The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

HEALTH

‘Limited resources mar health services’
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, January 23
“Our country has produced eminent doctors, whose services are recognised worldwide. Indian doctors have gained good reputation, still we have not been able to provide good health services to people here because of our limited resources. We should try to enhance our resources.” These views were expressed by Mr Bhishma K. Agnihotri, Ambassador-at-large USA, who was in the city to inaugurate computerisation project at the Guru Teg Bahadur Charitable Hospital and Institute of Nursing Education here today.

Mr Agnihotri said he was constantly in touch with NRIs for the development of the nation in every respect. “Development of the country is very important. I am trying to involve more and more NRIs for the uplift of health sector in the country. We have good heart care centres, AIDS, diabetes and pre-natal care clinics here. There is a need to come up with a good trauma centres too”, said Mr Agnihotri.

He exhorted the medical community and management of the hospitals to work with a spirit of service while providing treatment facilities to weaker sections of society, who were unable to afford costly medical treatment.

While addressing a gathering of doctors and paramedical fraternity, after inaugurating the full computerisation project executed at a cost of Rs 8 lakh, he said with the execution of this project, the entire working of the hospital would now be on computers. It would enhance the efficiency and quality of services being provided in the hospital, he said.

Appreciating the effort of the hospital management in providing affordable medical services to the poor, Mr Agnihotri said this was the first charitable hospital that provides a number of super-speciality medical services to the general public. He also appealed to the doctors to make all out efforts to create awareness among the people regarding general fitness and preventive measures, so that they could live a healthy life free from diseases.

Dr Waheguru Pal Singh, Medical Superintendent of the hospital, said the staff of the hospital was always ready to serve the poor. “To enhance the quality of the services in the hospital, a new ICU with the latest facilities has been constructed at a cost of Rs 1 crore. It will become operational soon,” he said. He further added that to provide medical services to the rural population, the hospital had chalked out a programme to organise 40 free medical check-up and treatment camps in various villages. Out of these, 29 camps had already been held. The camp received a good response from the people. At these camps, facilities of eye operations and medicines were provided free of cost to the patients.

Mr Bakhshi Mohinder Singh, president of the Hospital Managing Committee, said the hospital had also constructed a spacious guest house to accommodate relatives of the patients at cheaper rates. He assured that the hospital would continue to serve the needy and the poor at the reasonable charges in the future also.

District ready for Pulse Polio (phase II)
Our Correspondent

Machhiwara, January 23
To review arrangements for the second round of the intensified Pulse Polio campaign and generate mass awareness on it, a Panch Sammelan was organised in the local Primary Health Unit under the guidance of Dr S.N. Tiwari, Civil Surgeon Ludhiana. Mr Anil Sood, president of the Nagar Council of Machhiwara, was the chief guest. The others present there included the District Vaccination Officer, Dr Kuldeep Kaur Sahni; the Deputy Mass Education and Information Officer, Mr Harjinder Singh, the Executive Officer, of the Nagar Council of Machhiwara, Mr Tajinder Singh; the BDPO, Rana Partap Singh Sidhu; the Child Development and Project Officer, Ms Daljeet Kaur; and the secretary of the Lions Club of Machhiwara, Mr Narinder Pal Jit Singh.

Dr Tiwari said polio was a serious threat to the nation’s health and mass awareness could combat it. He said it was unfortunate that, out of 1,450 polio cases in the world, 1,400 were in India alone. Two cases were in Mandi Gobindgarh and Ludhiana and the rest in Uttar Pradesh. He said he was surprised why people found it difficult to take their wards to booths for two extra drops of vaccine, when the government was spending crores of rupees on eradicating polio.

The District Vaccination Officer, Dr Kuldeep Kaur Sahni, said 1,903 posts had been set up in the district for the second round of the campaign on February 9. The SMO of Machhiwara, Dr Harvinder Singh, said 69 posts had been set up in the Machhiwara block and he hoped to cross the figure of 11,314 children covered in the last phase.

The chief guest, Mr Anil Sood, said the Nagar Panchayat would make this campaign a grand success and he himself would visit all colonies of migrants to create awareness about Pulse Polio.

Students of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Public School of Machhiwara participated in the sammelan, with presentations on Pulse Polio. Gagan Malhotra, a student of the school, impressed everyone with a talk on Pulse Polio. Dr J.P. Singh concluded the programme that was anchored by the Block Extension Educate, Mr Brijmohan Sharma.

