handball and basketball, 24 players in boys and girls, are allowed in every sport. In hockey, 32 players will be allowed and in athletics, maximum of 36 players are allowed. The maximum officials permitted will be 30. The winners will get Rs 400 and the runners-up Rs 300 each.

Harjinder triumphs in grannies’ golf
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 13 — Nothing seemed to deter the grandmothers at the Chandigarh Golf Club on Thursday, not even the biting cold and dense fog.

Twelve grandmothers all members of the ladies section of the CGC played the grandmother’s tournament. The senior most of them all was Mrs Darshi Narang and the youngest was Mrs Amarjot Kaur Kapur.

The best nett score was brought by Mrs Harinder Sandhu and to runner- up was Mrs Saroj Joti.

ADMINISTRATION

Row delays overbridge construction
From Bipin Bhardwaj
From Our Correspondent

DERA BASSI, Jan 13 — Although the Punjab Public Works Department (B&R) has not given the green signal to start work on the railway overbridge at the Bhankharpur level crossing on the Ambala-Kalka highway, the construction company is ready to start work.

It is learnt that the work is being delayed because the PWD has failed to pay nearly Rs 1.25 crore to the Forest Department.

The Forest Department has not permitted removal of eucalyptus trees along the road where the overbridge is to be constructed. Another reason for delaying the work is the electric and telephone poles along the highway as well as the Mubarikpur link road.

Trees along the Mubarikpur road will lead to bottleneck when the traffic is diverted through this link road when the construction of the overbridge starts.

According to Mr K.S. Bhinder, Deputy Executive Engineer, the PWD had deposited Rs 3,52,800 with the Forest Department in October, 1997, for the removal of the trees and Rs 2,12,511 with the Electricity Department for the removal of electric poles from the site. A sum of Rs 10,284 had also been paid to the Forest Department to remove trees from the Mubarikpur road. He said although the PWD had made the payment to the Electricity Department for the removal of transformers and poles from the edges of the highway for making it four-lane, the department had not taken any steps in this regard.

The Subdivisional Officer, however, said that new poles had to be installed before the old ones were removed. Officials of the Forest Department were not available for comments.

Officials of the construction company said that formalities such as soil testing had been completed. "The company has already posted the required technical and non-technical staff to start the construction of the overbridge immediately after the PWD gives the green signal," said Mr Nirmal Singh, Project Manager.

VIP security may be cut
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 13 — The security cover provided by the Chandigarh Police to a close aide of a former UT Administrator will be withdrawn while it will be reduced in the case of others.

This was recommended by the Protection Review Group (PRG), which was convened recently. The quarterly meeting is held to review the degree of threat perception and to recommend the number of persons to be provided to protect an individual. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), the CID and Security wings of the local police.

Sources said the recommendations have been forwarded to the Administration by Mr S K Singh, IGP.

According to sources, the PRG has recommended the complete withdrawal of security to Parminder Singh, alias Pinky, who is stated to be a close aide of Lieut Gen B.K.N. Chhibber, a former Punjab Governor and UT Administrator. He has a full detail of guards to protect him.

Others whose security is likely to be reduced include Mr Satya Pal Jain, former MP, Mr Venod Sharma, a former Union Minister and a former chief of the local unit of the Congress and Mr Dharam Pal Gupta, local BJP chief. The security of Mr Dhanik Lal Mandal, a former Haryana Governor, and the station director of the All India Radio Station, is also likely to be reduced.

The security of the Director, Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL) and Mr Jai Singh Jagat, a son of Mr Gurbachan Jagat, DG, Jammu and Kashmir Police, who resides in the city, will be increased.

The local police provides security cover to more than 100 individuals. As many as 47 persons are covered under X security, 37 under Y security and more than 10 under Z security category.

The Punjab Governor, Haryana and Punjab Chief Ministers, Mr Maninderjit Singh Bitta, a former national Youth Congress chief, and Mr Sumedh Singh Saini, a former city SSP, are provided security under the Z plus category.

The Haryana Governor, Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, UT Home Secretary, IGP, DC, SSP, Chairman, BBMB, and Mr Sukhbir Badal, a son of Punjab Chief Minister, are protected under the Z category security.