HEALTH

Paediatric care training needed: experts
By Poonam Batth
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 25 — Experts attending the second national conference on Paediatric Intensive Care here today expressed concern about the lack of formal paediatric critical care programmes in developing countries like India and stressed the need to establish formal training programmes to be able to set up effective PICUs.

"Paediatric critical care is a new evolving speciality in India and every teaching institution should have earmarked beds for paediatric critical care," said Dr N. Jankiraman, a paediatric intensivist from the USA. He has been helping in the creation of critical care units in India since 1992. He developed one of the first paediatric intensive care units at Cook County Children's Hospital, Chicago, in 1975 and worked as Director-cum-Vice-Chairman of the Department of Paediatrics at Chicago Medical School. He pointed out that the need for having a good training programme was essential.

Lamenting the lack of training programmes in the country, Dr Jankiraman pointed out that basic life support training programmes should be made mandatory for MBBS graduates prior to their graduation. He said many teaching institutions did not have defibrillators but practically all emergency rooms, inter-care units and operation theatres should have these. Highlighting the role of nurses in ICUs, he suggested that nurses trained in critical care should not be transferred.

According to Dr Jankiraman, other paramedical personnel like respiratory therapists, nutritionists and psychologists formed part of the ICU team. "They play a significant part in providing optimal care to children and their families," he added. He also emphasised on developing other infrastructure, like well-equipped ambulances, ventilators and other non-invasive technology, for this speciality.

He said cost effectiveness and selection of patients admitted to ICU must also be considered. He was of the view that India's main thrust was on prevention of communicable diseases but it should simulataneously focus on providing clean drinking water, better housing facilities and nutrition and educating the common man about public health.

Dr Ramesh C. Sachdeva, Associate Professor of Paediatrics, Milwaukee, USA, pointed out the absence of paediatric critical care in India. Many of the ICUs in the country were being run by neonatalogists, cardiolgists and anaesthetists, he said. While short-term courses were available, there was need for a proper postgraduate training programme, he said. Keeping in view the cases of paediatric trauma, lung infections, respiratory failure, open heart surgery and organ transplants, he emphasised on having a good integrated system of paediatric critical care.

Since development of ICUs was costly, emphasis should be on trained personnel and better technology, he said. The support of other paediatric sub-specialities like paediatric cardiology, neurology, hematology and oncology should also be there, he added.

Dr Sachdeva has nearly 18 years' expertise of acute intensive care management. He has done his research in Health Policy and Outcomes Research. According to him, whenever new ICUs were developed, it was important to keep health policy issues in mind. "It is not enough to think of clinical needs but also the health policy at state and national levels. It can provide guidelines to the minister concerned at the time of framing the policy," said Dr Sachdeva, who initiated this concept in the USA.

Prof Ben Wagner from Switzerland maintained that education was the most important factor in the long-term health of a society and access to education was important. "There is need to educate the family, society and the religious community on public health, which will have a bearing on ensuring better health for children," he said. This would also help check the incidence of violence, he added.

According to Dr Wagner, provision of healthy food, good environment, proper immunisation and clean drinking water were more relevant than the development of ICUs in the Indian context. In ICUs general practitioners needed to focus on neuro-critical care to meet the risk situations of paediatric brain injuries in the golden hour (one hour of acute illness following an accident), he stated. He emphasised on the immediate need to regulate breathing and blood pressure in case of both trauma and infections of critically ill.

Dr Pratibha Singhi from the PGI emphasised on the need for having timely, intensive and adequate treatment in case of critically ill patients. She pointed out that nearly one-third of the children admitted in PICU suffered from neurological problems such as meningitis, encephalitis and seizures. The problem was acute as in many cases the problem was not detected in time and others came with partial treatment, she explained. "Many of these children can be saved by simple techniques of controlling infection well in time. Parents should not lose time in case the child is unwell," she added.

She also lamented the lack of proper training programmes and infrastructure due to financial constraints. Better training programmes and constant education of the public would ensure better child health, which was more vital than managing the health of the adult, she elaborated. She also stressed on the need to work out cost effective modalities so that it was within the reach of one and all.

Paediatric conference begins
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 25 — The three-day second national conference on paediatric intensive care, being organised by the Department of Paediatrics, PGI, under the aegis of the Indian Academy of Paediatric Intensive Care Chapter was inaugurated by Prof B.N.S. Walia, former PGI Director, at Bhargava Auditorium here today.

While delivering the inaugural address, he focused on the development of health services in India. He lamented that a majority of the doctors were heavily burdened with clinical work and those working in academic institutions did not find time to plan new health development projects. And the few who had the time had to face innumerable hurdles at various stages. Prof Walia emphasised on the need to have a dream, a vision and the conviction and perseverance to pursue the dream, convert it into a plan and then act on it.

SPORT

Sport day, prize distribution function held
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Feb 25 — "We may be small but our goals are not so," echoed kindergarten students of Tender Heart School, Sector 33, which celebrated its annual junior sport day-cum-prize distribution function today.

Ms Prem Suri, Principal and founder of the school, said the theme of the function was Run for Fun. The 1,300-odd strength of the school took part in this one-day event. The colourful atmosphere at the school ground was charged with cheerful children.

The Principal asked all teachers to get involved in events like tug-of-war, which was held between male students and male staff and female students and female teachers. Ms Suri said it was basically the synchronisation of body and mind which comes into play.

Prizes were also awarded to students for academic brilliance. Bulbul house won the overall trophy, while Robin house secured the best prize in sport activities. Ms Suri said yoga, aerobics, basketball and handball were part of the daily schedule of students.

