HEALTH

Immunisation symposium held
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Aug 8 — A symposium on immunisation was held at 9 Air Force Station, Halwara, last evening.

The speakers dwelt on the need for different vaccines for achieving a disease-free society.

Wg Cdr M. S. Chaudhary (gynaecologist) explained the possible causes for the spread of hepatitis-A disease and its preventive measures. He said hepatitis was generally known as jaundice, which was not a disease, but merely a symptom.

Wg Cdr A. K. Baral (anaesthetist) said that hepatitis-B was claiming more lives than AIDS since the hepatitis-B virus was much more infectious. He said all children below five should be subjected to mass immunisation.

Sqn Ldr Arijit Sen (pathologist) dwelt on the multi-drug resistant typhoid and its possible prevention by vaccination and Wg Cdr S M Gupta (ENT specialist) elaborated on chicken-pox.

Apart from 30 officers of the Air Force, the symposium was attended by two sarpanches, Mr Yadwinder Singh Dhaliwal of Sudhar vilage and Mr Davinser Singh of Sohali village near Halwara.

The chief gest, Air Cdre G S Bhogal said that along with children would-be parents should also be vaccinated. He said it was time people were made aware of the fact that chicken-pox was not due to any curse. The symposium was sponsored by Smithkline Beecham, manufacturers of various vaccines.

Seminar on breast-feeding held
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Aug 8 — The Indian Academy of Pediatrics held a weeklong seminar on breast-feeding during the World Breast-feeding Week, from August 1. The Ludhiana branch of the IAP held talks on the subject at various places which included ESI Hospital, Punjab Agricultural University, Extention Library, GTB Hospital, Vardhman Spinning Mills and Government College for Women.

The main objective of the seminar was to emphasise on the importance of mother’s milk for the development of the child. Several experts and child specialists spoke on the issue of issue to promoting breast-feeding. Dr Manorama Verma of Christian Medical College and Dr Rajinder Gulhati, Secretary, IAP, said there were several misconceptions on breast-feeding. He stressed the need for clearing these misconceptions.

The experts said, breast-feeding was necessary for the health of an infant as it built immunity. Dr Rajinder Kaur, Civil Surgeon, Dr Daljit Singh, General Secretary, IAP, Dr Nalini Dutta, SMO, Sahnewal, Dr Surinder Lakhi and Dr A.K.Handa also stressed the importance of mother’s milk.

Blindness: a cause for concern
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Aug 8 — There are about 1.6 million blind children in the world and a child goes blind in the world every minute. Disclosing this here the other day, Dr T.M. Jaison, acting Director of Christian Medical College, said about five lakh blind children were added to the population every year.

He said: It’s time we awaken to the harsh reality that blindness is not only a medical issue but also a developmental one with socio- economic ramifications. Blindness, in addition to being a public health challenge, is also a personal tragedy. Although the prevalence of blindness in children is much less than that in adults and elderly, yet the numbers are an alarming indicator of the situation.

Dr Jaison informed that every third blind person in the world was an Indian. The Eye Department of CMC launched a special awareness programme to educate people about avoidable blindness. The outreach expansive education project of the Eye Department arranges on an average 25 to 30 eye camps in remote or isolated areas where medical facilities are inaccessible. About 2,500 people a year are treated for cataract at these camps.

EDUCATION

PAU gears up for accreditation
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Aug 7 — The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has introduced a process of accreditation of state agricultural universities and constituent colleges. Accreditation is a self-regulation and review process aimed at strengthening and sustaining the quality and integrity of higher education and improving the transferability and marketability of students at the national and international levels.

The accreditation of an institute is depicted through a public statement to the effect that the institute has clearly defined and appropriate objectives, that it is committed to attain basic objectives and has established the infrastructure and environment of achieving these objective on a sustainable basis.

PAU has been chosen for the process of accredition this year and it has formed a time-bound schedule for the process. The first part of the accreditation process is to prepare an “institutional self-study report.” The report will incorporate the missions and goals of the university, its organisation, infrastructure, academic programmes, research and community services, human and fiscal resources, and will highlight the strategies, pin point the weaknesses and the impact analysis.

For the preparation of this report 14 task forces have been constituted. The conveners of the respective task forces will submit their draft documents to the university-level Coordinator, Dean Postgraduate Studies. The draft self-study report will be submitted by the Coordinator to the University Steering Commiittee. The final report will be submitted by the university to the Education Division of the ICAR. The report will be examined by the division and referred to an evaluation team which will visit PAU to validate the report.

The recommendations of the ICAR Education Division and the visiting team on this report will be submitted to the Accreditation Board constituted by the ICAR for the purpose which will give a final decision.

ADMINISTRATION

Show-cause notices issued to MCs
From Our Correspondent

KHANNA, Aug 8 — The Punjab Government has issued show-cause notices to the President of the Municipal Council, Khanna and six other municipal councillors. Mr N.K. Arora, Principal Secretary, Local Bodies, Punjab, vide his orders dated August 4 has issued these notices under Section 16(1) (E) of the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911, alleging misuse of power.

According to information, the council in its meeting on October 25 last year had unanimously passed a resolution to transfer Rs 50 lakh from minor heads to the development of streets. But the opposition members alleged that the president changed this amount from Rs 50 lakh to 65 lakh.

Two municipal councillors, Mr Vijay Sharma and Mr Iqbal Singh, made a complaint against this illegal Act to the Chief Minister, Punjab, who ordered an inquiry to be conducted by the S.D.M. Khanna.

The S.D.M. probed this matter and submitted his report to the Chief Minister and he forwarded this report to the Principal Secretary for further action.

Following this report the Secretary, Local Government, has issued show-cause notices to President Onkar Rai Mehta, Ashok Tewari, MC, Param Jit Singh, MC, Lakhbir Singh, MC, Gurminder Singh Lally, MC, late Narinder Singh Khattar and Ms Poonam Tandon, MC, for their removal from the membership of the municipal council.