HEALTH

PGI to get equipment worth Rs 15 crore
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 3
The PGI Standing Purchase Committee (SPC) today approved the latest state-of-the- art equipment worth Rs 15 crore for the upcoming Advanced Eye Centre, Advanced Cardiac Centre, second phase of the Advanced Paediatric Centre and the Trauma Centre in the institute.

The committee which met under the chairmanship of the PGI Director, Prof S.K. Sharma, approved 80 out of 81 items on the agenda. One of the items was not approved due to some technical reasons.

Other members of the committee included, the Joint Secretary (Financial Adviser), Union Ministry of Health, Mr Vijay Singh, member of the PGI Institute Body, Ms Vimla Issac, the UT Chief Engineer, Mr Puranjit Singh, the GMCH Director Principal, Prof S.B.S. Mann, PGI Medical Superintendent (MS), Dr A.K. Gupta, the Joint MS, Dr D. Bahera and the PGI Purchase Officer, Mr Harminder Singh.

According to the PGI Director, the approved items included sophisticated microscopes for the eye centre, heart and lung machine, monitors and diodes for the cardiac centre and a CT Scan machine for the trauma centre.

Supply orders for most of the cleared items will be placed soon and PGI is expected to get the equipment within three to six months.

In an answer to the question regarding whether the SPC could meet and take decisions even after its dissolution by the Union Health Minister, the PGI Director, Prof S.K. Sharma said, “Till a new committee is reconstituted, members of the old committee can take decisions for the benefit of the institute.”

It may be mentioned that the PGI Institute Body has dissolved all the institute bodies and decided to reconstitute them afresh. These committees include selection committee, finance committee, academic committee, purchase committee, project implementation committee and estate committee.

The decision was taken at a meeting held on July 25 in New Delhi. A communication to this effect was received by the PGI authorities a couple of weeks ago. It is learnt that members of the Institute Body have resigned voluntarily in order to give a free hand to the Union Health Minister, Dr C.P. Thakur, to reconstitute it .

Meanwhile, a committee of the Union Health Ministry, comprising Mr Vijay Singh and Ms Bhawani Thiagrajan, took stock of the progress made by the five advanced centres commissioned under the ninth five year plan of the institute.

Other members of the committee included the PGI Director, Prof S.K. Sharma, the Deputy Director (Administration), Ms Meeta Lochchan, heads of various departments and professors looking after these projects.

8 operation theatres closed for maintenance
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 3
Eight operation theatres on the fifth floor of the PGI were closed once again today, this time for maintenance work on duct pipes of the airconditioning system in the complex.

While most of the scheduled operations have been postponed the emergency cases are being dealt with on priority basis, say the PGI officials. Sources, however, added that authorities were facing problems as entire load of scheduled operations was now on the fourth floor operation theatres and emergency operation theatres.

Operating surgeons also added that the air-conditioning system in most of the OTs had not been functioning optimally for a long time. “Most of the operations are carried out in extermely uncomfortable hot and humid conditions,” they add. Though the officials concerned have denied it, sources, said. The complex has been shut down following bursting of one of the air-conditioning ducts.

It may be mentioned that eight operation theatres on the fifth floor have remained closed for most of the time since August 3. The theatre complex on the fourth and the fifth floors were closed following reports that water supply to the complex was contaminated.

While the eight OTs on fourth floor had become functional after remedial procedures those on the fifth floor had to be closed again, after being operational for just one day, on August 22, due to excessive leakage from the ceiling due to rusted and severely damaged water pipes.

Meanwhile, PGI officials say this time, the theatre complex on the fifth floor has been closed for maintenance work on the ducts pipes of the airconditioning system which are being cleaned by experts from Mumbai

According to the officials, the maintenance work will take four to five days. Till then, 15 to 20 operation cases per day have either been postponed or rescheduled.

It may be mentioned that most of these theatres are more than 35-year-old and need to be upgraded to suit the modern day operative techniques.

Pharmaceutical inspection course begins
Tribune News Service

SAS Nagar, September 3
A three-week course on “Inspection of pharmaceutical Facilities” began at the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) here today. As many as 10 persons from pharmacy boards, drug quality control authorities and inspecting departments of 10 different countries are attending the course.

