The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

HEALTH

‘Early detection helps prevent breast cancer’
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 7 — Experts say that 2 to 3 per cent of the women in the urban areas are prone to breast cancer.

According to an ongoing study conducted by the Department of Radiodiagnosis, PGI, on the role of mammography screening in detection of non-palpable cancer between the age group 35 to 65, two out of 105 women, randomly screened, were found to have cancerous lesions in their breasts.

The project has been sanctioned by the Department of Science and Technology Cell of the Chandigarh Administration. The objective of the project is to obtain histological confirmation of diagnosis in all suspicious cases using clinical ultrasound or mammography guided techniques. Besides, another aim is to assess the feasibility and cost effectiveness of conducting a larger community based mammography screening programme in the U.T.

The only way to reduce mortality due to breast cancer, says Prof Sudha Suri, head, Department of Radiodiagnosis, is to detect it at an early stage. “Treatment of early stage breast cancer is not only more effective but potentially less disfiguring and toxic,” she says.

Keeping this in view, the field workers in the project have gone door to door, initially in sector 11, urging women above 35 years of age to voluntarily come forward for mammography screening in the PGI.

According to Dr Madhu Gulati, Associate Professor in the Department of Radiodiagnosis, PGI, and one of the key investigators in the project said, mammography is a simple x-ray of the breast. “It is important because cancer in its earliest stage may be too small to feel as a lump or tissue change”.

“Surgery to remove cancerous lesion is possible only in the early stage,” cautions Prof Suri. Breast conservation surgery involves removal of tumour along with a portion of the surrounding normal breast tissue. Any delay can mean removal of the entire breast and could even be fatal, he added.

Dr Gulati assures that mammography is a simple technique involving less than 30 minutes. “It costs only about Rs 100. Even more important is the fact that it is not painful. If the x-rays are normal, no further tests are required and the patient is simply asked to come back next year. “

The women at risk are varied. In fact, the risk increases as a woman gets older. About 85 per cent of breast cancers occur in women aged above 50. The risk is higher for women above 60 and is uncommon in women younger than 35 years.

Changes in life style and women having their first child after the age of 30, obesity, diet, alcohol abuse and hormone replacement therapies have , however, put even women under the age of 35 years in the risk zone.

Besides, women who have a family history or are carrying a specific genetic mutation are more prone to breast cancer. Studies reveal that every year 80,000 new cases are detected in the Indian cities and the disease claims as many as 35,000 lives annually.

“Breast cancer, after cervix cancer is the second commonest cancer affecting women in our country. Its incidence is rising steadily due to changes in demographic, fertility and breast feeding pattern. The only way out is an early detection followed by treatment,” said Prof Sudha Suri.

Cancer Sahyog invites entries
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Dec 7 — Sahayta Cancer Sahyog, ‘’ an emotional support group working for the cause of cancer tries to provide holistic help to needy cancer patients coming to PGI for treatment.

Since 1997, the Society has instituted the ‘Jeevan Shakti Award’ for one such brave fighter, who has displayed exemplary courage, faith and will power to fight the disease against all odds. The object behind this felicitation is to inspire those battling the disease to learn from the experience of others.

All entries for the award must have complete details such as area of malignancy, history of treatment, problems faced by the patient and the way he/she coped with it. These details can be supplied by the patient, his/her relative or the doctor who treated the patient.

Photocopies of the treatment and other relevant papers must be enclosed with the entry. All nominations must reach the Society’s office by January 10, 2001. A panel of judges would select the winner and the award will be presented on ‘Cancer Survivors Day’ on Feb 10, 2001.

SPORT

City students first runners-up in ESPN quiz
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Dec 7 — Two students of Tender Heart School, Karan Kapoor and Gunkaran Singh, were the first runners-up in the North Zone ESPN School Sports Quiz Olympiad that was recorded yesterday at Film City in Noida.

