HEALTH

Oral cancer rate highest in India
By Poonam Batth
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 15 — Increase in population and introduction of fast-moving vehicles has led to an increase in the cases of high-velocity trauma and the severity of injuries. The tumors and cyst of the head and neck region are of very common occurrence in India. The incidence of oral cancer is highest in India due to heavy consumption of tobacco, pan masala and smoking of bidi, cigarettes. However, there is no cause for worry as recent advancements in this branch of medicine dealing with facio-maxillary injuries has sufficiently trained the maxillofacial surgeons in India to face any kind of emergencies and tackling them skillfully.

The experts participating in the 25th annual National Conference of Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons unanimously propose changes in the mindsets and the need to create more awareness so that in the new millennium even poor people can look forward to the management of their dentofacial deformities so that they can be aesthetically, functionally and psychologically rehabilitated in the modern world.

Dr Khursheed F. Moos, an eminent consultant from UK who specialises in craniomaxillofacial trauma and surgery, pointed out that severe maxillofacial trauma, uncommon in the West, is much more frequent in the Indian subcontinent. The surgery primarily deals in correcting congenital and acquired deformities of face and the jaw region by modifying the alignment of tissues. Since the surgeries are often complicated they require expert handling. But there is dearth of fully trained people to handle these surgeries in India keeping in view the sizeable population. He is of the view that basic structure of training should undergo a change and students should be made to do two under graduate courses, both in medicine and dentistry before their specialisation in the field of surgery so that they can handle all types of cases. Emphasis should also be laid in identifying the best and then giving them all possible help for further training.

Professor Eric R. Carlson, Associate Professor of Surgery in University of Miami revealed that incidence of oral cancer is so high in India that it has been reported that 60 per cent of all cancers in India are oral cancers against 3-4 per cent in USA. The temporomandibular joints ankylosis causing inability to open the mouth is a common disease in India. Dr Carlson further pointed out that most of the centres dealing with this super speciality are successfully treating most of these cases without any recurrence. For instance 3-4 surgeries are performed daily in Jabalpur Hospital and Research Centre. The cases of tumor are more severe in India because of lack of the non-availability of medical care in case of few patients. Hence, the exposure of doctors in dealing with such cases in India is much more. Such conferences not only help us to acquaint the young surgeons about the latest techniques being used by doctors in the West, but also provide a common platform for exchange of ideas.

Dr Stewart K Lazow, Associate Professor, Department of Surgery, State University of New York Health Sciences Centre at Brooklyn, pointed out that while in India more cases of trauma are reported due to vehicular accidents, in USA it is due to personal violence and firearms. The surgicalm intervention leads to enhancement of functionally aesthetic look to the face, he added. However, since the cost of the surgeries is enormous in some cases, the government hospitals should also make some arrangements to provide this facility to the poor and the needy. The level of doctors trained in this field and surgeries performed by them is comparable with those practising in the West.

Talking about advances in microvascular surgery, Dr S.K. Saidul Islam, Behala B.B. Hospital, Calcutta, said that the advent of microvascular tissue transfer has revolutionised the reconstructive capabilities of certain challening defects resulting from surgical ablation of tumor, trauma, congenital anomalies in the arena of manibular reconstruction and vascularised bone transfer has eclipsed the conventional technique. In this type of surgery, tissues are picked up from other parts of the body and the artery is attached to another artery for proper blood circulation.

Dr J.N Khanna, Professor, Jaslok Hospital and Research Centre, Mumbai, said that advances in this field have been tremendous keeping in view the ever increasing population and the challenges in the form of variety of problems. He pointed out that doctors in India examine cases of TM joint ankylosis in hundreds while those in USA come across only 2-3 such cases. With an increase in awareness, more and more people suffering from teeth and facial deformities, involving the facial bones, teeth and their bony segments are coming forward to correct their disproportionate unaesthetic look of the face. However, he agreed with a few other experts that the level of general training has to be elevated and standardised all over the country.

AIDS workshop in Kot
From Our Correspondent

PANCHKULA, Jan 15 — In all, 120 children and 10 teachers took part in a day-long orientation workshop on HIV-AIDS held at a dharamshala in Kot, near here today.The Additional Director of the Haryana AIDS Control Society, Mr G.P. Saluja, was the chief guest. Students of Senior Secondary Schools of Kot, Rattewal, Bunga and Ramgarh attended the workshop organised by the SURYA foundation.

The workshop began with a pre-questioner's session to test the information level of the students on AIDS. The results of the session revealed that 60 per cent of the students were ignorant about it. An audio-video demonstration which highlighted the need to curtail the spread of AIDS through adequate precautions, was also shown.The Founder Director of the SURYA foundation, Dr Ramneek Sharma, educated the students on various aspects related to the spread of HIV-AIDS and its prevention.

Poor ailing boy with none to help
From Our Correspondent

PANCHKULA, Jan 15 — The staff of hospitals at times face a tough time dealing with patients who have no one to attend to them.

In a recent incident, a 12-year-old boy— Matto, whose antecedents are not known, was referred from Raipur-Rani to the General Hospital in Sector 6, here.

The boy was reportedly noticed lying in a semi-conscious state near the Ghaggar on January 13. He was shivering in cold and pain, with only a torn pullover covering him.

