HEALTH

Hospital staff seek patient care allowance
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 7 — Employees of various unions of the Sector 16 General Hospital held a gate meeting today to demand the release of patient care allowance.

The agitating employees protested against the state and central authorities for not giving them the patient care allowance even as it is being given to all employees working in various hospitals and dispensaries run by the Central government.

The President, Mr Kanwaljit Singh, alleged that it was not being given to them since 1992. He further said that if their demands were not met at the earliest, they would be forced to intensify the agitation and the routine work of the hospital would suffer.

The Director Health Services, Dr Joginder Singh, said that their case would be sent to the Central government for reconsideration. He further said that since the employees working in the UT were drawing salaries on the Punjab pay-scale pattern and the patient care allowance was not being given to them, the same had been withdrawn.

Clinical pharmacology workshop begins
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 7 — A wide range of topics will be discussed along with practical demonstrations at the XVIII National Workshop on Clinical Pharmacology, which began here today. The workshop will conclude on February 12.

Nearly 25 delegates of various teaching institutes all over the country and pharmaceutical companies are attending this workshop which has been organised by the Department of Pharmacology of the PGI.

According to Dr S.K. Garg, Additional Professor in the department, the focus of the workshop would be on drug development, besides evaluating the efficacy and safety of a new drug before marketing it. The adverse effects of certain drugs and how to check these would also be taken up. He said under Schedule Y of the Government of India, it was essential to carry bio-availability studies for any new drug or new drug formulation. He said practical demonstrations would also be given on to how to carry out these studies on volunteers or patients who needed a particular drug for their treatment.

Today's deliberations began with a lecture by Dr S. Balakrishnan on Evaluation of Pre-clinical Toxicity Data for Initiating Human Drug Studies. He said acute, sub-acute and chronic toxicity tests should be conducted before administering the drug to a patient or volunteer for phase-I clinical trial.

While discussing Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM), Dr Garg said the TDM was recommended for drugs having narrow therapeutic range such as anti-epileptic drugs, anti-asthmatic theophylline and amino glycoside antibiotics like gentamycin. Dr Garg also gave a lecture on Basic Pharmacokinetics and their Clinical Significance. He talked about which pharmacokinetics should be studied for evaluating the bio-availability of the drugs.

Dr R.D. Kulkarni of Bombay will discuss the process of new drug development in detail tomorrow.

PGI employees flay committee
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 7 — The PGI Employees Union, at its meeting held here today, strongly condemned the Standing Finance Committee, which did not clear the implementation of the Assured Career Progression Scheme for group B, C and D employees of the institute on the central pattern.

Mr Ashwani Munjal, President of the union, stated in a press note that the institute body, at its meeting held on February 3, 1999, resolved that PGI employees would also be heard by the Bakshi Committee, along with AIIMS employees, and the recommendations made for AIIMS employees would also be implemented in the case of PGI employees.

He pointed out that the committee, which was constituted by the institute body in pursuance of High Court orders, had not met once to sort out pending demands of employees.

The union condemened the discriminatory and step-motherly treatment being meted out to these employees, which had led to demoralisation of workers, resulting in detrioration of services to patients.

The High Court had failed to pass judgement on a public interest litigation pending since 1994, it added. The union decided to take up the matter with the Chief Justice of India, the National Human Rights Commission and others.

SPORT

Mala wins four titles
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Feb 7 — Mala Gaba, a student of St Anne's School, Sector 32, was today awarded the best player trophy in the Chandigarh State Badminton Championships, which ended at the Sector 42 Indoor Badminton Hall. Mala bagged four titles — women's singles, under-19 doubles and under-16 singles and doubles.

Ashish of SD College, Sector 32, won the men's singles title. He beat Vivek Sharma 15-4, 13-15, 15-12 in the final. Ashish had yesterday defeated top-seeded Amit Sachdeva.

Mala had earlier upset top seed Geeta Aggarwal 11-2, 11-5. Geeta was given the appreciation award by the Chandigarh Badminton Association.

Former national champion Wing Commander Satish Bhatia won two titles in the above-55 category. He beat Cecil Parvez 15-5, 15-6. The duo later overpowered G.S. Bajwa and H.S. Gudiala 15-6, 15-10. Bhatia had invented spin service.

