HEALTH

Doctors refute charges of absenteeism
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 24
The Punjab Civil Medical Services Association (PCMSA) has said that the Vigilance Department can only check whether doctors are physically present in hospitals or not, but was unaware of peripheral responsibilities of medical officials.

Regarding the problem of growing “absenteeism” among medical officials in rural areas, Dr Hardeep Singh, state head of the PCMSA, and Dr Surinder Singla, general secretary of the body, in a joint statement issued here today, said the recent decision of the government to hand over regular supervision of medical officials to Vigilance Department showed that the administrative network of the Health Department had collapsed. They said the government was complicating the situation further by coming up with such measures.

They said, besides the health centre job, each doctor also had to do field duty among his or her allotted population of more than 10,000 persons to implement various national health policies. Each doctor had to be on a minimum of 10 tours in one month for fieldwork. He or she had to spend a minimum of two days at the PHC for pay, attend a monthly meeting and do at least one emergency duty at nearby referral hospital. This way, in a month, a doctor was at the health centre for about 20 days.

They said, instead of reducing the workload of doctors, all governments had tried to divert the attention of public from real issues like mismanaged healthcare, insufficient medicine supply and low maintenance budgets.

They said there was absenteeism in the department, but only to an extent, that too, due to some administrative and supervisory officials of the PCMS. This was leading to a poor work culture and deterioration in the standard of health services. They stressed the need for expanding and decentralising administrative and supervisory network.

Dr Hardeep Singh said there were limited opportunities for promotion in the PCMS cadre. The association demanded restructuring of the Health Department and strengthening mini-PHCs, from where, a mobile team can do fieldwork and maintain clinical work.

Rare surgery at heart institute
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 24
Mr Ramesh Chander, a resident of Amritsar, suffered from repeated attacks of weakness in left arm and leg for which he was treated by many doctors. The patient was then advised to consult Dr Raman Chawla, Senior Cardiologist at Sigma Heart Institute and Research Centre.

After specialised investigations, Dr Chawla found that the artery supplying blood to brain on the right side was 99 per cent blocked.

Team of doctors consisting of Dr Pramod Jaiswal and Dr Raman Chawla, both senior cardiologists and interventionists at the institute, performed angioplasty and implanted stent in the right internal carotid artery (the major vessels supplying blood to the brain) through a catheter in the groin.

Dr Chawla, while talking to mediapersons here last evening, claimed that for the first time in Punjab, a protective device consisting of special wire with umbrella was used to filter and prevent the clots from going into the brain.

Dr Jaiswal said the rate of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality was increasing due to various risk factors, in addition to the increased stress and fast pace of life. One form of such illness was stroke or paralysis. The incidence was similar to what happened in the case of heart attack.

Dr Chawla said after the implantation of the stent, the probability of stroke was significantly reduced. “A group of around 100 physicians from all over the state watched the procedure, which was telecast to them live from the operating theatre”, claimed Dr Chawla.

The patient was discharged after 2-3 days of the procedure without any surgical scar on his body.

Hockey tourney from April 28
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, April 24
The fifth Summer League Six-a-Side Hockey tournament begins from April 28 at the Astroturf ground of Punjab Agricultural University. Four teams — Sant Paramjit Singh Club, Olympian Surjit Singh Club, Sonu Ghuman Club and Raj Kumar Club — will take part in the tournament to be organised by the Aryan Hockey Club. Matches will be played on Sundays during this league meet. Mr Ashok Kumar Prashar will inaugurate the tournament on Sunday.

Belt grading tests

The Centre for Advanced Martial Arts Training (CAMAT) will organise grade promotion tests at its North India centres on May 5, according to Mr Om Parkash Verma, chief instructor of CAMAT in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and J and K. These tests will be conducted for grading from yellow to black belts. The organisation imparts training to school and college students world over.

More than 600 students are expected to take these tests to be held at Sacred Heart Convent School, Raikot, and Sacred Heart Convent School, Urban Estate, Chandigarh Road, Ludhiana. The trainees will be awarded ‘Belt of Proficiency’ certificates.