The programme is sponsored by the Union Ministry of External Affairs under its Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation programme and Special Common-wealth African Assistance Plan programme.

Mr Sushil Suri, Managing Director of Morepen Laboratories, in his inaugural address said importance of pharmaceutical inspection helped in providing quality medicines to the consumer. The pharmaceutical companies involved in exports of medicines were regularly inspected by foreign regulators.

Raj Bhavan staff donate blood
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, September 3
As many as 20 persons donated blood in a ‘‘Voluntary blood donation Camp’’ organised by Haryana Raj Bhavan in collaboration with the Transfusion of Medicine Department of the PGI and the Blood Bank Society, Chandigarh, here today.

Besides CRPF Jawans deputed at Raj Bhawan, Mr S.P. Sharma, Commissioner and Secretary, Excise and Taxation Department, Haryana, Dr Manoj Gupta, Medical Officer, Haryana Raj Bhavan, Capt Sreejit K, ADC to Governor, Mr Inderjit Sukhija, Private Secretary, Mr Bhakhiwinder Singh, PA to Governor, and other officials of Haryana Raj Bhavan donated blood.

Earlier, the Haryana Governor, Babu Parmanand, inaugurated the camp and interacted with donors.

SPORTS

SAI centre needs regular regional director
Arvind Katyal

Chandigarh, September 3
The Sector 42 office of the Sports Authority of India requires regular services of a regional director and some expansion to make this centre a full-fledged regional office equipped with the necessary infrastructure to boost sports in the region. It would instil a sense of confidence among coaches, sportspersons of the area.

The regional office which started functioning more than a decade ago has a fleet of nearly 400 coaches in various sports disciplines and a number of sports training centres in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh.

The past six months have also seen three changes in its heads. Only last Friday, Dr P.C. Kashyap who was earlier transferred in February has been given the charge of the Regional Director.

Every year new trainees are enrolled at various sports training centres, but the approval to these new enrolments always get delayed due to one reason or the other. Many new schemes, such as National Sport Talent Contest (NSTC), Special Area Games (SAG), and a proposal to have a centre of excellence in hockey along with finalising of a new regional office of SAI, were formulated last year, but none of these could materialise.

Last month, a proposal to shift the regional office of SAI to Sonepat had created ripples among employees. The Haryana Government had given a nod to allotment of land to SAI for the purpose. A few years back also there was a proposal to shift the office to Patiala. At that time, a former member of Parliament from Chandigarh, Mr Satya Pal Jain, had made an appeal to the higher authorities to stall the same. This time also the local MP, Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, came to the rescue of sportspersons and employees when he sent a representation to the Union Sports Minister, Ms Uma Bharti, for not shifting the centre to Sonepat, by stating that Chandigarh was best suited for development of sports. Probably the plan is to bring more area of the northern India under this regional centre in order to impart it more strength. Already the fitness centre has begun its operations and recently Udhampur centre also became functional.

According to sources, the SAI Regional Centre at Chandigarh has always remained in the eye of storm and it could not flourish the way other centres have done. For example, its western centre at Gandhinagar (Gujarat), southern centre at Bangalore, and the eastern centre in Kolkata are all well- equipped with good infrastructure and the respective state governments willingly assisting these centres in every respect.

According to experts, although Chandigarh has sports complexes in Sector 46, 7 and 42, but the infrastructure here deteriorated over the past few years. They are of the view that SAI should be given land to build a complex and should also help in maintaining various stadia. Its overall control could rest with UT. “The emphasis should be on sports promotion not on satisfying one’s ego, commented a former coach.

Kabir shines in Fun Golf meet
Tribune Reporters

Chandigarh, September 3
Kabir Dhaliwal gave a consistent display in the inaugural Monsoon Fun Golf Competitions organised by the Chandigarh Golf Association at the floodlit CGA Driving Range on Saturday night. Kabir logged maximum points, finishing first in the longest drive andthe runner-up in chipping competition. He was awarded Jet Airways to and fro ticket for two from Chandigarh to Delhi.

