HEALTH

Organ transplant discussed
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 17 — Organ transplant is the greatest success story of the century. Over the past three decades, the technique has evolved from being only an experiment in the human biology to an accepted form of treatment for patients suffering from end-stage organ failures. This was said by Sir Peter J. Morris while delivering a lecture on transplant surgery at Lecture Theatre I of the PGI here today.

He said similar advancements had been seen in the field of tissue transplant. He also said new drugs and improved skills of health professionals were making more and more transplants successful. He said in the western countries, it was possible to transplant different organs and tissues, including the corneas, kidneys, heart, liver, lungs, pancreas, intestines, skin, bone marrow, bones and cartilage from a single organ donor. He said, however, in developing countries like India, the use of this technique was limited due to a lack of possible donors.

Dr Morris also spoke about the possible future use of organs of animals for transplant in human bodies. He also stressed the need for cadaver-based transplant surgeries to meet the shortage of organs in future. With the help of slides, he explained how the organs could be removed from these individuals with brainstem death and a beating heart. He also explained how these could be transplanted into the recipient suffering from various organ failures.

While the functions of the lungs and the heart can be taken over by machines for a limited time, those of the brain cannot. He also said though the organ transplant was expensive, it should be made available to all. He also stressed the need for promoting organ donation.

Conference on kidney transplant from today
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 17 — Various aspects of kidney transplantation and problems in the liver, bone marrow and pancreas transplantation will be discussed during the 12th annual conference of the Indian Society of Organ Transplantation (ISOT-2000) being organised by the Department of Nephrology, PGI, at Bhargava Auditorium from February 18 to 20.

As many as 350 delegates, including nephrologists, urologists and transplant surgeons from across the country and 10 eminent speakers from abroad, including the USA, UK, Australia, South Africa and Canada are likely to attend the conference. It will be inaugurated by Prof I. C. Pathak, former Director of the PGI. About 50 scientific papers will be presented during the conference.

The Organising Secretary, Prof V. Sakhuja, disclosed that approximately 6,000 kidney transplants and a much smaller number of liver, bone marrow and heart transplants are being done every year in India. The main emphasis of the conference will be on prevention and treatment of rejections and infections, the two most dreaded problems after successful transplantation. Professor Sakhuja informed that the number of organs available for transplantation is far short of the number of patients requiring this treatment. In an attempt to cover this shortage of organs, Dr Jeremy Chapman from Australia will be speaking on "Xenotransplantation' — the possible future use of organs from animals for transplantation into humans. Dr Ali Bakran from the UK will speak on the utilisation of organs from non-heart beating cadaveric donors.

Dr Kamal Sud, Assistant professor in the Department of Nephrology and joint organising secretary, revealed that while tissues such as cornea, bone and cartilage can be removed within hours of a cardiac arrest and still be suitable for transplantation, most other organs require a persistent blood circulation to be viable and of any use to the recipient after transplantation. It is in this context that the concept of brain stem death has been evolved to define death before the heart stops beating. If organs could be removed from these individuals with brain stem death and a beating heart, they could be transplanted into the recipients suffering from various organ failures.

Sir Peter Morris, Nuffield, Professor of Surgery at Oxford, UK, will be the star attraction during the conference. A renowned kidney transplant surgeon, he also has a Ph. D in immunology. In 1996, he was knighted for his services to medicine. Sir Morris will deliver the MJ Patel Oration on the problems and prospects of kidney transplantation.

In an effort to generate a public debate on cadaveric and also unrelated (paid) donor transplants in our country, a separate symposium on legal aspects of the Human Organ Transplant Bill is being organised. Dr M. Bhandari, Director of the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Lucknow, will introduce the Bill to the delegates and Dr A. P. Pandey, a renowned urologist from CMC, Vellore, and Dr H. Johri from Delhi will speak on the loopholes of the Bill. The Additional Solicitor-General of India, Justice R. N. Trivedi, will be discussing how these loopholes can be plugged. The Act was passed by Parliament in 1994 to facilitate organ and tissue donation after death and to prevent commercial dealings in human organs. The Act laid down rules on giving authorisation for the removal of the organs and also issued regulations for hospitals for defining brain stem death and for conducting transplantation.

