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| Monday, November 6, 2000, Chandigarh, India |
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Respiratory disorders
in newborns discussed CHANDIGARH,
Nov 5 — The fourth day of the Millennium Meeting of the Indian, Association of Paediatric Surgeons, organised by the Paediatric Surgery Department at the PGI was marked by paper sessions and CME by leading doctors from India and abroad. Today’s sessions were dedicated to respiratory and liver disorders amongst the newborns. Dr K.L. Narsimhan, Dr S.K. Chowdhary and Prof K.L.N Rao from the PGI presented the outcome of Bilary Atresia from the institute. Prof S. Raut and Prof S. Karmarkar from the BJWHC, Mumbai, discussed liver tumours in newborns and together with Dr N.N. Hombalkar and Dr S. Bhagat presented study based on 100 cases of portoenterostomy for Bilary Atresia in the past three decades. The lectures were followed by ‘meet the professor’ sessions with the celebrities in the field of paediatric surgery from the world over, including Prof Howard Snyder from Philadelphia, Prof David Lloyd from Liverpool, Prof Jayant Radhakrishnan from Illinois, Prof A.E. MacKinnon from Sheffield and Prof A. Miller form Cape Town. Prof Mammen presenting the mridula rohtagi oration spoke on the changing face of paediatric tumours. Tomorrow, on the final day of the conference, there will be a lecture by Prof Karl Storz on advances and maintenance of endoscopic equipments followed by a live operative urology workshop by Prof Howard Snyder. More than 500 delegates, including experts of international repute from India and abroad, are participating in the conference. This is the first time that realising the importance of the role of nursing in paediatric surgery, a parallel training programme has been arranged with the participation of senior nurses from the Sheffield Children’s Hospital, UK. |
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Paediatrician’s job no child’s play CHANDIGARH Sadly lacking, however, is general awareness that babies, as a rule, should be operated upon by a paediatrician and not a general surgeon, stressed the eminent paediatric surgeons from India and abroad while talking to The Tribune, here today. The specialists are in the city in connection with the ongoing millennium meet of the Indian Association of Paediatric Surgeons, at the
PGI. “When a baby need surgery,” says Dr David LLoyd, President , British Association of Paediatric Surgeons, “It is not just the skill of the surgeon which matters but also that of entire team, including nurses, paramedics,
anaesthesists, who have been trained to understand what the baby needs. When dealing with babies, you can make mistake, but not lot of mistake,” he cautions. All paediatric surgeons agree that if for a heart problem, people prefer treatment by cardiologist, then babies, especially those below three need to be looked after by specialists Dr
K.L. Narsimhan, Assistant Professor, Paediatrics Department, PGI, insists that like the USA and the UK, there should be rule barring general surgeons from operating on very small babies. Doctors also insist that for any family planning programme in the country to succeed there should be a good paediatric care set up. Talking about the vital signs to predict if the baby is in trouble, Prof. K.K.
