HEALTH

Ethics committee educates doctors
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 5 — The Ethics Committee of the Chandigarh Ophthalmological Society, which met here today, outlined certain minimum standards which the opthalmologists should observe during practice. The committee said they should do so to avoid unnecessary surgery and save themselves from getting bogged down by the Consumer Protection Act.

Dr Amod Gupta, Head of the Eye Department of the PGI, said doctors should abstain from criticising the lack of advanced equipment in a particular institution. A doctor should help the patient without passing disparaging remarks against the clinical acumen of the previous specialist, he said.

Dr O.P. Sharma said non-ophthalmological and non-medical personnel should not be allowed to examine or prescribe any treatment to school children and others. Dr Ashwani Dhir advocated that the eye surgery should only be conducted in hospitals. He said unhygienic conditions and many other factors were not congenial for surgery in the free eye-camps organised often.

Dr Ashok Sharma and Dr B.K. Gupta advised that practitioners of one system of medicine should not prescribe medicines from another system. Patients with eye problems should not go to quacks even for simple medications.

Dr R. Kumar, President of the Chandigarh Ophthalmological Society, presided over the meeting.

Lectures on hypertension
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 5 — The PGI Doctors’ Alumni Association will be organising an update on diabetes and hypertension on May 13 at PGI Lecture Theatre 1.

According to Dr K.L. Gupta, Additional Professor of Nephrology, eminent speakers from Delhi and neighbouring medical colleges will take part. Some of the topics to be discussed include Diabete mellitus — changing scenario; Newer drugs in management of diabetes; Coronary Artery disease — relation to diabetes and hypertension — recent concepts; Pregnancy-related hypertension; Hypertensive emergencies in Children. The lectures will be followed by a panel discussion.

Day care surgery — an emerging trend
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 5 — We have already imported ‘coke’ and ‘Mc Donald’ culture from the USA, now is the turn of the day care surgery unit. Such a unit is a facility where a surgical procedure can be performed under general anaesthesia or regional anaesthesia without overnight hospitalisation. Usually it is situated in the same campus of a hospital or away from it — with a reception, operating rooms and a recovery. ‘‘There are about 2000 such units in America and about 60 per cent of routine elective surgery is done in such units’’ said Dr Uma Pandit, Prof of Anaesthesia from Michigan university USA. She was one of the six speakers taking part in a panel discussion on day-care or outpatient, surgery. The panel discussion was held by the Chandigarh branch of the Indian Society of Anaesthetists, keeping in mind the commencement of such a unit at the New OPD block of the PGI, Chandigarh in the near future.

Prof Mrs J. Wig from the Department of Anaesthesia, PGI, moderated the discussion. She said, ‘‘benefits of such a unit include reduced cost, less laboratory tests, less hospital infection, less psychological stress of hospitalisation, especially in children, and early return to work, family and home’’.

Dr G.S. Kochhar, formerly Assistant Professor Anaesthesia at PGI and at present president of the IMA, Chandigarh, discussed setting up such a unit in the private sector and kind of patients suitable for such facility ‘‘This will be easy to schedule the surgery at the convenience of both surgeon and patient’’ he said.

Prof K.K. Gombar, Head of the Anaesthesia Department at GMC, Chandigarh, emphasised the need for short acting anaesthetic drugs which are required for quick recovery.

Dr Rajinder Singh, Additional Professor of Surgery at PGI, discussed the various types of surgeries which can be done in such a unit — for example, hernia, superficial tumours, piles, varicose veins, biopsies, endoscopies, simple fractures, removing tonsils, cataracts, eyelid surgery, tooth extraction etc. With advancement of laparoscopy and laser technology more complicated cases would be taken up in future.

Dr S.K. Malhotra, Additional Professor, Department of Anaesthesia, PGI, explained the various criteria which decide the safe discharge from recovery to home after day surgery. ‘‘Most patients are allowed to drive a vehicle and join their work after 24 hours of surgery’’, he said.

Dr Indu Bala, Additional Professor from Department of Anaesthesia, PGI, discussed various regional and local blocks in such a setting. These blocks reduce the cost further and are quite safe for sending the patients home after surgery on the same day.

With such a pace of advancement in this field the day is not far when we will have ‘‘hospital hotels’’ and ‘‘recovery inns’’.

