HEALTH

Infant mortality rate 3.3 pc in UT
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 15 — As many as 72 out of every 1000 infants in the country do not celebrate their first birthday. Out of these, more than half die in the first month of their birth. In Chandigarh, the mortality rate of infants stands at 33 out of 1000 with every 20 newborns dying in the first month itself.

A large number of population in the country is dying due to reasons which can be easily managed with a very small investment. One of the main aims of National Newborn Week beginning tomorrow is to focus attention on the newborn care in the country, which currently is grossly inadequate.

“These figures can be easily brought down by investing very small amount daily on an expecting mother,” says Dr M. P. Minocha, Director, Family Welfare, Chandigarh Administration. on the eve of the week.

Dr Minocha stressed that the main cause of majority of these deaths were low birth weight of less than 2.5 kg and pre-term birth. Even in Chandigarh one out of every four newborns fall in either one or both the categories. The two problems could be easily rectified by improving maternal health and curing anaemia and hypertension in the expecting mother, which happened to be the root cause of most of the neonatal problems.

One of the main objectives of this week is to provide information about basic care of the newborns, their problems and advances in the field to doctors, obstetricians, nurses, paramedics, house surgeons, interns and mothers all over the country.

In Chandigarh, a series of lectures are being organised by the Chandigarh chapter of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics along with the Chandigarh Administration at PGI, GMCH, Sector 32. and Government Hospital, Sector 16. Prof Anil Narnag, Dr Banani Poddar at GMCH and Dr Rupinder Narang at General Hospital at Sector 16 will be acting as facilitators and will lead the interactive groups .

He says, “the survival of a baby depends essentially on the baby's gestational age, its weight, presence or absence of breathing problems, congenital abnormalities or malformations and infections. The smaller the infant, more are the chances of immature lungs and infection rate. The risk is maximum before the foetus completes 24 weeks of gestation as most of the hospitals in the country are not equipped to handle pre term babies”.

Dr Minocha added that women needed to be given good care and balanced diet during pregnancy to maintain nutritional and immunological care which prevented them from having any deficiencies and infections, thereby resulting in abnormality in the baby.

Experts say even after birth early detection of danger signals in a newborns can help avert certain deaths. These includes poor respiration, child becoming blue, which is either due to heart disease or hypothermia. Besides if the infant is cold to touch, is vomiting or having abdominal distention and is bleeding from anywhere it also means that he needs immediate help. 

196 blood units donated
Tribune News Service

SAS NAGAR, Nov 15 — As many as 196 units of blood was collected at the fourth blood donation camp in the memory of Comrade Shiva Gautam which was organised by the JCT Electronics Employees Union and JCT Workers Union on the factory premises here on Wednesday.

Mr Mohan Singh Bains, secretary of the JCT Electronics Employees Union, said the camp was inaugurated by Dr BC Gupta, Secretary of Labour and Employment, Punjab. Meanwhile, an eye camp was organised at Gian Jyoti Institute of Management and Technology in Phase 2 here. 

Sex decisions are man’s domain
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 15 — Data indicates that husbands like to have almost complete physical control over their wives, whether it is the question of when to have the first child, which gynaecologist to consult, which method of contraceptive to use and whether to go in for abortion.

In the gender-power equation in sexual relations, 99.5 per cent of males in India believe that the wife should primarily follow the instructions given by him and in 50 to 60 per cent cases, the man alone takes the decisions concerning reproductive health. Even in cases where a joint decision is reported, it is the husband’s decision which prevails.

Speaking about sexual support to women in seeking reproductive health care, on the concluding day of the workshop on Reproductive health care and research —issues and perspectives, organised by the ICMR and the Department of Community Medicine, PGI, Dr Sandhya Berge from Baroda said basic reproductive rights of men and women in the country were being addressed poorly. “Most women are denied the power to make reproduction decisions, but are expected to take responsibility. The neglect of sexual and reproductive rights of women are rooted in the gender-based discrimination that designates them as subordinates and less empowered than men,” she said, adding that two out of five males did not even discuss family size or health with their wives.

The desire of men to control reproductive goals extends to sexual behaviour. Dr M.C. Watsa from Mumbai, expressing his views about male participation in reproductive health care, stressed that though men had a limited option for contraception, they had to participate equally by understanding that a woman’s reproductive and sexual health depended mainly on appropriate sexual behaviour of her partner. “The changing sexual behaviour of men should be met with appropriate strategies, planned with the help of young persons themselves. Sex education is the basis of any successful reproductive and sexual health programme,” he added.

Today’s discussions centered around male awareness and attitude towards reproductive health problems of women, including their sexual behaviour regarding contraceptive practices. Male participation and involvement emerged as a promising strategy for improving the quality of women’s reproductive health care. The participants stressed on a need to strengthen existing health care facilities to improve its quality, besides improving male and female contraceptive methods.

To improve the coverage and acceptability of contraceptives by individuals, satisfied couples and volunteers have to work in tandem. Health education programmes for adolescents have to be strengthened by covering their entire health needs. Delegates also urged for a review of the MTP Act to provide safe abortion services. The role of the private sector in delivering health care services, especially sterilisation, and male participation in introducing family-centered approach in reproductive health care were also recommended, besides counselling and technical skills among health care workers.

SPORT

ITBP sports meet opens
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 15 — The 20th inter-sector annual sports meet and the first boxing championship of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police got off to a colourful start at the Basic Training Centre at Bhanu near here today.

Besides a marchpast by athletes and boxers, a colourful ribbon PT display and a karate demonstration, followed by firing of machine gun volleys and release of balloons, marked the opening ceremony. The chief guest, Mr B.L. Handa, ITBP DIG, Himachal Pradesh, took the salute.