Jatinder Mahajan and Anil Mittal won doubles title in above-35 category. Virinder Mehta of HVPN and Col Raj Parmar lifted above-45 doubles title. They beat M.P. Dogra and Parminder Singh 17-16, 15-3. Puneet Bansal won two titles in under-16 section.

Mr M. Ramsekhar, Deputy Commissioner and Director Sports, UT Administration was the chief guest. The prizes were awarded by Mr Gian Chand Gupta, a former Mayor, Dr P.C. Kashyap, Regional Director of the SAI, Mr Mohinder Singh, Deputy Mayor, Mr D.K. Mukerjee, Chairman of the CBA, and Mr M.C. Sethi, President of the CBA.

Results — boys under-19 singles: Vivek b Deepak 15-12, 15-4; under-19 doubles: Deepak and Vivek b Varun and Arun Tomar 15-6, 15-6; women's singles: Mala Gaba b Geeta Aggarwal 11-2, 11-5; women's doubles: Geeta and Parnita b Bhavna and Saroj 15-7, 15-6; girls under-19 singles: Isha b Mala 11-9, 11-6; under-19 doubles: Mala and Isha b Harleen and Shilpa 15-7, 15-6; men's doubles: Amit and Rajnikant b Ashish and Ashirwad 5-15, 15-13, 15-10; above-35 doubles: Jatinder Mahajan and Anil Mittal b Raj Parmar and Rajiv Mehta 11-15, 15-12, 15-12; above-55 singles: Satish Bhatia b Cecil Parvez 15-6, 15-6; above-55 doubles: Satish Bhatia and Cecil Parvez b G.S. Bajwa and H.L. Gudiala 15-6, 15-8.

Meet of special kids begins today
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 7 — More than 400 special children, including around 150 girls from Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Panchkula and Chandi Mandir will participate in the two-day Regional Meet of the North-West Zone Special Olympics Society beginning at the Sector 7 Athletic Stadium from tomorrow.

The Adviser to the Administrator, Mrs Vineeta Rai, will inaugurate the meet.

According to Mrs Promila Chandra Mohan, Director of the Society, the participants would be divided into five groups. The groups are eight to 11 years, 12 to 15 years, 16 to 21 years and 22 years and above. The fifth group will be of participants with low ability.

Seven of the special athletes, who participated in the World Special Olympics in the USA last year —Richa Devgan and Devinder Sood (badminton), Kirti Rattan and Niti Singh (table tennis), Sunaina Singh (swimming), Tarandeep Kaur (skating) and Avtar Singh (handball) — will participate in the two-day meet. Besides individual events, there will be team championships in badminton, table tennis and roller skating.

Panchkula juniors win gold
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Feb 7 — The Panchkula district juniors table tennis team, comprising Neeraj Kumar, Vikrant Batra, Neeraj Chaudhary and Rahul Batra, won gold medal in the recently concluded Hero Honda Haryana state inter-district and open TT championship at Gurgaon.

Neeraj Kumar and Neeraj Chaudhary won bronze medal in men's singles and junior singles sections in the open meet. Mr V.P. Paul, President of the Panchkula District Table Tennis Association (PDTTA) and Principal of CL DAV Senior Secondary school, sector 11, Panchkula, appreciated the fine performance of the players and promised more facilities for the players. Mr Subhash Batra, Secretary of the PDTTA, said coaching camps for players would be held soon.

ADMINISTRATION

CHB chief relinquishes charge
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 7 — The Chairman of the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB), Mr Balbir Singh, and the Assistant Commissioner-I of the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh(MCC), Mr R. K. Rao, relinquished charges today.

Mr Balbir Singh, who had earlier sought premature retirement following reported differences with certain senior functionaries of the Chandigarh Administration over the construction of the seven-storeyed building on the board premises, has gone back to Delhi.

Mr Rao, who has been elevated to the IAS, has gone back to his parent state of Haryana. The Assistant Commissioner-II will hold the additional charge in his place, according to sources.

Chinese restaurant opened
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 7 — Ms Vineeta Rai, Adviser to the UT Administrator, inaugurated Magic Wok, a roof-top Chinese restaurant, in the new block of Hotel Mountview here today.

