The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

HEALTH

Rare honour for Prof N.N. Wig
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 16
Prof N.N. Wig, former head of the Psychiatry Department at the PGI has been honoured with the Dr V.N. Bagadia Lifetime Achievement Award by the Bombay Psychiatric Society for Promotion of Mental Health.

Dr Wig started the psychiatry department at the PGI in 1963. Currently employed as Professor Emeritus of PGI. From 1980 onwards Dr Wig remained the head of the Psychiatry Department at AIIMS, Delhi. During his stint as the Mental Health Advisor to the World Health Organisation he was responsible for developing mental health programmes in 22 countries, including Pakistan, Morocco, West Asia and North Africa.

Dr Wig, has published 250 scientific papers in different journals and is currently a member of the WHO Advisory Panel on Mental Health.

NAMS honours Dr S.B.S. Mann
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 16
Dr S B S Mann has been selected to deliver ‘’Dr V R Khanolkar Oration’’ for 2002-03. This is a rare honour bestowed by the National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS).

Dr Mann is at present Director-Principal and Professor of ENT at Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh. Out of about 5,000 ENT specialists all over the country, only 22 are members of the Academy and Dr Mann is one of them.

The oration is to commemorate Dr Khanolkar, who was the first President of the National Academy of Medical Sciences. Only very eminent medical scientists are invited to deliver an oration on the research done by them, leaving choice of the subject to the selected scientists.

Blood donation by 4 pc city residents can solve problem
Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 16
Meeting the entire blood requirement through voluntary donations as per the National Blood Policy may seem to be a far cry. But if a mere 4 per cent of the city population donates blood once a year, the problem could be solved completely.

In order to curb the menace of trading and commercialisation of blood, the policy focuses on the need for voluntary donations rather than replacement donations.

Figures indicating the annual blood collection report of the city over the last 10 years show that despite best efforts even now barely 50 per cent of the requirement is met through voluntary donations.

“We have made an appeal to the 140 organisations who help us in blood collection to hold camps thrice or at least twice a year, so that our entire demand can be met through voluntary donors,” said Dr Neelam Marwah, head of the Blood Transfusion Department at the PGI. She felt that if the one-time donors could become regular donors, the position would ease out.

“It is only if a strong campaign for community involvement in blood donation is launched that we can think of getting anywhere close to 100 per cent voluntary donations,” stressed Dr Marwah. Even though the annual figures of blood collection in the UT show that there was more of replacement donation than voluntary donation, figures at the PGI seem to have reversed this trend.

During the year 2002, the PGI blood bank got a total of 36, 510 units of blood. “In case we are able to get 40,000 units of blood annually, we shall not have to ask family members or relatives of patients to go in for replacement donations, as we shall be able to meet the entire demand,” informed Dr Marwah. She said with a population of 10 lakh, blood donation by a mere 4 per cent of the city residents could solve the entire problem.

As far as blood donations, especially voluntary ones are concerned, the UT is amongst the best in the country. Last year, while 55.24 per cent of blood at the PGI came through voluntary donations, in 2001 it stood at 56.4 per cent.

With the threat of transmissible diseases like AIDS and hepatitis looming large, ensuring blood collection through voluntary donations becomes all the more important. “Blood from voluntary donors will naturally be safe apart from the fact that it will be more effective in treatment of a patient, compared to the blood from a professional donor,” point out doctors.