A total of 225 athletes and 34 boxers from seven sectors of the ITBP — Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir-II, Logistics and Communication (L&C), Gharwal, Kumaon, and Training — are participating in the meet. By the end of the day, Logistic and Communications Sector was leading the tally with 55 points, followed by Jammu and Kashmir-II with 30 points and Himachal Pradesh with 28 points.

Results — 1500 m: V.P. Shammi (Gharwal) 1, Satpal (L&C) 2, V. Lamang (Gharwal) 3; 10,000 m: Bansi Lal (H.P.) 1, Satyapal (L&C) 2, Data Ram (J&K II) 3; high jump: Sukhvir Singh (L&C) 1, Rajpal Singh (J&K-II) 2, John Mathews (Training) 3; 4x400 m relay: Mukesh Kumar, Tejvir Singh, Mohinder Singh and Urba Dutt Joshi (L&C) 1, L. Nath, Saju C.R., Ravinder Kumar and Ajay Kumar (J&K-II) 2, Sanjay Singh, Kashmir Singh, Karnail Singh and Kundan Singh (H.P.) 3.

Cricket title

DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, bagged the under-14 title in the UT Inter-School Cricket Tournament by overpowering St Stephen’s School, Sector 45, by seven wickets. Third place in this section was bagged by Shivalik Public School, Sector 41, which outplayed Vivek High School, Sector 38, by 10 wickets.

Brief scores: St Stephen’s-45: 84 all out in 25 overs (Ankit 14, Guneet 12, Chetan 10, Naresh 3 for eight, Amanjit 3 for 11 and Narender 3 for 14); DAVSSS-8: 85 for three in 14.2 overs (Rajneesh 21 no., Abhijit 15 n.o., and Gurkirat 14).

Hockey tourney

GGS College for Women, Sector 26, Chandigarh and MCM DAV College for Women, Sector 36, won their respective matches in the Panjab University Inter-College Hockey (Women) Tournament being played here on Wednesday at the PU grounds.

Football league

The Chandigarh Football Association will hold the UT Senior Football League from Thursday at the Football Stadium, Sector 17. According to Mr Ravinder Talwar, president of the CFA, as many as 12 teams are expected to participate in the tournament.

ADMINISTRATION

City taxi stands to go hi-tech
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 15 — Pucca booths with telephone-cum-office facilities will come up at six taxi stands located in various parts of the city. A direction to this effect has recently been issued by the Chandigarh Administration to the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, which has to construct these booths.

These newly built-up booths will be made at the taxi stands at Sector 16 General Hospital, Sector 17 Bus Stand, Sector 17 (near SCO No: 33 -34), Sector 22-B (near Hotel Sunbeam) and Sector 35-B(near Piccadily chowk) and near Government Hospital in Sector 32-B on Dakshin Marg. The UT Finance Secretary has approved the proposal sent by the Chief Architect in this regard. However, the MC has sought some modification in the existing design so as to provide more place for the drivers. The sites will be auctioned once the design is finalised, it is learnt.

All this is in accordance with the 1967 policy formulated by the then UT Chief Engineer. The demand of the Taxi Workers’ Union for the construction of an office of size 10 by 10 at the taxi stands was considered. It was also decided that taxi stands should be classified into two categories viz category-A where telephone booths-cum-office shall be permitted and category-B will just be parking place for taxis with no facility for telephone. Accordingly the taxt stand sites in Sectors 3, 27, 22 ( near Aroma hotel), Sector 10, Sector 12 (at the entrance of the university), Sector 17 within the bus terminus and along v-4 roads were included under category-A whereas the remaining stands were put under category-B.

Keeping in view the above directions, 4 built-up booths were constructed at taxi stands at Sectors 2, 12, 15 and 22-C.

It may be recalled that the president, Taxi Workers’ Union has in a representation to the Adviser to the Administrator pointed out that the decision of the Administration to provide built-up booths cum office at the taxi stands had not been completely implemented till date. It further mentions that up to now 54 taxi stand sites have been notified and five other places have also been earmarked to be used as taxi stands. The representation also highlights the discrimination as only four built-up booths have been provided so far.

The union subsequently filed a writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court when the anti-encroachment staff threatened to remove the tents erected by the members in the absence of pucca booths on the approved taxi stand sites.

Following this, the HC has issued directions asking the union members to send a representation to the Administration within a week asking them to provide built-up booths. The Administration on receipt of this request will take a decision within eight weeks and till then the tents at the approved taxi stands will not be dislodged.

Anti-encroachment drive continues
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 15 — Teams of the enforcement wing of the Municipal Corporation (MC) today carried on with the drive to remove encroachments from outside the residences in Sector 19-A. Among these houses was the house of the UT Chief Engineer, Mr R. K. Jain, located opposite the government dispensary.

The hedges outside Mr Jain's corner house were removed since they had grown much above the mandatory height. People of the nearby houses were facing problems as the high hedge would block the view of the road turn. Mr jain when contacted said that “I had myself asked the MC team to remove the hedges outside my house. In fact, I had asked the authorities to remove them much earlier, but they had told me that the same will be removed once the work of road recarpeting starts in the area.”

The authorities had yesterday cleared the encroachments outside the residence of a former minister's son despite stiff opposition.

Meanwhile, the drive to remove illegal structures extending up to road berms in Indira Colony, Mani Majra carried on for the third day today with few such structures demolished. The teams also visited the areas in Sector 15,19 and 22 where encroachments were removed earlier only to ensure that they had not come up again.