Varma, Professor Emiretus, Paediatric surgery, Calicut and rated as one of the best paediatric surgeons in the country said there were vital signals for the parents which indicated when their new-born needed help. “If the baby has difficulty in breathing or has a higher rate than the normal 40 per minute, it means he needs immediate attention. Number two sign to get worried about if there is frothing of saliva at the mouth which the baby keeps producing again and again. It indicates a blockade in the gullet. A baby vomiting yellow stained fluid means a liver problem. An infant having a distended abdomen may indicate an obstructive intestine,” adds Prof
Varma. The infant is supposed to pass a black coloured stool in the first 24 hours of its life. “Inability do so indicate that either there are no nerves in the intestine as in the condition called Hirschsprung or there is a blockage or no opening for the stool to pass out,” says Prof
Varma. Moreover a male baby when passing urine in drops, which is quite a common problem, indicates a blockage in the urinary system. A normal male baby passes out urine in a form of forceful fountain. There are some obvious malformation like physical defects which the parents can notice immediately, like cleft lip, hole in the palate, abnormalities in hands or other limbs. “The important factor is that these problems should be solved immediately and by a paediatric surgeon”, asserts Dr
Varma. Dr Harsh Vardhan, a consultant practising at Delhi says child health care is lacking, both in public as well as in the private sector in the country. “Out of 600 paediatric surgeons in the country as many as 500 are based in metropolitan and big cities. Our major problem also is that we get cases badly spoiled by general surgeons which are referred to us usually very late. “A simple operation for testes not having descended in male child has to be carried out before the child completes one year. A general surgeon will like to delay it till the child is about six .By this time it is too late,” says Dr Harsh
Vardhan. Doctors insist that unlike the common belief, babies are not young adults. They are physiologically different and so is their oxygen and drug requirement.. “A 1.6 kg baby is different from the 2 kg baby and both need to be treated differently. A newborn can be lost if operated upon in an air conditioned theatre, as it happens in
hypotehrmia. A baby needs specialised nutritional programme as it doesn’t have enough reserves, which is not the case with an adult.” Dr LLoyd feels that the reason paediatric surgery has taken long to develop is that like everywhere else in the world in the UK too, till about 40 years ago, the newborns were looked after by general surgeons. “Babies,especially premature are different and need to be treated accordingly. Newborn babies have no reserves and cannot survive without nutrition. Something like going for a picnic without food. For 1 kg body weight they just have 80 ml of blood out of which we cannot afford to lose even a teaspoon. All of which requires specialised attention, making it important for a country to invest in neonatal units.” Dr Narsimhan advocates a paediatric health care as well as national health programme for all. “Babies consume proportion of reserves quite out of their size. In India, 40 per cent of the population is of children and a new born has at least 60 years of productive life ahead of him. Maybe instead of investing huge amounts for terminal patients it would be wise to build up a good child health care
programme. An awareness campaign as part of the national health programme for all expecting mothers to take folic acid could help reduce congenital defects in the neural tube, a very common disease amongst the poor.” |
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MEDICINE CME 2000 CHANDIGARH With a large number of patients suffering from hypertension and diabetes these days, two sessions were dedicated to discussions on these ailments. Dr Sanjay Jain, Assistant Professor at the PGI, spoke on the recent drugs for hypertension. One of the major barriers, he said, was the fact that more than 60 to 70 per cent of the people suffering from hypertension were not aware of the fact. The only way to know whether a person suffered from hypertension was by monitoring the blood pressure. Besides, he added, out of those who were aware, half of them did not go in for the treatment. Dr M. Murlidharan, also from the PGI, spoke about the common errors committed by practioners in management of diabetes and the ways to avoid them. He said the aim should not be to lower blood glucose only, but to take care of the patients including the care about their diet, weight, infections and related complications. Dr D.Bahera, Department of Pulmonary Medicine at PGI, discussed recent drugs including bronchodialators, effective in the management of bronchial asthma. He also talked about the drugs which act by reducing inflammation in the airways of patients. Dr G.S. Wander, cardiologist from the DMC, Ludhiana, discussed the role of fats in causation of heart diseases and how to lower the incidence of the heart disease by lowering the lipid levels. Dr Vinay Sakhuja, Head of the Department of Nephrology, PGI, discussed the practical strategies in the management of chronic renal failure. The lectures were followed by a medical quiz and interactive discussion with the panel of specialists from various fields. About 200 delegates from Chandigarh and adjoining states attended the
CME. |
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TB control seminar CHANDIGARH |