Kabir Dhaliwal measured 228.40 yards in the longest drive competition in the general category. He pipped Sandeep S Chadha whose drive was recorded 228.25 yards.

Jasanjot Sidhu was declared the best golfer in the general category for women. Jasanjot finished on top in the longest drive and was runner-up in putting. This honour in the junior boys category was claimed by Snehil Sood, winner of chipping, putting and runner-up in the longest drive.

Shivali Aggarwal was declared the best golfer in the mini-girls section while Raghav Bhandari emerged the best golfer in the mini-boys section.

Earlier, Mr Desh Prem Azad, president of the Chandigarh Golf Association, hit the inaugural tee-off. The Fun Golf Tournament attracted more than 115 entries and competitions continued till late in the night.

The competition was sponsored by Bajaj Travel. Mr H.S. Bajaj, Chairman, Bajaj Travels, gave away the prizes.

Besides, Mr Azad, other CJA office-bearers who were there till the wee hours were CGA Secretary-General C.S.R. Reddy, Rajiv Bali, J.S. Cheema, Deepak Khanna, Vivek Vahi, Col B.S. Chahal, Sanjeev Aggarwal, Monish Aggarwal, Daljit Singh and Surinder Jhina.

The results:-

Chipping: General Category (Gents) — Lt-Col Pritpal Singh 1, Kabir Singh Dhaliwal 2; Juniors (14 to 17 yrs boys) — Snehil Sood 1; Sub-junior (10 yrs to 13 yrs boys) — Dilsher Sukhija 1, Anish Gupta 2.

Eighteen hole Putting: General Category (Gents) Amrik Singh 1, Rajiv Kathurai; (Ladies) Ashu Singh 1, Jasanjot Sidhu 2. Junior (14 to 17 yrs boys) — Snehil Sood 1, Tanmay Aggarwal and Ratul Sood 2; (Girls): Suleen Kaur 1, Shilpa 2; Sub-juniors (10 to 13 yrs boys) — Fatehbir Singh 1, Dilsher Sukhija and Paryas B. Singh 2; Girls: Virti Gujral 1, Kanika Gupta 2; Nine years and below — (Boys): Tarundeep S Chadha 1, Raghav Bhandari 2; (Girls): Shivali Aggarwal 1, Preet Sandhu 2.

Longest Drive: (Gents) — Kabir S. Dhaliwal 1, Sandeep S Chadhu 2; (Ladies): Jasanjot Sidhu 1, S.S. Bhamra 2; Junior (14 yrs to 17 yrs boys) — Amandeep Singh Brara 1, Snehil Sood 2; (Girls): Sruthi Reddy 1, Parmeet Sidhu 2; Sub-juniors — (Boys): Jagteshwar Singh and Dilsher Sukhija 1, Adhiraj Thind 2; Girls: Kanika Gupta 1, Geet Sandhu 2; Nine years and below — (Boys): Raghav Bhandari 1, Ranvir Battu 2; (Girls): Preet Sandhu 1, Shivali Aggarwal 2.

Chipping pitching into Tarpaulin target at 100 yards: Nine years and below (boys) — Tarundeep S. Chadha 1.

Invitational series

In the first Invitational cricket match series between Mohali Cricket Association and St John’s High School, Sector 26 , the latter won two matches out of three in under-16 section whereas MCA SAS Nagar won all its three matches in under-14 section. In the matches played yesterday, MCA SAS Nagar won both its matches in under-14 and under-16 sections. MCA beat St John’s under-14 team by three wickets

Brief scores : St John’s-26 141 for 9 in 30 overs(Amrinder Pal Singh 29, Jasdeep Singh 18, Amitesh Sandhu 18, Arju Malhiotra 14, Sunny 3 for 21, Nikhil 2 for 22); MCA SAS Nagar: 142 for 7 in 29.1 overs (Simranjeet 56, Sundeep Paul 24, Pankaj 21 n.o., Jasdeep Singh 2 for 14, Rohan Mittal 2 for 22).

