The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

HEALTH

Delay comes under scan
Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 7
Notwithstanding the inordinate delay in installing a CT-scan machine in the Sector 32 Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) here even after a decade of the hospital’s establishment, the institute is talking of seeking the ISO-9001 certification, even as patients, 10 per day on an average, continue to be referred to the PGI or sent to private centres for the scan.

While the PGI has been crying that its status has been reduced from that of a referral hospital to that of a primary-health centre, the GMCH and the Sector 16 General Hospital continue to refer all head-injury cases to the PGI for the CT scan. “We, too, are tired of hearing that a CT-scan machine is being installed soon, but the wait seems to be endless,” say doctors in the GMCH.

The doctors say that even district hospitals have the CT-scan machines, must in cases of head injury. In view of this, the delay in acquiring a machine for the GMCH is beyond comprehension. “It was in 1997 that a proposal for installing a CT-scan machine had come, but, so far, the facility hasn’t arrived in the hospital that talks big of introducing specialities like cardiology and neurology,” said an employee of the hospital.

Poor patients are the worst hit, as they are unable to afford the CT-scan bills of private centres. As the PGI caters to patients from the entire region, the waiting list for getting the CT-scan done is long, even as more than 100 scans are done every day. “All formalities to bring the facility to the hospital have been completed, but approval from the bureaucrats is still to come,” a senior official in the GMCH said. The Medical Superintendent, Dr Raj Bahadur, in spite of repeated efforts, could not be contacted.

“Every time the GMCH receives an emergency case involving a head injury, the patient is referred to the PGI, with precious time getting wasted in transfer,” say doctors. “It is high time the authorities realise the importance of the golden hour — the first 60 minutes after the injury — crucial in saving the life of the patient,” said a neurosurgeon.

Sources in the GMCH say that the casual attitude of the authorities regarding the need to strengthen diagnostic facilities in the hospital shows in their failure to respond to requests from even the World Bank and the Ministry of Health to send in proposals for seeking financial aid for the purpose.

The situation in General Hospital is no better, where too, the installation of the CT-scan machine is long-awaited. “The installation seems nowhere in sight, as certain formalities are yet to be worked out,” said a senior doctor of the hospital. The Director Health Services, Dr C.P. Bansal, said he was hopeful of bringing the CT-scan facility to General Hospital before March 2003.

Health officials raid sweetshops

SAS Nagar, December 7
More than 500 kg of sweets were thrown away as garbage by Punjab Health Department officials removed from various sweetshops in SAS Nagar and Sohana markets here today.

Many sweetshops were raided in the morning by a team of health officials led by the Ropar Civil Surgeon, Dr Rana Harinder, following complaints by residents against these shops.

According to the information provided by these officials, most of these shops had stocked stale sweets and in some cases the sweets had been prepared more than month back and were still being sold. The health officials also made the shopkeepers throw away sweets which had been prepared using non-permitted colours.

Ms Harinder later stated that these shopkeepers had been given a warning today and in case they again started piling stale sweets or used non-permitted colours to prepare these sweets, strict action would be initiated against them. TNS

SPORTS

Ankit Soni makes it to snooker final
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, December 7
Ankit Soni, 16-year-old, surprised everyone by making it to the final of the Junior Snooker section of the XVII Haryana state Senior, Junior Billiards and Snooker Championship being held here today at Swastik Vihar, Panchkula. Ankit got the better of Ankur Nanda 45-17, 20-65, 58-49, 50-59 and 52-45. In the senior snooker section, second seed Deepak entered the semi-final by defeating Anil Sharma 55-60, 69-33, 62-13, 52-68, 77-33. In the senior snooker section, Gagandeep defeated Pradeep 62-23, 50-47, 62-42.

Shooting championship

The 27th North India Shooting Championship, 2002, will be organised by Zonal Rifle Shooting Academy at Patiali ki Rao Shooting range, Sector 25, from December 25 to 29. The matches will be held in rifle, pistol (ISSF and National Rules) in all age groups. Shooters from various parts of the region are expected to take part. This was stated by Mr Parminder Singh, secretary, of the academy. Entries close on December 23.

Shooting ball meet

Paramount Shooting Ball Club will hold a shooting ball tournament on December 14 and 15 at Sector 38-D grounds, near Sanatan Dharam Temple. The meet is open to teams from nearby places like SAS Nagar, Panchkula, Ambala and Ropar. This will be a dropping tournament. Entries close with Mr Rakesh Mehta on December 13 at Phone 698374.

Powerlifting championship

Himani Sharma of MCM DAV College, Sector 36, created two new records in bench press from 35 kg to 37.5 kg and dead lift from 97.5 kg to 100 kg and won gold medal in the below 48 kg section of the XI Junior Men and Second Women Chandigarh Powerlifting Championship held here today at Gymnasium Hall, PU campus.

Government Girls College, Sector 42 won the team championship by securing 79 points, MCM DAV College, Sector 36, scored the second place by obtaining 73 points while Guru Gobind Singh College, Sector 26, finished third by securing 42 points. Anita of MCM DAV-36 has established four records in squat from 80 kg to 85 kg, bench press from 37.5 kg to 50 kg, dead lift from 105 kg to 107.5 kg and a total from 222.5 kg to 22.5 kg and won the gold medal.

In the 67.5 kg class, Jasvir Kaur of the Government College of Girls, Sector 42, has set up new record in bench press from 50 kg to 52.5 kg and won gold medal by lifting total weight of 247.5 kg.

In the 75 kg class, Jagdeep Bawa of MCM DAV, Sector 36, improved her four state records in squat from 85 kg to 90 kg, bench press from 45 kg to 50 kg, dead lift from 110 kg to 115 kg and total from 240 kg to 250 kg and bagged gold medal. Below 44 kg: Prachi Bansal 1, 48 kg: Himani Sharma 1,52 kg: Shashi Bala, 56 kg-Anita; 60 kg-Ashima 1, 67.5 kg-Jasvir Kaur 1.75 kg-Jagdeep 1.82.5 kg-Sarabjit Kaur.

Boxing team

Chandigarh Boxing Association has selected a 24-member UT boxing team, including 12 women, for its participation in the XXXII National Games to be held at Hyderabad from December 13. According to Mr CK Jerath, secretary of the association, the team compreses of men: Ramesh-light fly wt; Ashwani Sharma-Fly wt; Ajay Pal Singh-Bantom wt; Sandeep Yadav-Feather wt: Virinder-Light wt; Ravi Charan-Light Welter wt; Aman-Light Middle wt; Ajay Singh-Welter wt: Vivek Kumar-Middle wt; Ajit Pal Singh-light heavy wt; Vishal Budania; Heavy wt: Simranjeet Singh-Super heavy wt.

Women: Harpreet Kaur-Pin; Ginni Seth-Light Fly wt: Kulwinder-Fly Wt; Kapila-Bantom Wt; Sangeeta-Feather wt; Komal-Light wt; Satinder Kaur-Light Welter wt; Shehnaz Khan-Welter Wt; Renu Deepak-Light Middle wt; Sangeeta Rani-Middle wt; Ishlani Sood-Light heavy wt; Razwana Khan-Heavy Wt.

Dr CK Jerath, Balkar Singh, Shiv Singh and Ms Sonia Kanwar of Chandigarh will be the technical officials while JD Singh, Ms Vijay Laxmi, Sanjeev Kumar and Varinder Dangi as officials.