The Adviser took a round of the restaurant. She was accompanied by the Mayor, Ms Shanta Abhilashi, and senior functionaries of the Administration, including Mr N.K. Jain, Mr M. Ramsekhar and Mr Satish Chandra.

She said this restaurant would be another step of the CITCO to promote tourism and give a boost to the hotel and restaurant industry in Chandigarh. The restaurant has been constructed at a cost of Rs 90 lakh. It has a bar and a seating capacity of 120.

Juvenile Welfare Board: The Chandigarh Administration has constituted a Juvenile Welfare Board for exercising the powers and discharging the duties conferred under the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986, in relation to neglected juveniles under the Act, in the city. Mr R.K. Saboo, a former president of Rotary International, will be the Chairman of the board. Other members are Ms Sheela Didi, Mr P.R. Aggarwal and Mr Sita Ram Sharma.

Census operations: The Chandigarh Administration has made preparations for the census of India, 2001, which is due to begin in February-March next year. The operations have been divided into two parts — house listing from April 1 to 16 this year and population enumeration from February 9 to March 5 next year. According to a press note, the Administration is deploying a large number of officials of various departments as enumerators and surveyors for the smooth conduct of these operations.

An intensive training will be imparted to deployed enumerators and supervisors for filling up various forms. It will start in February-March and November this year and January next year. All the officials deployed for census duties will be treated as on duty and a ban on transfer of such employees will be imposed till March next year.

Rs 3 lakh donated for Kargil martyrs
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 7 — A delegation of office-bearers of the Chandigarh Club, led by its President, Mr Chaman Lal Sharma, met the Administrator of Chandigarh, Lieut-Gen J. F. R. Jacob (retd) and presented to him a cheque for Rs 3 lakh for the Army Central Welfare Fund.

Mr Sharma informed General Jacob that the money has been collected in a voluntary donation drive, Friends of Jawans, launched by the members of the club for the welfare of the families of martyrs of Kargil.

They requested the Governor to forward the cheque to the authorities concerned to render timely assistance to the families in need.

IFS probationers visit Nepli forest
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 7 — A group of 32 Indian Forest Service (IFS) probationers today visited Nepli forest to study the soil conservation work in the catchment area.

The probationers began the day with a visit to a nursery of the Forest Department on the Railway Road where they were shown economical methods of growing longer plants before their plantation.

Mr H.S. Sohal, Director Environment and Deputy Conservator of Forests, told the visitors about this new and inexpensive methodology developed by the department.

They were shown neem plants grown in polythene bags. To save the saplings from frost and excessive heat, the plants are kept in shade in summer and shifted to bigger polythene bags in winter so that they become almost a metre tall by July.

Later, the probationers went to Nepli forest where they were shown different types of dams constructed over the years to arrest the flow of silt towards Sukhna Lake. The dams shown to them included those made of stone masonary, earthern dams and some earthern dams with stone walls.

Some of these dams were overflowing with water, some were partially silted and had some water, while a few others were fully silted.

The probationers were also told about how the improved water management in the catchment area of Sukhna Lake had helped in improving wildlife in the area. These probationers were also taken to an area where they were shown tanks built to control the flow of silt into Sukhna Lake.

After Sukhna, the probationers undertook a quick tour of the city to see plantation along roadsides.

Sgt Dhali judged Best Airman
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 7 — The No.20 Provost and Security Unit of the IAF celebrated its 37th Raising Day here today.

A get-together was organised which was attended by officers from the Chandigarh Air Force Station as well as the civil administration. An entertainment programme was also organised on the occasion by personnel of the unit.

The trophies for the Best Airman and Most Spirited Airman of the unit, instituted this year, were presented to Sgt Sanjeev Dhali and Cpl K.V. Anup Kumar respectively, by Air-Cmdre S.K. Banerjee, Air Officer Commanding, No.12 Wing and Air Cmdre Arvinda Agrawal, Air Officer Commanding, No.3 Base repair Depot.

The commanding officer of the unit, Sqn Ldr A.K. Saxena read the annual report, highlighting the achievements of the unit. He reiterated the resolve to continue providing provost and security cover in the most efficient and professional manner to the units in the area. He also called upon the unit personnel to remain vigilant and to always strive for professional excellence.