SPORTS

Monika rules the pool
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, January 23
Monika Vaid, a student of B.Com (I) of Shanti Tara College, Ahmedgarh, proved her mettle in swimming in the different tournaments. In the Punjab State Junior Swimming Championship held at Jalandhar, Monika competed in five events and came out triumphant in four while finishing runner-up in one.

In a press note issued by the college Principal, Mr Amarjit Singh Sidhu, Monika bagged gold medals in 50 m free style, 100 m free style, 50 m back stroke and 50 m butterfly events. She won a silver medal in 200 m free style.

In the Punjabi Unversity Inter-college Meet held at Patiala, last year, Monika participated in seven events and clinched two gold and five silver medals. She proved too good for her rivals to finish ahead of others and won gold in 50 m free style and 100 m free style. However, Monika finished runner-up in 200 m, 400 m and 800 m free style, 100 m butterfly and 200 m individual medlay.

Monika qualified in the time trial held at Jalandhar and represented Punjab in the last National Games at Hyderabad, the note read.

Sub-jr boxing

Seven Boxers of Ludhiana district, belonging to Khanna, left the city on Wednesday to participate in the 18th National Sub-junior Boxing Championship. The championship would be held from January 24 to 28th at Calcutta.

Mr G.S. Garewal, a Sports Authority of India coach at Khanna, said in a press note that seven boxers, Gurdip Singh, Gurprit Singh, Ravinder Singh, Gurcharan Singh, Nipun Mittal, Harcharan Singh, and Bhagel Singh will participate in the championship.

Five boxers are from A.S. Senior Secondary School, Khanna, and two from Spring Dale Public School, Khanna

Annual sports mela
Our Correspondent

Khanna, January 23
A three-day 22nd annual sports mela (Kheda Ghungrali Rajputan Dian) is being organised at Sri Guru Hargobind Sahib Sports Complex, Ghungrali (Ludhiana), from January 25 to 27 by the Singh Sports Association, Ghungrali Rajputan.

Mr Surinder Singh Tiwana and Mr Gurmit Singh Kular, chairman and spokesperson of the association, respectively, said that the sports mela would be devoted to the late Sohan Singh Garewal, Dalbir Singh ‘Satnam’ and Tara Singh Gill.

A cultural programme will also be organised on the occasion.

The sports meet will be inaugurated by Mr Amrik Singh, MLA, Samrala.

LDCA office-bearers elected
Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, January 23
Mr Chaman Lal Malhotra, chairman, Punjab Selection Committee (senior), Mr Rajinder Nath Mahajan and Mr Vinod Chitkara were unanimously elected as the chairman, the president and the general secretary, respectively, of the Ludhiana District Cricket Association (LDCA) at the annual general meeting of the association held, here today.

Mr Raj Kumar, honorary general secretary, Punjab Volleyball Association, attended the meeting as an observer appointed by the LDCA’s parent body, Punjab Cricket Association. Earlier, the house adopted the accounts up to January 31, 2002, which had already been passed by the executive committee meeting, held here on December 19. More than 80 members of the LDCA attended the meeting, chaired by its acting president, Mr Rajinder Nath Mahajan.

The house also resolved to co-opt for Mr Lokesh Khanna and Mr Anil Bharti as the senior vice-presidents and Mr Neelam Kanish and Mr Rajesh Gupta as the vice-presidents. During the meeting, Mr Vinod Chitkara said as many as 14 Ludhiana players had represented the state in different tournaments and the association had also organised three one-day Ranji ties and a Deodhar Trophy match at Ludhiana during the last year.

The following were elected the office-bearers of the LDCA for the next term: Mr Charanjit Singh — Life President; Mr Chaman Lal — Chairman; Mr Rajinder Nath Mahajan — President; Mr Vinod Chitkara — Honorary General Secretary; Prof F C Chopra, Mr Sandeep Goel and Mr Gulshan Chhabra — senior vice-presidents; Dr Iqbal Singh, Mr Sunil Mehra, Mr Aashok Jain, Mr Satish Garg, Mr Anil Dutt, Mr Sham Lal, Mr Rajesh Puri, Mr Rajinder Pursharthy and Mr Vijay Aggarwal — vice-presidents; Mr Lachhman Dravid, Mr Hoan Veer and Mr Ashok Sikka — associate vice-presidents; Mr Rajiv Bajaj — treasurer; Mr Pawan Kumar — secretary; Mr Naresh Marwaha, Mr Nitin Mahajan and Mr Anil Kumar — joint secretaries.