Convincing win for Aral CHANDIGARH , Nov 5 — Aral of Mumbai won the team-of-four duplicate event in the All-India Chandigarh Open Bridge Championships that concluded here today in the Sector 10 Skating Rink. The Aral team comprising V.M. Lal, Avinash Gokhale, Vinay Desai and Suhas Vaidya walked away with the prize without taxing their brains much. The team of Central Secretariat Club comprising S.R. Malhotra, Harbhajan Singh, Ganpat Rai, K.B. Sikand and C.S. Bedi had a disciplined approach. Earlier, the Aral team was pitted against Ashwini Mehta’s team of Toppers. Chandigarh teams did well. The team of H. Sidhu narrowly missed reaching the semi-finals after losing to the eventual winners.The open-pairs event attracted 42 direct entries and the final of the 26 boards saw V.M. Lal and Avinash Gokhale win in the North-South position after aggregating 204 match points, scoring a double. M.S. Sharma and Amarjeet of Delhi stood second with 193.5 points. Maj-Gen N.K. Aggarwal and Ravi Batra with 187 points stood third. Mr Tejinder Singh Laschar, Additional Economic Advisor in the Union Ministry of Finance, was the chief guest and he gave away the prizes to the winners. PGI XI win Batting first, GCC made 185 runs for the loss of six wickets in 25 overs. In reply, PGI XI achieved the target in 20.4 overs with four wickets still in hand. In another match, Khalsa XI reached the semi-finals of the meet after beating Mohali Gymkhana XI by six wickets.  |
Excise board comes out
with citizens’ charter CHANDIGARH According to the charter, the department will settle any disputes relating to the declarations or assessments within 10 working days of the receipt of the written or oral explanation. Besides, all declarations, intimations and applications will be acknowledged on the spot and in any case within seven days of their receipts. And the department will respond to all communications within 15 working days of its receipts. All due amounts will be refunded within 30 working days of the
receipt. Where the consignment is complete and correct, it would be released with eight hours of filing the electronic declaration and within 24 hours of filing the paper declaration in case of exports. And for imports, it would be released within 24 hours of filing the electronic declaration and in 72 hours of filing the paper declaration, it says. Saying that complete registration formalities within 48 hours of receiving the application will be done, the charter assures that the input duty documents, on which MODVAT credit had been availed off, would be returned within seven days of submission. Apart from this, complete examination and clearance of export consignment would be done within eight hours of receiving the intimation. Besides, 15 days advance intimation will be given before undertaking audits of the records. The charter wants all uniformed officers , who deal with public, to wear name badges and carry identity cards with them. Personal and business information disclosed to the department will be kept confidential, it says, adding that the clearance of consignments will be withheld only after explaining the reasons for the same and full opportunity to explain will be given before passing any final order. With a view to avoiding harassment to the small-scale sector, these units will be visited only with proper authority from senior
officers. The tax compliance record will be recognised and security/surety will not be insisted upon. And the baggage of international passengers will be opened only after explaining the reasons and in their presence. It says that no seized document will be withheld beyond 60 days except where they are to be relied upon in the departmental proceedings. Full information about the appeal procedures, and the authorities with whom appeals could be filed, will be provided. If you have a complaint or grievance you may take up the matter with the Public Grievance Committee headed by the Commissioner and/or Zonal Grievance Committee headed by the Chief Commissioner, the charter adds. |
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MCC to take up recarpeting work CHANDIGARH Giving this information, Mr Puranjit Singh, Chief Engineer, said that the total cost has been worked out to about Rs 3 crore and the work willl be completed in two phases by May, 2001. Of the total of about 130 V-6 roads in the city, work on about 85 had already finished. The leftovers included in Sectors 2,3,4,5,7-A,7-B, 9-A,9-B, 9-D, 15-A,C,D; V-6 roads in Sectors 18-A,B,C,D, 19-A,C,D, 20-B, 22-A, C and D, 23-A, Sectors 27-A, 29 A,B and C, 32-C; V-6 roads in Sector 34-C and D, 35-D, 36-C; and D and 38-C; 45-B and 46-D. To speed up the work the corporation intended to start the work from three parts in the city — Sector 2 in North, Sector 47 in South, besides Sector 30. The work will be undertaken simultaneously as 50% of the total budget had already been approved. “Once the work is completed by 2001, we will start afresh the recarpeting of roads,” he said. Ms Ranjana Shahi, one of the councillors, had recently written to the Road Committee to consider on a priority basis the recarpeting of the V-6 roads. The Chief Engineer further disclosed that the MC planned to recarpet the V-4 and V-5 roads in the city in the next year. Perturbed over the poor condition of roads, some of the councillors have even expressed the desire that the roads be recarpeted from the Ward Development Fund, it is learnt. Meanwhile, at a special budget review meeting chaired by the Commissioner, it was decided to accord priority to the developmental works of B and R. The revised estimates are being prepared for Phase IV Kajauli water works, the Kalagram project. |
Migrant labourers' latest act Migrant labourers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have always cocked a snook at the feeble laws framed by the Chandigarh Administration but their latest act may be hard to digest even for the administration.