SPORT

Sunita, Ashok are best athletes
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Feb 17 — Sunita Chandel, a BA II student, was declared the best athlete of the year at the 44th Annual Athletics meet of the Government College for Girls, Sector 11, today. Sandhya, a BA III student, was adjudged the all-round best player of the college.

Mr M. Ramsekhar, Deputy Commissioner-cum-Director Sports, UT, inaugurated the event while Dr Ajmer Singh, Director, Sports, Panjab University, gave away the prizes.

The results are: 100m—Kamaldeep 1, Poonam 2, Surjit Kaur 3; 200 m—Poonam 1, Sunita 2, Pushpa 3; 400 m—Sunita 1, Kanchan 2, Kamalpreet 3; 800 m—Sunita 1, Kamlesh 2, Kadambari 3; shot put—Saroj Bala 1, Surjit Kaur 2, Mamta Bhatti 3; discus throw—Kamlesh 1, Surjit 2, Navneet 3; javelin —Saroj Bala 1, Neha 2, Kamlesh 3; long jump—Swaran 1, Surjit Kaur 2, Tarminder 3; high jump—Swarn 1, Upjeet 2, Neha 3; 4 x100 relay race—Sunita, Kanchan, Suman and Surjit 1; Gurpreet,Sandhya, Tarminder & Lakshmi 2; Pushpa, Kamalpreet, Ritu and Kamlesh 3;

Slow cycling—Shelly 1, Saroj Bala 2, Neha 3; 1500 m cycle race—Mamta 1, Shelly 2, Saroj 3; fancy dress—Swati 1, Ritu 2, Deepshikha 3; The college will remain close on Friday, according to college sources.

Meanwhile, Ashok Kumar was declared the best athlete at the annual athletics meet of the Government College for Boys, Sector 11, here on Thursday. Earlier, Dr S.N. Singla, Principal of the college, inaugurated the meet. Mr Deepak Manmohan Singh, Dean College Development Council, was the chief guest and gave away the prizes.

Pardeep Malik won first position in 100 metres, Kanwarjit Singh in shot put, Rakesh in high jump, Rohit Dutta in discus throw and Ashok Kumar in 400 metres.

Athletics meet

The 18th annual athletics meet of Government College, Sector 46, was held today. It was inaugurated by Mr S.P. Arora, Assistant Estate Officer, Chandigarh, while the valedictory function was presided over by Mr KAP Sinha, IAS, Joint secretary Finance-cum DPI Colleges, UT.

Mohil Diddee of BA II in boys category, while Arvind Saini in girls category were declared the best athletes .

Results: girls 100 m—Arvind Saini 1, Dilraj 2, Kulvinder 3; 200 m — Dilraj Kaur 1, Arvind Saini 2, Minakshi 3; 400 m — Arvind Saini 1, Kamlesh 2, Mukesh 3; shot put — Renu 1, Saveena 2, Kamlesh 3; discus throw — Monica 1, Renu 2, Kamlesh 3; long jump — Arvind 1, Renu 2, Saveena 3; high Jump — Arvind 1, Saveena 2, Kamlesh 3.

Boys: 200 m — Mohil 1, Jatinder Singh 2, Nitin 3; 400 m — Mohil 1, Jatinder 2, Nitin 3; 800 m — Ajay Pal Singh 1,Vikas 2, Sanjeev Kumar 3; 1500 m — Ajay pal Singh 1, Harshkamal 2, Davinder Rana 3; 5000 m — Mohil 1, Harsh Kamal 2, Raj Kumar 3; shot put — Kapil1, Dharminder 2, Davinder Rana 3; discus throw — Kapil 1, Dharminder 2, Yashwinder 3; Javelin throw — Kundan 1, Devinder Rana 2, Pankaj Walia 3; long jump —Atish 1, Pushpinder 2, Devinder Rana 3; high jump — Abhey 1, Kundan 2, Santosh 3; triple jump — Kundan 1, Santosh 2, Devinder 3.