The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

HEALTH

GMCH needs to overcome shortcomings: Gujral
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 9
The Sector 32 Government Medical College and Hospital, in its one decade of existence, has contributed significantly towards patient care and academics , however, there are certain shortcomings which need to be overcome for it emerge as a centre of excellence.

Speaking to an audience comprising eminent doctors, former GMCH director principals, students and others at the annual day celebrations of the college at the Bhargava Auditorium in the PGI today, the UT Home Secretary and Secretary, Medical Education and Research, Mr R.S. Gujral, urged an improvement in the overall facilities, increasing bed strength and better equipment for the hospital. “Government budgetary constraints were one of the reasons why adequate funds were not available for the hospital,” he added.

“The GMCH was meant to take off excessive patient load from the PGI . But now even this hospital is becoming overburdened like the PGI and the Sector 16 General Hospital”, he said

Praising academic pursuits of the institute, Mr Gujral said it was a matter of satisfaction that the GMCH was providing excellent education facilities for young doctors. “You are the chosen ones. Achieve greater excellence in your field and maintain humane nature,” he urged the students.

He admitted that there was a significant lack of faculty in the hospital and all vacant posts need to be filled. “The problem exists due to disparities in the age of retirement and pay scale between the GMCH and the PGI,” he added.

Earlier, the GMCH Director Principal, Prof S.B.S. Mann, highlighted the achievements of the GMCH in education, research, literary, cultural, sports and community education. He said Rs 60 lakh had been sanctioned by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, out of which Rs 17 lakh were earmarked for starting a genetic laboratory at the institute. The hospital currently had 263 members of teaching staff and was in the process of making more recruitment for vacant posts, he said.

Expressing his satisfaction over recent approval by the Medical Council of India to start postgraduation courses in community medicine, obstetrics and Gynaecology, paediatrics and orthopaedics from January 2002, he said a case for starting MD and MS in specialisation of chest and TB, forensic medicine, psychology and psychiatry was being taken up with the MCI and the Union Government. The GMCH, at present, was conducting postgraduation courses in anatomy, anaesthesia, pathology and ophthalmology.

On completion of 10 years of its existence, the year 2001 was being celebrated as the “Dicennial Year” by the institute. To commemorate the occasion, a decennial souvenir was also released by the Chandigarh Mayor, Ms Harjinder Kaur.

Later, cultural events, including a skit, qawwali, Rajasthani dance, western dance, giddha, bhangra and a group dance had the audience clapping. Mr Gujral also gave away prizes to the winners of various cultural and sports events in which the GMCH students had participated past year. Prof S.B.S. Mann, GMCH Director Principal, sang a traditional Punjabi song to the delight of the audience.

SPORTS

North Zone tennis meet from today
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, September 9
Tushar Liberhan of Chandigarh have been given top seed in boys under-16 singles draw in the AITA North Zone Tennis Tournament which is going to begin from tomorrow at Tennis Stadium, Sector 10. Tushar had recently won the AITA zonal title at Bangalore. In under-14 singles, Vivek Showkeen of Delhi has been given top billing while in girls section, (under-14), it is Neha Rana of Delhi and Shilpa Dalmia in the under-16 section.

Meanwhile, in the two-day qualifying rounds, those who made it to the main draws included, (under-14) — Sanjog Kapoor (Chd), Kinshuk Sharma (Chd), Punit Kumar (UP), Vijayant Malik (Chd), Saurabh Ahuja (Pb), Karan Uday singh (Del), Gopal Singh (UP) and Shiva Sangwan (Chd); In under-16 boys section, those reaching main rounds are, Simranjeet Singh (Chd), Abhinav Grover (Del), Ardaman Sidhu (Chd), Rahul Belwel (Del), H. Javed (Pb), Faiz Rub (UP), Izreek Singh (Chd) and Gurdit Singh (Chd). The seedings are : boys (under-14): Vivek Showkeen (Del) 1, Raghav Nanda (Del) 2, Dilpreet Gill (Chd) 3, Bhouban Bhatia (Del) 4, Nitish Roy (UP) 5, Saif Iqbal (Del) 6, Nikhil Kumar (Del) 7, Paras Thakur (Chd) 8.

