The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

HEALTH

True to Hippocratic oath
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 2
Setting an example for other private clinics to follow a city-based heart institute has treated a heart patient totally free of cost as the patient was too poor to afford the treatment.

Bal Krishan, a 44-year-old kulfi seller in Sector 20, was admitted to the Annie’s Heart Centre in Sector 15 after he suffered a massive heart attack. His initial tests which included an angiography were conducted. But when the patient told the doctors in charge that he was too poor to pay even for the tests, let alone the treatment, Dr Deepak Kaura, took a decision very few private practitioners have the guts to take.

‘‘His condition was definitely serious but what really made me feel that I should treat this person without any charge at all was the fact that he has four daughters and he was extremely worried about them. He has to marry them off and if he is not treated now he would never be able to take care of his family since he was the sole bread winner of the family.’’

Starting from the angiography, Bal Krishan underwent angioplasty. A stent was also provided free of cost by one of the makers of stents-Millennium-for this cause. ‘‘Normally this stent would have costed the patient anything between Rs 45,000 to 50,000 while the angioplasty in itself costs Rs 70,000 and angiography Rs 10,000’’, informs Dr Kaura.

Bal Krishan is recovering fast at the centre and will be discharged soon. His wife and brother are attending on him and are all praise for the doctor who they say had been very kind. ‘‘We never even imagined that someone will treat us free of cost specially when heart problems for a poor person like us mean no treatment at all,’’ says Kiran Kumar, Bal Krishan’s brother.

Bal Krishan has four daughters whom he has not been able to send to school and a son who is getting some formal education in a school in Sector 20. Having lived in the city and worked in the same sector for more than 37 years, Bal Krishan is a familiar face among the children of the sector.

Informing that the centre will soon be cutting down its various diagnostic and procedural rates, Dr Deepak informed that with the number of heart-related diseases increasing, ‘‘the treatment costs have also gone up, making this kind of treatment virtually unaffordable for the poor. Here is one person who is sole bread earner of his family. If he had not been treated in time it would have amounted to spoiling the future of one whole family. So the focus of all cardiac experts in private practice should be to cut down as much as is possible on treatment costs,’’ he says.

Technologists meet PGI Director
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 2
The PGI Medical Technologists Association, representing more than 400 medical technologists of the institute, held a meeting with the PGI Director, Prof S.K. Sharma and submitted before him a charter of demands.

According to office-bearers of the association, Prof Sharma has assured the president of the association, Mr K.L. Chopra, that the PGI administration will give a favorable and sympathetic consideration to the long-standing demands and grievances of the technologists.

SPORTS

DAV team alleges irregularities
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, May 2
The winning boys team of DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, in the UT state meet, has complained of irregularities and unfair selection by the Chandigarh Basketball Association. The basketball coach of the school team, Mr Shubh Karan, in a written statement to the press said their school team, despite being defending champion, was placed in pool ‘C’ instead of pool ‘A’ with a malafide intention.

He said despite stiff opposition, the school outplayed all its opponents with huge margin. But in the list released by the Chandigarh Basketball Association for the probables, only three boys from the school could find a berth. It was alleged that some players from other schools who did not perform well were selected as probables.

It was pointed out in these columns that city players had shown dismal performance at the national level due to wrong selections.

Snooker meet

The Saurabh Khattar Memorial Snooker Championship will begin here tomorrow at the Chandigarh Club. The tournament is organised every year in the memory of Saurabh Khattar, a snooker player who died in 1999. Saurabh had represented Haryana in the National Snooker Championship in Delhi in 1999. According to Neeru Khattar, organiser, the meet will end on May 12. Cash prizes and trophies will also be given to the winners and runners-up.

Concern over rural schools’ performance
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 2
A drop in the overall pass percentage of government schools in Class VIII has made senior officials of the Chandigarh Administration sit up and take notice. The pass percentage dropped from 76 per cent last year to 70 per cent this year.

The results of rural schools, which have done very badly, were also discussed. The UT Administrator, Lieut-Gen J.F.R. Jacob (retd), asked the Chandigarh Administration to frame a policy under which it will be compulsory for all teachers to undergo rural postings. So far teachers with a bit of push or pull have managed to avoid rural postings.

Certain ways have been suggested in this regard and these include motivating the students, principal and staff. Awards will be constituted for best principal, best school and best student of each school.

Lieut-Gen J.F.R. Jacob (retd) held a meeting with his Adviser, Ms Neeru Nanda, The Home Secretary, Mr Raminder Singh Gujral and the Director Public Instructions (schools) Mr D.S. Mangat. In the meeting the officials pointed out that teachers had been busy with the revision of electoral rolls thus the drop in pass percentage.