 |
|
Doctors examine Ranbaxy
workers SAS NAGAR These views were expressed by Mr Balramji Dass Tandon, Labour and Employment Minister, Punjab, who was the chief guest, at a state-level function held here today in connection with the government campaign launched for free medical check-up camps for workers employed in industries prone to occupational diseases. The 17th medical camp in a series was held here on the premises of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. Mr Tandon said the campaign to look after the health of workers would cover, to begin with, those working in hazardous industries. Medical check-up cards had been made in the case of those who attended the 16 camps held earlier in the state. He said NGOs and the industry were giving full cooperation to make the campaign a success. The camps are being organised in cooperation with the Punjab Department of Health and Family Welfare. Mr Tandon said at a Lok Adalat held in Ludhiana recently for industrial workers compensation totalling over Rs 2 crore was disbursed. Dr Baldev Raj Chawla, Health and Family Welfare Minister, Punjab, said 104 free medical camps for industrial workers would be held in Punjab over a period of three months. The campaign started on January 1 this year. He said the target was to examine 50,000 workers. As many as 727 doctors had been put on the job. He said there were more than 4 lakh industrial workers in the state and medical camps would also be organised for them soon. Dr Chawla said he had urged industrial unit managements to ensure the medical check-up of their workers every six months. In 17 districts of the state vigilance committees had been set up in this connection. These would meet every month and problems would be brought to the notice of the employers and the Director of Factories. Dr Chawla said in Punjab there were seven ESI hospitals and 70 dispensaries. Every such hospital would be provided with an STD clinic, an ayurvedic dispensary and a good medical library. Equipment worth 2.7 crore would be purchased by March 31 for the seven hospitals. Mr T.C. Malhan, Director, ESI, said till recently industrial workers were facing a number of problems. Their medical bills were not being reimbursed for the past about six years. Even medicines were not available. But now the things were changing. Government had cleared a large number of pending cases. In the case of SAS Nagar alone reimbursement bills to the tune of about Rs 23 lakh were cleared. Mr S.S. Channy, Labour Commissioner-cum-Director of Factories, Punjab, said about 17,000 workers had been screened by medical specialists at the 16 camps organised earlier. He said industry and worker could grow together only. None of them could grow in isolation. Among those who spoke on the occasion were Mr B.C. Gupta, Secretary, Department of Labour and Employment, Mr P.K. Verma, Executive Director, PTL. |
|
‘Number of diabetic
patients on the rise’ CHANDIGARH Considering this factor, the theme of the conference is ‘diabetic retinopathy’ which, according to Dr Kumar, if not treated in time, results in irreversible blindness. Another important feature of the conference is the KD Memorial Oration which this time will be awarded on Dr Vijaya Nanda, President, Delhi Ophthalmology Society. Dr Nanda will present a lecture on eale's disease, about which only limited information is available, said Dr Ashok Sharma, General Secretary of the Chandigarh Ophthalmology Society. It is the main cause of blindness among young patients who suffer haemorrhage in the eyes due to inflammation of retinal vessels, says Dr Sharma. Speaking about the focus of the conference — diabetic retinopathy — Dr Kumar said in the past few years there had been a big increase in the number of people suffering from diabetes. The number of people suffering from diabetes has risen to five per cent. Changes in the lifestyle, eating habits, increased intake of alcohol, besides other factors, are the main reasons for the increase. The main aim of the conference, besides educating the people, is to make physicians aware of this very fact and send a diabetic patient to an ophthalmologist for retinopathic check-up. Besides, diabetes is an inherited family disease. All persons with a family history should necessarily go in for an annual retinal fundus check-up According to Dr Sharma, infrastructure of diagnosis and treating retinopathy is still at rudimentary stage. The facility, in Chandigarh, is available only at the PGI. This makes detection of diabetes and blood sugar monitoring essential from an early stage. A couple of other informative facts about the disease, as per Dr Kumar, are that insulin management for diabetes may actually worsen retinopathy. Moreover, the patients who have kidney problems are also prone to retinopathy. A pregnant woman suffering from diabetic melitus is also bound to suffer from diabetic retinopathy. Laser photo regulation is the old management procedure for the disease. |
|
Grant for birth defect
surgery project CHANDIGARH Of this, $ 2,500 each will be donated by Rotary Chandigarh Shivalik and a Rotary Club in another country, while $ 5,000 will be donated by the foundation. This was disclosed by Mr Sandeep Luthra, president of the Rotary Chandigarh Shivalik, while highlighting the activities of the club, at a press conference at the Press Club here yesterday. While 62 children have already been operated upon, 30 more will be operated upon using this money. A five-member group study exchange team from RID 6800 USA is on a visit to the city as part of a month-long programme to apprise themselves of the culture and activities of the people here. Led by Mr Vijay Surpuriya, other members of the team are Ms Ryan Davis, Mr Scott Anderson, Ms Dian Lindsey and Mr Mark Leslie Wilson. They are the hosts of RI district 3080 Rotary Chandigarh Shivalik here. Welcoming them, Col Harsharan Singh (retd), past president of Rotary Chandigarh Shivalik, highlighted the activities of the club, including adoption of Perch village chotti, setting up of a vocational training centre in the school and adoption of a school in Mauli Jagran. He pointed out that the club planned to introduce new vocational courses and efforts were also on to provide the whole village with smokeless chullahs. Free hepatitis-B vaccine was also administered. The club had provide prosthetic aids to 7 or 8 physically challenged children. Mr Vijay Surpuriya expressed satisfaction over the project of shelter for the homeless in Roopnagar which was almost complete. Meanwhile, district governor of Rotary district 3080, Mr Ranjit Bhatia, inaugurated a night school for working children at Government High School, Sarangpur. This school would serve 30 girls and 15 boys working in brick-kilns in the area. An electrician training course was introduced at the vocational centre being run by the club. He also talked about the major projects being undertaken by the club. |
