HEALTH

Ways to a healthy heart
Asha Ahuja

Ludhiana, June 22
According to the World Health Organisation, the number-one killer is cardiac arrest and other symptoms related to cardio-vascular diseases. According to Dr T.M. Jaison, Prof. and Head of Cardiology Department at Christian Medical College (CMC&H), “In the next 10 years, heart attack is going to be the number-one killer in India as in the Western countries. The good news is that to a great extent, problems arising out of cardio-vascular diseases can not only be reduced but prevented”. In the past 40 years in the US, diseases related to the heart have been reduced by 50 per cent mainly due to preventive measures.

In as many as 60 per cent of the cases, a heart attack occurs suddenly and most of the times, the patients are not able to reach the hospital in time so that their lives could be saved.

Generally, people have the impression that when a person is undergoing a heart attack, he will sweat profusely and there will be pain in the region of the chest. But Dr Jaison said that that was not always the case. Many a times, people feel a pressure or a burning sensation in the chest, and tightness in the throat. But sadly, most of the patients dismiss it as a ‘gas problem’. Much precious time is wasted as people do not realise the seriousness of the problem whereas the patient needs treatment within the first hour called ‘The Golden Hour’, where Chances of death are reduced by 50 per cent if the patiemt gets the needed aid during that time. At home, the patient with such symptoms can be given Disprin tablets dissolved in water on Sorbitrate tablets. The patient should be taken only to those hospitals where cardiac facilities are available.

Dr Jaison said, “Whenever there is a heart attack of serious nature, the blood pressure will go down. The patient should be rushed to the hospital where the best treatment would be to open the blocked artery through angioplasty. The best results can be obtained if this is done within the first six hours. Otherwise, the heart muscles get damaged without blood supply and nothing can be done later.

Punjab health services in a mess
K.S. Chawla

Ludhiana, June 22
Government doctors posted in rural dispensaries of Punjab generally remain absent from their places of posting and are allegedly engaged in doing private practice at their homes or are attached to a nursing home.

Enquiries reveal that there is complete coordination between the SMO adn the junior doctors posted in the primary health centres (PHCs) or the rural dispensary, as both cater to each other’s interest. It is alleged that corruption is rampant in the Health Department of the Punjab Government and there is a strong nexus between the SMO and the doctors under him in the dispensaries. The SMO, in turn, has an understanding with his superiors and hence a vicious circle prevails.

A clerk in the Chandigarh head office gets an amount of Rs 200 to Rs 300 for providing information regarding a vacancy to the doctor. Doctors then make an effort to get the choice posting through a politician or other higher ups. After the posting, the doctor has to grease the palm of the clerk at the place of posting to get the endorsement.

According to the doctors who work in rural dispensaries, they have to further dole out Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 per month out of their salary to keep the SMO happy.

In which case, the doctor does not have to bother about daily attendance. He can go to the hospital once or twice a month and mark himself present for all days. But once the arrangement fails, he is in trouble.

At major civil hospitals, the main source of income are medico-legal examinations. Parties involved in the clash are interested in making the payment to the doctor on duty to get a favourable report. The SMO gets his share from the doctors.

The SMOs sometime ‘legalise’ corruption by marking the doctor absent from duty for two to three days a month. By doing so, both the SMO and the doctor concerned are ‘safe’.

The doctors are also paid conveyance allowance, be a car and scooter allowance if they grease the palm of the clerk. Otherwise, the clerk asks for completion of all formalities. SMOs allegedly make payments to political bosses to remain at a particular place.

Enquiries reveal that a doctor gets a salary of about Rs 17,000 per month as he is selected in the PCM. He gets promoted to an SMO after four years and to the Deputy Director or Civil Surgeon rank after nine years of being promoted as an SMO respectively.

Once a doctor gets admission to a postgraduate course, he has to meet the needs of his teachers. One doctor requesting anonymity told the reporter that they bought a book for their teacher for the PG course for Rs 10,000, but then he asked for another book which cost Rs 35,000. They refused to buy the latter book as by that time, they had finished their course with that teacher.