It took almost a day for the authorities to evacuate the ailing boy to the General Hospital here, due to in-availability of transport at Raipur Rani.

The boy was diagnosed by doctors as having broken limbs.

Matto wept as he revealed that he had no relatives here and wished to go back to his home town in Bihar, but he did not have the money.

He informed that his employer used to beat him almost everyday on some pretext or the other. He was given Rs 500 a month as salary and food just once a day.

The staff at the hospital are concerned as Matto will not be able to walk for a couple of months due to his fractured limbs. Also, the hospital neither has the facility nor the staff to ensure adequate nursing of the boy.

SPORT

Rohit, Ripudaman lead in UT chess
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Jan 15 — Rohit Chadha and Ripudaman, with three points each, were leading at the end of the third round of the Chandigarh State Chess Championship for players under the age of 18 which began at Sports Complex in Sector 42 today. The two-day meet is being organised by the Chandigarh Chess Association.

The results at the end of the third round are as follows: Three points — Rohit Chadha, Ripudaman; two points — Nitin, Gaurav Jaswal, Shweta, Anmol Razdan, Preeti Gupta, Chetan Vikas and Ranjit; 1.5 points — Jatinder Kaur.

One point — Ravi Gupta, Malook V. Singh, Mohit Arora, Mannu Rawal; 0.5 point — Simranjeet Kaur; 0 point — Hemant Moudgil and Nikhil Chopra.

Soccer trials: The Chandigarh Football Association will conduct trials to select 25 probables for a coaching camp of the Chandigarh junior team which will take part in the Junior National Football Championship (under-19) to be held in the last week of this month, according to Mr Rakesh Bakshi, Secretary of the CFA. The trials will be held on January 17 at 3 p.m. at Football Stadium in Sector 17.

The players born on or after January 1, 1981, will be eligible for the trials and they should bring with them, their original birth certificates.

Judo tourney: The Amateur Judo Association of Chandigarh will organise the Chandigarh State Judo Championship in all weight categories for both men and women on January 22 and 23 at Sports Complex, Sector 42, according to Mr Naresh Thakur, Secretary of the association.

The weight categories will be as follows: Below 44 kg, 48 kg, 52 kg, 57 kg, 63 kg, 70 kg and 78 kg in the women's section; below 55 kg, 60 kg, 66 kg, 73 kg, 81 kg, 90 kg and 100 kg in the men's section.

Cricket matches: In the Inter-Financial Cricket Tournament being played here today at DAV College, Sector 10, grounds, United India Insurance Company Ltd beat Punjab Financial Corporation by three wickets. In another match of the day, Canara Bank scored a three-wicket victory over New India Assurance Corporation.

Brief scores: First match — United India Insurance 127 runs for seven wickets in 20 overs (S.S. Negi 28, Subhash 21 n.o., Deepak 3 for 35); PFC 108 runs for eight wickets in 20 overs (Deepak 32, Inderjit 29, M.S. Sidhu 2 for 30, Subhash 2 for 33).

Second match — New India Assurance 78 runs all out (Surinder 19, Charandass 5 for 10, Rampal 2 for 15); Canara Bank 79 for 7 (Phanindra 20, Surinder 3 for 20, P.K. Srivastava 2 for 21).

Cricket mania affecting other sport
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Jan 15 — Cricket in India, gets the attention of the majority. Even grandmothers are also interested in the score and players. Only a few countries of the world play this game, which is not even an Olympic or Asiad sport. It has become the most popular sport in India because it is simple to understand.

Indians seldom watch their national game, hockey, on the small screen. Television too gives most of its time to covering cricket. In the past many years, the number of matches played by our cricketers has also increased and so has the coverage of the game.

The game is ideally suited to the lazy Indian way of living. One can notice persons crowding in front of shops and restaurants everywhere in India, watching cricket on television.

The commercialisation of the game has been criticised on many occasions and cases of match fixing have also been talked about. Despite this, the game remained more popular than other sport in the country.

However, gradually, Indians have begun to see money and fame in other sport. More prize money in golf, tennis, badminton and football tournaments has made these games popular in many states. A senior tennis coach said, ''Cricketers enjoy the status of semi-Gods in India, despite not performing upto the expectations of the people."

The increased awareness of viewers has resulted in every bad performance of cricketers being criticised.

In the 70s, Gavaskar mania had affected most households and every child wanted to imitate him. The bowling trio of B.S. Bedi, E.A. Prasanna, B.S. Chandersekhar, became spin gurus. Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar became international superstars. Those were the glory days of cricket in India.

Now, with latest string of bad performances of the Indian team, cricket fans are extremely depressed.

However, good performances in other sport are still not taken seriously. Public memory is short when it comes to sport other than cricket. Past year, Indians did well in tennis, shooting, chess, billiards, badminton and golf, but the players were not appreciated, said a former athlete.

A former national-level table tennis player said it was due to the inflated media coverage cricket was getting. More good performances in other sport could also have shifted the medial attention from cricket.

The number of cricket matches played in a year could also be the possible reason for its popularity. A few years ago, late Fazil Ahmed, then the President of the Badminton Association of India, during the finals of the National Badminton Championship, had spoken on Doordarshan about the alleged neglect of badminton by the TV. There is need for shift in the attitude of viewers also. They should not blindly follow one game, neglecting others.