|
PGI Engineering
Dept set for cadre review CHANDIGARH According to sources, while cadre review of the entire institute became applicable in 1992, the Engineering Department was excluded from it. This was owing to the fact that categories of the Engineering Department were considered to be different from those in the rest of the institute. On demand by the 815 employees of the Engineering Department in 1995, a cadre review meeting was held on February 18, 2000, the recommendations of which were forwarded to the Standing Finance Committee. However, since its agenda was considered to be very extensive , it was further referred to the Health Department, Government of India. As per the sources, the cadre review of Group B, C and D staff of Engineering Department is expected to be completed within the next couple of months. |
Ball badminton
trial on Feb 2 CHANDIGARH |
Scheme to rehabilitate auto
mechanics CHANDIGARH,
Jan 24 — The Chandigarh Administration has finalised a revised scheme for the rehabilitation of auto mechanics and auto spare part shop owners in Sectors 38 and 48 here. Under the new scheme, the auto sparepart shop owners will be allotted three-storeyed booths at the rate of Rs 24,000 per square yard. Similarly, the scooter mechanics and other mechanics will be allotted land at the rate of Rs 8,000 per square yard, according to sources. In fact, a meeting of the delegation of auto mechanics and auto spareparts shop owners and the administration officers was held here today. The Adviser, Ms Neeru Nanda, the Finance Secretary, Mr Rakesh Singh, and Mr M. Ramsekhar, were among the officials present at the meeting. earlier, the administration had proposed to allot booths to all three categories at the rate of Rs 42,000 per square yard. But in the face of stiff opposition from the auto dealers, the administration had revised the rates which will reduce the prices of booths substantially. But the rehabilitation of the auto mechanics and auto sparepart shop owners is not going to be an easy task for the administration as names of certain persons reportedly do not appear in the list finalised by the administration, the sources added. |
|
Mayor wants pending works
completed CHANDIGARH Mr Goyal directed the Chief Engineer, Mr Puranjit Singh, to equip the community centre with the required furniture, curtains and accessories like television. The park on the premises should be properly developed by next month, he added. Visiting other parks and green belts, he instructed the officials to develop these and level the road berms in the sector within the next few days. On the issue of recarpeting of certain roads, he assured the representatives of various welfare associations that the same would be done in April after the weather improved. He listened to their problems and said all streetlights in the area should be made functional. The SEs, XENs and other officials of the Municipal Corporation accompanied him. Earlier, the Mayor, along with the Senior Deputy Mayor, Mr Gurcharan Dass Kala, visited the Sector 19 rehri market. Listening to the grievances of the shopkeepers, the Mayor assured them that concrete tiles would be put on the area where a storm water line drainage was recently laid by the corporation. Regarding their demand for permission to put sheets over the open area in the market corridors, the Mayor said he would take up the matter with the authorities concerned. He suggested that fibre sheets, which would not cause any damage to electricity wires, should be allowed so that the stuff lying in the open did not get damaged in the rains. Later, the Rehri Market Welfare Association honoured the Mayor and the Senior Deputy Mayor by presenting them with shawls. |
|
Land row: MC, club lock horns SAS NAGAR The council says that mild-steel railing erected on the plot had been ‘unauthorisedly uprooted’ and was in the possession of the management of the club. This has been denied by the officials of the club, who while not wishing to be quoted denied that any railing had been removed. The Managing Director of the corporation, Mr G.S. Pirzada said, ‘‘It was the council which had wrongly put up the railing on the land owned by the corporation’’. On the other hand, taking the issue with the district police authorities, the council in a letter written to the Superintendent of Police , SAS Nagar, has claimed that a portion of the railing, worth around Rs 35,000, which was erected on the green belt, was removed without any permission from it. According to an official of the civic body, the basic amenities like roads, water supply, sewerage and developing green belts in the area had already been handed over to it. Railing in this particular green belt, passing under a high tension power line, and in other green belts was being erected by the council and it was in the knowledge of the corporation officials concerned, who had been holding meetings with the council officials in the past, stated the official. Seeking registration of an FIR against the club management, the council has said that the uprooting of the railing had resulted in damage to the government property and was a theft of council property. Civic body officials claimed that few years back plots were earmarked under the high tension line, but could not be disposed of. Then the said plots were earmarked at an alternative site and the area was said to be a green belt. Mr Pirzada said that a 35 feet wide patch of land had been left on both sides of the power line as per the Indian Electricity Act. ‘‘The club had been allotted 2 acres of land in the area under the power line which could have been developed by the council as the green belt. It is the fault of the civic body’’, he said. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 120 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