There are other avenues in the department which bring handsome returns for the officers of the Health Department. Drug Inspectors allegedly collect money from chemists and druggists. Drugs are purchased at the district headquarters for hospitals. Ludhiana has witnessed a big drug scam worth about Rs 2 crore in which senior officers of the rank of Additional Director health Services, Civil Surgeon, Assistant Civil Surgeon and Chief Pharmacist have been booked. The case is pending with the police for a final challan to be put up in the court.

Because of the prevalent malpractices, health services in Punjab are in a mess. The poor do not get proper treatment at government hospitals. Medicines are not available and the have to go to private nursing homes, where they are fleeced.

To quote the Chief Secretary, Punjab, Mr N.K. Arora, two systems of the state education and health, have become obsolete and there was more wastage of funds while the poor do not get proper services.

Seminar on hair-dos and make-up
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 22
As part of the Nex Gen Carnival’ 2001, a special-seminar-cum-demonstration on hair-dos and make-up for the next generation was organised here.

Mrs Kiran Kant, beauty expert from VLCC, conducted the seminar and also gave the live demonstration. She emphasised on the new trends which change the look of the person drastically. She added that the fun of the make-up and the hairstyle lay in the uniqueness it can give a person. 

SPORTS

Coaching centre victorious
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 22
The Charanjit Coaching Centre defeated the Ludhiana Club on the basis of a better run rate in the first 15 overs in a rain-marred league match to enter the final of the Mata Amar Kaur Memorial Cricket Tournament, being played at the Khalsa College for Women grounds here today.

The coaching centre won the toss and asked the club team to bat first, who scored 87 runs in 27 overs, losing all the wickets in the process. Tarun Passi (26) and Vishal Passi (21) were the main scorers. Abhishek Pal was the most successful bowler for the coaching centre team. He claimed three wickets for 16 runs.

ADMINISTRATION

Civic services in private hands now
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 22
In its move to further push the privatisation of civic services, the Municipal Corporation has decided to hand over the Nehru Planetarium in the Rose Garden and some 250-odd garbage container sites to private parties for maintenance. The civic body has also entrusted the sinking of five tubewells and their operation and maintenance for a period of five years to private contractors, on experimental basis.

The Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC) of the MC, which met under the chairmanship of the Mayor, Mr Apinder Singh Grewal, here yesterday, approved a proposal to lease out the Nehru Planetarium to a private party and further to bring it under the administrative control of the Executive Engineer (Horticulture). The planetarium was in a state of poor upkeep and virtually non-functional with the result that the staff on duty had practically no work to do.

The F&CC also accorded its nod to another proposal of handing over nearly 250 sites of garbage containers in the city to private companies and advertising agencies for better maintenance and improve the level of sanitation. The private parties would need to camouflage the containers and deploy attendants to keep the surroundings clean, in lieu for advertisement rights around the sites. The container sites would be developed and maintained strictly in accordance with the MC specifications and allotted on ‘first come, first served’ basis.

According to Mr Jai Parkash, a member of the F&CC, the MC was going in for getting five new tubewells, commissioned directly through private contractors, for the first time on experimental basis. Earlier, the projects for water supply and sewerage were being handed over by the civic body to the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board for execution. The project for five new tubewells and their operation and maintenance for five years was being entrusted to a contractor at a cost of Rs 61.22 lakh.

A proposal by the MC Health Department to purchase chlorine tablets for water purification and ORS packets, to deal with the break out of water-borne diseases during the coming rainy season, was also okayed in the meeting. Initially, 75 lakh chlorine tablets and 75,000 packets of ORS will be purchased at an estimated cost of Rs 8 lakh.

The meeting discussed and cleared as many as 67 proposals, involving financial allocation for development projects, including surfacing of roads, paving of streets, construction and improvement of central verges, providing streetlights and development and repairs of parks in different parts of the city.