HEALTH

Brahmkumaris offer antidote against drug addiction
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 8
The Brahmkumari Ashram has claimed to have developed a drug for de-addiction with amazing results. Disclosing this here today, the local head of the ashram, Miss Rajkumari, said the drug would be introduced during the de-addiction camps to be organised within a week.

The ashram has embarked upon a massive campaign against the de-addiction. The Minister for Technical Education, Mr Jagdish Garcha who also addressed a press conference appreciated the concern shown by the ashram about the menace of drug addiction.

Quoting a survey which was ordered by the government, he revealed that 70 per cent of the children in schools in a particular area had been found to be addicted to one or the other type of addiction. Surprisingly, he said, 30 per cent girls had also been addicted to these drugs, and these figures were from rural schools.

The minister called upon various social and religious organisations to come forward to root out this menace from the state. He assured all support and cooperation to the Brahmkumari ashram in its mission against the drug addiction.

Mr Baldev Raj Sawhney, who has been associated with the Brahmkumari ashram for the past few decades, said that the wonder drug against addiction had been developed by a doctor couple practising homoeopathy system of medicine at the Brahmkumari ashram headquarters at Mount Abu in Rajthan.The drug had been developed after a prolonged research. He said that a team of 20 homoeopathic doctors was currently participating in a conference being organised at Mount Abu. These doctors will be able to tell in detail about the de-addiction drug.

Giving details of the drug, Prof Hardip Singh said that it is in the form of small tablets. Normally a person stops taking any type of drug after one dose. But sometimes additional doses are also required. The tablets are taken when a person feels the urge for the drug. There are different antidotes for liquor addiction, smoking or other addictions like chewing of tobacco or opium. However, Prof Singh clarified that the primary requirement for the treatment to succeed was that there must be an urge in a person that he or she wants to get rid of that addiction, whatsoever it maybe. 

Public awareness vital for eye donation
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 8
The Department of Ophthalmology, Christian Medical College and Hospital, orgnaised a poster painting and slogan writing competition for the medical students and interns yesterday. The theme was ‘Public Awareness on Eye Donation”.

A similar programme was conducted last year, and this year too, the students’ response was overwhelming. The programme titled ‘Kertoplant 2001’ coincided with the ‘Corneal Donation Fortnight’ (from August 25 to September 8), which was observed all over the country.

Dr Tejinder Singh, Professor, Department of Paediatrics, and Dean Undergraduate Studies CMC, was the chief guest. Speaking on the occasion, Dr S. Jaison, Professor and Head of the Eye Department, stated that although corneal blindness accounted for only 1.52 per cent, it was a matter of great concern as it affected children and young adults.

Each year over 4 lakh cornea were required for corneal transplant in our country but only 15,000 were available. There were many misconceptions regarding corneal transplantation and eye donation. Public awareness was the only solution to the problem, she said.

SPORTS

National open bridge championship begins
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, September 8
Pals, Delhi, a team comprising of Ajay Sinha, D.K. Tiwari, P.C. Gupta and J.V. Sen Gupta garnered 72 points to establish lead over others in the team of four duplicates event at the end of the third round of the National Open Bridge Championship, which began here today.

They were closely followed by another team from Delhi, ACGW, comprising of B.L. Anand, Onkar Singh Bhola, K.C. Malhotra and M.K. Wadhwa which secured 69 points. At the third place, two teams A.K. Kundra, Panjab, with A.K. Kundra, G.S. Hara, Rakesh Sharma, P.K. Nayyar and H.S. Mann and Haryana Bridge Association were tied at 63 points each.

Earlier Mr Y.S. Ratra, Financial Commissioner, Taxation, inaugurated this three-day championship in which 33 teams from Hyderabad, Delhi, Uttar Pardesh, Chandigarh, Himachal Pardesh, Haryana, Karnataka and Punjab are participating. Earlier, Mr K.R. Lakhanpal, president, Punjab Bridge Association, welcomed the participants who had come from various parts of the country. He wished them a comfortable stay here during the course of the tournament.

In the team of four duplicates, top positions after three rounds were as follows:

Pals, Delhi: 72 pts, ACGW, Delhi: 69 pts, A.K. Kundra, Punjab: 63 pts, Haryana Bridge Association: 63 pts, M Kamlakar Rao, Hyderabad: 61 pts, Aligarh Blues: 60 pts, Scan, Delhi: 57 pts, Shah Club, Nainital: 57 pts, Central Secretriat, Delhi: 54pts, Black Tigers, Chandigarh: 53 pts, and Ghaziabad Bridge Association: 53 pts.

SDP School win

SDP Senior Secondary School, Ludhiana Zone I, scored a comfortable eight-wicket victory over Samrala Zone to win the title in the Inter-Zonal Cricket Tournament at the SDP College for Women ground here today.

Batting first, Samrala Zone made 121 for the loss of 8 wickets in the allotted 20 overs. Parminder top scored with 27 runs, followed by Robert (19), Gurjot (17) and William (13). For the hosts the main wicket takers were Vijay and Sukhwinder who took two victims each for 17 and 19 runs respectively. Rattan and Varinder captured one wicket each.

Chasing a target of 122 runs for victory, SDP School’s batsmen played sensibly and made the required runs after losing just two wickets with two ball to spare. Rattan and Varinder made SDP School’s task easy by hammering 58 and 31 runs, respectively. For Samrala Zone, William and Robert grabbed one wicket each for 17 and 22 runs, respectively.

High schools sports meet

The students of Sargodha National Public School, Jail road, gave an excellent performance to win titles in throwball, chess and carrom in the high-schools sports competition held on their school campus here on Friday.

The results of the sports meet are: throwball (boys) — Sargodha National Public School-I, Jugar Model High School-II, Sargodha Model High School-III. (Girls) — Sargodha National Public School-I, Government Girls High School Div No 3-II, Government High School, Engine Shed-III.

Chess (boys) — Nav Bharti Public School-I, Sargodha National Public School-II. Girls — Sargodha National Public School-I, 2. Government Model High School, Cemetry road-II.

Carrom (boys) — Sargodha National Public School-I, Nav Bharti Public School-II. Girls — Government High School, Jamalpur-I, Government Girls High School, Div. No 3-II.