All along Dakshin marg dividing Sectors 21 and 34 and Sectors 22 and 35 squatters have held fort for years without the administration bothering to remove them. The squatters are back within days of their removal. After a lot of hue and cry from residents of surrounding houses a barbed wire came up all along Dakshin marg on both sides to prevent the squatters from using the vacant land that may be valued at crores. Within days of the emergence of the barbed wire the migrants tore down the concrete poles and wires. So in the end the cost of the barbed wire has gone down the drain while the squatters remain there smiling all the way. One more feeble attempt to remove unauthorised people from government land has fallen flat on its face. It seems some of the administration’s senior officers need to shift to the row of houses next to the Kapur Service Station to know what it is like living next to an open air slum.
Rishi’s book Chandigarh-based Padmashri Dr W.R. Rishi’s book, “India and Russia — Linguistic and Cultural Affinity,” has been liked by the Russian Ambassador to India, Mr Alexander M.
Kadakin. In a letter to Dr Rishi, the Russian diplomat says: “The book is very informative and useful in respect of the study of cultural and linguistic similarities of our countries”. The Russian while appreciating Dr Rishi’s pioneering work on a Russian-Hindi dictionary says the dictionary serves as a good source for Russian indologists in their research work. A copy of the book was also handed over to the Russian Premier Vladimir Putin on his recent visit to India. Mr Putin has conveyed his sincere gratitude, informs the Russian diplomat. Dr Rishi has written a lot about the Romani culture, which is valued in Russia also.
Engineers’ meet Later this month the city will host a three-day international conference of engineers on construction disaster and environment management. The venue will be the Panjab University auditorium. A total of 82 papers have been selected by a panel of experts, according to Mr G.S. Bachal, Co-Chairman of the organising committee of the Institution of Engineers. Fortyeight of these papers are on the construction industry while the rest are on disaster management and environment management. The conference begins on November 18. An exhibition is to focus on the construction industry, disaster and environment management. It will also provide a platform to the policy makers and experts from national and international agencies dealing with the subjects. The Federation of Engineers Institution of South and Central Asian Countries will be holding its meeting on the last day November 20.
“Treebhuvan” chowk The influx of migrant population has led to several demographic changes in the city but this one may be too difficult for residents of the entire region to digest. Migrant labourers, among themselves, use a strange pronunciation to refer to the Tribune Chowk which is one of the oldest landmarks in the city located on the Chandigarh-Delhi highway. The roundabout is synonymous with the building of the Tribune group of newspapers. The
labourers, who just cannot pronounce Tribune pronounce it is “Tribhoon” or “Treebhuvan”. So do not be startled if the rickshaw puller in Chandigarh calls it the “treebhuvan”, oops sorry, The Tribune
chowk.
Eat and earn Rotary Club, Chandigarh, is thinking of raising money for its dental van project for slums and villages in a novel way. On November 20, all the members have been requested by past Rotary International president
R.K. Saboo to be present in Hot Millions — 2, Sector 17, which will be made available by owner Col
A.B. Singh. The idea is to serve the gathering voluntarily to generate money. Each member may serve for an hour or so, and also earn some tip. So you pay for your own food and the money is stored for charitable works, but don’t forget you also earn some tip. About 40 per cent collection of the day will be diverted to funds of the club. The food that HM’s is providing that day is also reported to be
subsidised. The cause, after all, is genuine.