Anti-malaria drive launched
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 5 — The Director, Health Services, UT, Dr Joginder Singh, this morning launched anti malaria drive in the city by flagging off various teams. These teams were pressed into action for the treatment of the choe area running through Sectors 3, 10, 16, 23, 36, 42 and Attawa.

The malaria wing had earlier during a survey of the city found that the long stretch of the choe area is the potential source of mosquito breeding. The campaign will now include anti-larval measures in the choe area, which will help curb the nuisance of mosquitoes.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Joginder Singh emphasised the need to involve people, public representatives and NGOs for better results.

Dr G.C Bansal, Assistant Director, Malaria, said that timely launch of the anti-malaria drive in the city will help reduce the mosquito density in the city.

SPORT

Indian hockey needs money: Cedric
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, May 5 — ''Hockey in India needs Vitamin M (money) to get the desired results," said Cedric D' Souza, a former Indian hockey coach. He was in the city for a few days in connection with his Alchemy Sports Promotion Network (ASPN) programme. The programme was launched to promote general physical fitness levels in school children of the city.

Cedric praised the Indian Hockey Federation officials for providing the much-needed incentives. India recently won the four-nation hockey tournament at Perth in Australia. He said five years ago, the management of the sport had been good, but since then, the IHF and players had suffered humiliation from various quarters.

He said the Sydney Olympics being only four months away, there was a hope for the Indian hockey team. "Though we won the gold medal in the 1998 Bangkok Asiad after many years, it did wonders for the morale of our players," he said.

Cedric said cricket had almost killed the growth of other sport in the country. He said even after the match-fixing scandal, cricket continued to be in the news. He said the other sport like hockey were given only marginal coverage in newspapers.

Cedric, in 1998, was made the head of a hockey academy at Jalandhar which selected 25 boys for training. He said, after another round of yearly screening, 16 of them were dropped and another 16 added to fill the gap, past year. This academy is being run by the Ramesh Chander Memorial Society. It provides free education, boarding and lodging to the trainees. He said Jagdeep Singh Gill, a former international hockey player, regularly coached players at the academy. Once a week every month, Cedric himself monitors their performance.

He said he had always wanted to run such an academy. The boys at the academy are from towns near Jalandhar like Kapurthala and are rather strong.

Regarding the Indian women's hockey team's poor performance, he said, "The team should not have depended on seniors only. The absence of four senior players proved costly in the recent pre-Olympics qualifying tournament in Milton Keynes. India finished at the bottom of the table in this tournament.

Cedric said Bhaskaran was doing a fine job with the Indian men's team. He said the team should try to remove its weaknesses which it had noticed in the Perth hockey tournament. He said four months were enough to achieve the objective. "We should continue our peak performance in the Olympics as well," he said.

Cedric said his ASPN programme was aimed at talent scouting for the future players of the country.

Cedric, a former Indian goalkeeper, was the coach of the Indian team in the 1994 World Cup in Sydney, the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and Champions Trophy in 1995. He said more money was required to be invested in the domestic circuit to restore the lost glory of Indian hockey.

Young roller hockey stars
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, May 5 — Young achievers owe their success to the support of their parents, coaches and institution. Priyanka Sharma and Amrita Singh, both aged 14 and roller-skating champions, are no different.

Priyanka, a Class IX student of Hansraj Public School in Sector 6 of Panchkula, two years ago, won a gold medal at the 35th National Skating (roller hockey) Championship at Pune. She repeated the performance at the 36th National Skating Meet in Visakhapatnam. She trains at Hansraj Club under the guidance of Balwinder Singh Johal.

Priyanka was selected for the 8th Asian Roller Skating Championship in China where India won a bronze medal. In the 37th National Skating Championship at the Sector 7 KB DAV Centenary School in Chandigarh, she helped Haryana win a gold medal. In November last, when skating was introduced in 45th National School Games at Moga, she won a gold medal for her state in roller hockey. She said her Principal, Dr Rajni Thareja, had always supported and motivated her.

Amrita Singh, a student of St Stephen's School in Sector 21 of Panchkula, also helped the state win a gold medal at the 45th National School Games at Moga past year. Amrita is also coached by Balwinder Johal. She attended an advanced training course in the USA. She was the youngest player at the Asian Skating Meet in China. At the 37th National Skating Meet in Chandigarh, Amrita won a gold medal in roller hockey. Amrita said her aim was to perform well at the international level and she was waiting for the right opportunity.

Priyanka and Amrita practice hard at the Hansraj Public School skating rink for four hours everyday.