The boys returned today to receive a hero’s welcome at the railway station and then at the school. The students escorted the boys from the railway station to the school. Ms N. Suri, Principal of the school, congratulated the parents of the boys. She said, “The teachers feared that the boys would not do well because they had not received any professional training for the contest. They had even missed the brochure sent through courier by the organisers of the quiz. The brochure included information regarding the date of the recording. However, their parents were keen to see their boys take part in the quiz.”

The boys faced four rounds of questions in the quiz in which students of 36 public schools and the other institutes took part. The other school of Chandigarh and its satellite towns that took part in the quiz included Vivek High School, Hansraj Public School of Panchkula, St John’s High School, Shishu Niketan, Kendriya Vidyalaya-47. Out of these, only St John’s made it to the semi-finals.

The first round of the quiz included question with picture clues. The second round was of direct questions, the third of video clues and final of direct questions with negative marks for a wrong answer.

Karan, a Class X student, is son of Mr Keshav Kapoor, an employee of the Haryana Government. Karan said he was sure before the contest that the team would do well. He said he had received no formal training for the contest, but reading sport pages of various newspapers had helped him a lot.

Gunkaran Singh, a student of Class VIII, is son of a businessman, Mr J.P. Singh. He said the team had been trailing in the preliminary round with score of 65. However, they received 69 and 38 points in the second and third rounds, respectively. They beat boys of Delhi Public School in the semi-finals. Mothers’ International School of Delhi stood first, St Francis School was the second runners-up.

Gunkaran said reading sport pages of the local dailies and some books on sport had made him perform well. He has also performed well in the Infotech Quiz and the Rainbow Quiz before this event. These boys were accompanied by their teacher, Mr J.P. Singh.

Ms Suri said the school had received a Rs 50,000 prize. She said the school had announced a special prize of Rs 5,000 each for the boys, besides a total fee exemption for them. Ms Suri said the she planned to make quiz events a regular feature of the school routine.

Ramesh Krishnan in city
By Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, Dec 7 — The Indian tennis team coach, Ramesh Krishnan, today reached city as part of the training programme initiated by the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association at the CLTA courts, Sector 10. Ramesh said the Chandigarh boys, including Sunil Kumar, the national champion, and Davis Cupper were shaping well. He also complimented the facilities being provided to them. He was all praise for Tushar Liberhan, the subjunior national champion from Chandigarh, and said city players stands a good future since they were being groomed in the right direction.

Ramesh today gave training to top potential players like Sunil Kumar, Arun Prakash, Tushar Liberhan, Amanjot Singh, Saurav Singh and Shruti Dhawan, in different aspects of the technicalities of tennis in tune with today’s standards. He said Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi will take some more time to adjust and to come back to their previous form. He was of the view that junior players need more tougher training and more exposure in order to be at the forefront of the tennis world.

Mr Rajan Kashyap, Chairman of the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association and the brain behind this extensive training programme, said even the upcoming boys will learn a lot from this training by eminent tennis player, Ramesh , who will be staying for almost a week.

ADMINISTRATION

Administration clarification on registration forms
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, Dec 7 — The Chandigarh Administration today said allegations appearing in sections of the Press in respect of the non-inclusion of a separate column for Sikhs in the registration forms in the office of Registrar, Birth and Death in Chandigarh, were incorrect. The proforma for collecting the statistical as well as the legal information regarding birth and death is supplied by the Government of India and it contains a column for religion of the family. Further under this column, there are four sub-columns, (1) Hindu (2) Muslim (3) Christian (4) any other religion, and the Sikhs were covered under this column.

But when it came to the notice of the Chandigarh Administration in September, 2000, that the proforma does not contain a separate column for Sikhs, the proforma was ordered to be amended and now the office of the Registrar, Birth and Death, is supplying proforma with the specific column for Sikhs at No 4 and any other religion at column No 5. The number of printed proformas lying in the office are very large and presently, these proformas are being supplied with hand-written column for Sikh at No 4. Whenever the new proformas will be printed, column No 4 for Sikh will be in the printed form, a spokesperson of the Chandigarh Administration said today.