Honour for discotheque For those on the dance circuit of the city, there is some good news. But only if they have been partying at the Sector 9 discotheque Aerizzona, which is now being talked about all over the nation as one of the hottest and the most happening hangout. The discotheque, which opened about two years back with pop star Anamika inaugurating it, featured in the October issue of the magazine Cosmopolitan as one of the 20 most happy hangouts in the country. The honour has come following a survey conducted in all major cities of the nation. Aerizzona made it to the list, and now it finds itself listed along with places as reputed as The Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai, Float, Park Royal, Delhi, Djinns, Hyatt Regency, Delhi and Marine Drive, Mumbai. Owner of Aerizzona, Mr Surinder Singh, will now have a genuine reason to hike the couple fee for entry to the joint. Reputation, after all, comes at the cost of labour!
Novel investment? Punjab Kala
Bhavan, Sector 16, which is hosting the World Punjabi Conference in December this year, has thought of a plan to generate revenue for the show. So on the days of the conference-cum the cultural show, (December 22, 23 and 24) the officials plan to sell out the 300-odd chairs of the Kala
Bhavan, temporarily. The scheme is — pay Rs 5,000 for a chair and get your name written on its back. So during the cultural
programme, you need not stand at all. No matter at what time you come for the show, your chair is secured, and so is the seating. The organisers say that they will get Rs 15 lakh in the process. The only thing which remains to be seen is how much this scheme is lapped up. For some it might be difficult to pay Rs 5,000 for a chair!
Different cattle All over the world, cows and buffaloes go out to graze at the crack of dawn and head back home when dusk falls. But in Chandigarh a remarkable change has taken place. The animals leave villages like Burail in the evening, to return to their owners only the next morning. During the night, these four-legged creatures paint the town (Chandigarh) green with dung, destroy well-manicured lawns (especially now, since the Chandigarh Administration has forced the house owners to do away with hedges) and cause innumerable accidents. Mind you, these are no stray cattle. Many of them are accompanied by their owners. The road dividing Sectors 35 and 43 is witness to an unusual spectacle almost every morning. A tall person carrying a stick, rides along with buffaloes on a spanking Bullet motor cycle to guide these towards Burail.
Novel prize Yadavindra Public School at SAS Nagar, in an innovative way to spread awareness about environment, presented a thematic study by the students of Class II and IV last Saturday. An interesting part was a quiz arranged for the parents based on questions ranging from which is the plant that can survive outdoor and even frost in winters to the tallest grass, to the desert plant that can store water. The questions were simple yet requiring knowledge of the environment. Anyway, the most interesting highlight of the morning besides the colourful performances by the youngsters was a choice of prizes for the winner of the quiz. Each of the three winners got a potted plant. What better way to convey the message to grow more trees to save the environment?
Parent-friendly With the launching of the website “www.edukosh.com” on Saturday, problems of the parents going to get their child admitted to a school will be solved. The hassles to keep a watch on the registration schedule prior to the admissions in the schools and running from school to school to enquire dates will exist no more. The portal designed by the students of Punjab Engineering College will be providing all the information pertaining to the admission in the schools of the city. The bonus point comes as the listing of the curricula of the schools online so that going through it the parents can decide the best school for their wards.
Free but sick The free telephone installed by the DoT (now BSNL) at the reception of the Command Hospital in Chandimandir is “sick”. The old instrument remains out of order for a considerable time putting the patients and the attendants to a lot of inconvenience. Though there is an STD booth nearby, yet for making local calls the visitors have to give Rs 2 change, which a majority of the visitors do not have. Will some Good Samaritan or for that matter BSNL authorities replace the “defective” equipment? —Sentinel |
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