Girls :Neha Rabna (Del) 1, Shilpa Dalmia (Del) 2, Anukriti Prasad (Del) 3, Simmer (Chd) 4, Jilke Nelord (Del) 5, Chandni Thakur (Chd) 6, Vishakha Sheran (Del) 7 and Apoorva Pushpita (Del) 8.

Boys (under-16): Tushar Liberhan (Chd) 1, Jitin Bishnoi (Chd) 2, Devesh Shukla (UP) 3, Parikshit Panday (UP) 4, Sidharth Gulati (Del) 5, Vivek Showkeen (Del) 6, Yannick Nelord( Del) 7 and Honey Rana (Del) 8. Girls: Shilpa Dalmia (Del) 1, Neha Singh (Chd) 2, Neha Rana (Del) 3, Simmer (Chd) 4, Anukriti Prasad (Del) 5, Vishaka Sheran (Del) 6, Isha Toor (Chd) and Bahar Paul (Chd) 8.

Shooting contests

Ram Sarup, an ASI in the Chandigarh police, shot 186 /200 in the Air Rifle(ISSF) senior men section while Parminder Singh, also an ASI, shot 184/200 in Air Pistol (ISSF) senior men section in the Sunday shooting competitions held today at Patiali Ki Rao Shooting Ranges, Sector 25, organised by the Chandigarh Rifle Association. Rajiv Bhatt was second in Air Rifle senior men section when he shot 184 /200.

The other winners in various events were: Sultan Singh — Junior men Air Rifle-167/200, Prabhleen Chauhan-175/200 (Air rifle senior women), Gagandeep Singh - .22 std rifle-OS senior men) 38/50; senior women: Anu Prashar 17/50; Akhil Pahuja-Air Pistol junior men (173/200); junior women: Priti Sharma( 169/200); Air Rifle- OS senior men: Sarbjit Singh-138/200; Simrat Singh-(88/100- Free rifle ISSF junior men): Kirat Sidhu- 81/100 (Sports rifle ISSF junior women); Akash Pahuja-128/200 Air Pistol-NR ub Jr men.

Cricket meet

A superb display of batting by Maninder who hammered 62 runs off 71 deliveries and bowling from Vineet Goyal by claiming four wickets for 27 runs finally helped Panchkula district in defeating Panipat by 81 runs in the pre-quarterfinal match of Haryana state Inter-District Cricket Tournament for under-14 trophy played at Shivaji Stadium, Panipat. According to a fax message received here, Panchkula won the toss and took to batting.

Brief scores: Panchkula—197 for six in 35 overs (Maninder 62, Karan Sharma 38, Amit Prashar 33, Harjeet Bedi 15, Virinder 2 for 26); Panipat: 116 runs all out in 26.4 overs (Jitender 38, Dilbagh 24, Vaneet Goyal 4 for 27, Tanjeet Singh 2 for 10, Ashutosh Walia 2 for eight).

Mongia to lead

Test star Dinesh Mongia will lead the Chandigarh district cricket team in the Punjab Inter-District Cricket Tournament for Katoch Shield matches. Now Chandigarh will play against minor district team on September 12 at DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8.

Other members of the team are: Yuvraj Singh, Sanjay Mahajan, Sanjay Dhull, Harminder Kaku, Vikramjit, Manpratap, Prabhjot Singh, Amardeep Singh, Bhageshwar, Gaurav Gupta, Amit Uniyal, Paras, Vipal, Vishwash Bhalla, Rahul Arora, Ankur, Ravinder Nain, Rajinder Chaudhari, Gurinder Saini, Nagesh Gupta, Madan Lal and Iqbal Singh.