In under-16 match, MCA won by 190 runs against St John’s. Brief scores : MCA SAS Nagar 249 for 3 in 35 overs (Mandeep 108 n.o., Dhaval 81, Virinder 20 n.o., Gaurav 15, Saurabh Arora 2 for 44); St John’s 59 all out in 14.3 overs (Harmeet Arora 21, Gagan 5 for 36, Simran Brar 4 for 17).

Earlier in the matches played last week, in under-16 section, St John’s defeated MCA SAS Nagar by one wicket while in under-14 section, MCA beat St John’s by 52 runs. In other previous matches, in under-16 section, St John’s defeated MCA SAS Nagar by 36 runs while in under-14 section, MCA team beat St John’s by 9 wickets.

Karate tourney

St Joseph’s School, Sector 44, bagged the overall championship in the tenth Chandigarh State Open Karate Championship which concluded here last evening at Skating Rink, Sector 10. MDAV School, Sector 22, got second place. Dragon clu, Industrial Area, was placed third.

The various winners in different weight categories among boys were Satpal, Abhin, Sohit, Daman Bahadur, Lovesh, Sarabjeet, Mohit Verma, Nagraj, Vijay, Damanpreet, Ankit, Prince and Maninder. Among girls winners were Neha, Roopinder Jeet, Shilpa, Sandeep Kaur, Reetu, Puneeta and Sanpreet.

Shiv, Jagdeep are best players
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, September 3
Shivalik Public school, Sector 41, won the ‘pride of honour’ when its both boys and girls’ teams captured the titles in the 7th Chandigarh Sub-Junior State Ball Badminton Championships, which concluded here this evening at Shivalik Public School, Sector 41. In the boys’ final, SPS-41 outplayed Guru Harkishan Public School, Sector 40, 29-18, 29-12, while third place in this section went to Government High School, Sector 41, who defeated Manav Mangal school, Sector 21, 29-24, 29-21.

The boys and girls’ winner teams of Shivalik Public School, Sector 41, in the 7th Chandigarh Sub-Junior Ball Badminton Meet, which concluded in Chandigarh on Monday.

In the girls’ final, SPS-41 beat IS Dev Samaj Girls Senior Secondary School at 29-20, 29-18, while the third place was bagged by Government Model High School, Sector 36, who prevailed upon GHS-41 at 29-26, 17-29, 29-13. Shiv Kumar among boys and Jagdeep Kaur among girls’ section were chosen as best players. Jagdeep Kaur of SPS-41 and K Samiti of ISDSSS-21, who took part in the Indo-Nepal Series Ball Badminton Meet held in Nepal in July this year, were also honoured by the Flankers Ball Badminton Club.

ADMINISTRATION

Jacob opens video conferencing facility
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 3
A multi-point video conferencing facility which enables officials to hold a conference using video facility through computers was inaugurated today by the UT Administrator, Lieut-Gen J.F.R. Jacob (retd).

The General clicked a button on the ‘mouse’ attached with the computer and later on interacted with three officers who were part of the project. The Governor interacted with the Joint Secretary, Finance, Mr K.A.P. Sinha, and also with the Principal System Analyst , National Informatic Centre (NIC) Mr Vivek Verma.

The Director, Information Technology, Mr Vivek Atray, informed the Administrator that the facility had been set up in the U.T. Secretariat using local area network of the NIC and using web cam technology along with Windows-2000 conferencing software, which allows multiple users to participate in a conference with each other, while being seated in different locations. At any given time 12 officials can hold a conference, however, the best results are achieved when six officials are participating.

Mr Atray informed that presently this facility had been made available in 12 locations in the secretariat. It would be extended to more locations in the secretariat shortly and in next phase it was planned to extend this facility to additional Deluxe Building and later to the Estate Office and the Municipal Corporation using the optical fibre network.

General Jacob said this facility when fully operational would be very useful. He hoped that with this new facility and frequent interaction of officers on video conferencing, decision-making would be come much faster.

On this occasion, the Administrator also released a video CD, ‘Chandigarh a Modern City’, produced by the Public Relations Department, Chandigarh.