Results of various events are as follows: house events — badminton: Gagandeep (Bulbul) 1, Varun Sharma (Skylark) 2, Karanpreet (Kingfisher) 3, Hishwinder (Robin) 4; relay: Bulbul 1, Robin 2, Kingfisher 3, Skylark 4; tug-of-war: Kingfisher 1, Robin 2, Skylark 3, Bulbul 4; dribbling: Robin 1, Kingfisher 2, Bulbul 3, Skylark 4; PG: bunny race: Aditya Sharma 1, Aman 2, Gautanya Mathur 3; tricycle race: Kashish Jain 1, Harlav 2, Baljit Rishi 3; Class II-A: zig-zag race: Rohit 1, Lakshit 2, Harmeet Sodhi 3; 50 m race: Akash Deep Singh 1, Aditi Bansal 2, Ishaan Dhiman 3; Class II-B: zig-zag race: Tushar 1, Akash 2, Sahil 3; 50 m race: Pranav Guglani 1, Utkarsh Saxena 2, Manav 3; Class II-C: zig-zag race: Bhuvneshwari 1, Akashya 2, Sahil 3; 50 m race: Gagan Batra 1, Amanpreet Singh 2, Jaspreet Rana 3; Class II-D: zig-zag race: Ranjot 1, Ishaan 2, Himanshu 3; 50 m race: Rajat Chaudhary 1, Shreyank Maurya 2, Mohit Goel 3; Class III-A: three-legged race: Nalshdeep and Nakul 1, Jaswinder and Rajat 2, Nishant and Shashank 3; sack race: Aakar Sidhu 1, Surbhi 2, Manavjit 3; Class III-B: three-legged race: Ambika and Kartika 1, Shine and Nikita 2; Heena and Kavita 3; sack race: Ayush Khosla 1, Abhinav Mohita 2; Kashish 3; Class III-C: three-legged race: Parth and Siddharth 1, Naman and Arjun 2; Jasjeet and Khushkaran 3; sack race: Gursimran Basra 1, Eshita and Vijay 2; Dhruv Sharma 3; Class III-D: three-legged race: Abtej and Harkabir 1, Namrata and Sonika 2; Geetika and Rachita 3; sack race: Anmol 1, Yavin Sharma 2, Shehbaz Singh 3; Class IV-A: skipping: Jaspreet 1, Dhruv Sharma 2, Rachit 3; obstacle race: Hardik Anand 1, Gurbir Singh 2, Anurag Sharma 3; Class IV-B: skipping: Radha 1, Manmeet 2, Ankush 3; obstacle: Shiv Charan 1, Rahulpreet 2, Rahul Singla 3; Class IV-C: skipping race: Kanika 1, Priya 2, Simran 3; obstacle race: Gagandeep Singh 1, Fatehdeep Singh 2, Akshat Narang 3; Class V-A: obstacle race: Rahul 1, Mukul 2, Karan 3; needle thread: Tanuja and Jaya Bhatia 1, Karishma and Aditi 2, Paramvir and Atul Goel 3; Class V-B: obstacle race: Pranav 1, Shashank 2, Bhavleen 3; needle thread: Anu Kapoor and Gurleen Kaur 1, Kamalpreet and Ritesh Bhatnagar 2; Divey Sawhney and Nikhil 3; Class V-C: obstacle race: Akshay Rana 1, Abhishek Sharma 2, Arsh 3; needle thread: Neha Garg and Ramneek 1, Abhishek and Harsimran 2, Arra and Tanya Verma 3; Class VI: 50 m race: girls — Amandeep Kaur 1, Ndeep 2, Megha Arora 3.

Sunil wins ITF title
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Feb 25 — Sunil Kumar of Chandigarh won the ITF junior tennis singles' title at Rajshahi in Bangladesh last week. He defeated Harut Sophyan, winner of last two ITF junior meets at Chandigarh and Calcutta, 6-3, 6-4.

Earlier, in the semi-finals, Sunil beat Soren Spanner of Denmark, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. Soren had defeated another city boy, Amanjot Singh, in first round. Sunil is the product of Rural Area Tennis Scheme of the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association.

Cricket tourney

The District Panchkula Cricket Association will hold Salzer Cup league cricket tournament at Sector 5 cricket grounds, Panchkula, from March 11. The tournament is open to non-sport quota employees of boards, corporations, insurance companies, banks and other institutions. Entries close on March 5.

Chandigarh win

Chandigarh eves won all their three matches in the 45th Senior National ball badminton championship at Nagpur, which entered the second day today. They beat Haryana, Maharashtra and West Bengal.

ADMINISTRATION

Superintendent denies allegations
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 25 — Mr K.B. Goyal, an office Superintendent of the Chandigarh Administration, has in a written statement denied all the allegations made against him by an employee of the State Transport Authority maintaining that the complaint was malicious, baseless, unfounded and has been planted by some vested interests.

Mr Goyal admitted that a complaint was received against him by the Chandigarh Administration which was supported by an affidavit on which his comments were asked for.

"I have given my comments to the Administration supported by an affidavit denying all the allegations. I have even stated on oath that I have never met the complainant face to face any time during my 32 years of service with the Chandigarh Administration.

The complaint and my affidavit are believed to have been referred to the CBI by the Administration for a preliminary inquiry.

There is no question of the CBI having picked me up or searched my premises or person leading to the recovery of incriminate documentary evidence. All this is a figment of imagination and malicious propaganda against me," Mr Goyal said.

He also maintained that he was the President of the Chandigarh Secretariat Employees Union and the news item, which appeared in the columns of Chandigarh Tribune, was to malign him and damage his reputation.