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| Saturday,
May 3, 2003, Chandigarh, India
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SARS case belies PGI claim on preparedness Chandigarh May 2 All the seven members of the family of the 30-year-old SARS suspect, Kuldeep Singh, have been kept in room No. 6 in the isolation ward. The first SARS suspect to be admitted in a city hospital arrived at the PGI Emergency well past midnight after being referred from the Civil Hospital, Hoshiarpur. Although some of the PGI staff, including doctors, emergency employees and security personnel, have been provided with plain face masks, a majority of them could be seen complaining that despite repeated requests personal protective equipment like caps, face masks, gloves, disposable gowns, aprons and footwear had not been provided. Blood samples and sputum of the patient were sent to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) last night for confirmation of the disease. “It is a suspect case suffering from acute breathing problem, which has been referred from Hoshiarpur and has been kept in the isolation ward,” said Dr S.K. Jindal, Head of Pulmonary Medicine. “Since there are no N-95 and three-layered masks, for my protection I use two plain face masks as I have to attend to the suspect case and at the same time protect myself,” said a lady staff member at the isolation ward. She informed that food was being served inside the room from the canteen, but in the absence of an attached toilet, the family and the suspect were using the one in the corridor. “All of them have been kept in one room having two beds, but during the night we will shift them to other rooms,” informed an employee. This, however, is in violation of the WHO safety guidelines which state that SARS suspect should be individually isolated and managed in separate rooms. If this was not possible it has been suggested that screens should be placed between the patients. The SARS fear at the PGI was evident as some of the patients, social workers and security personnel could be seen wearing masks they bought from the chemists’ shop. “Doctors have told us not to be anywhere in the vicinity of the isolation ward as a SARS case has been admitted,” said a couple. Despite directions of the Health Ministry, the PGI did not inform the Nodal Officer, Dr J.S. Kalra, about the suspect case admitted to the PGI. “We have no such information but after a meeting chaired by the Director, Health Services, Dr C.P. Bansal, today, we have sent a request to the Union Health Ministry for providing 50 special powered air purifying respirators (PAPR),” informed Dr Kalra. The patient, Kuldeep Singh, is a driver with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) posted at Assam. He arrived in his native village, Naushera Simbi in Hazipur block, on April 19. He was admitted to the Civil Hospital, Hoshiarpur, after he complained of fever and cough. Although there had been improvement in his condition initially, he was referred to the PGI after his condition deteriorated and he complained of an acute breathing problem. |
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Health
hazards dog
Sec 40 residents Chandigarh, May 2 Residents complain that the civic body is not managing garbage, including cow dung, properly, posing a serious threat to public health. Mr S.K. Khosla, general secretary of the Residents Welfare Association (RWA) of Sector-40C, said: “The removal of garbage in each sector is done at designated places and is transported from there to the dumping ground. But in our sector no such place has been designated by the MC. As a result, the garbage is littered, creating insanitary conditions. Moreover to make things worse, garbage collection is irregular”. He further alleged: “Most of the residents of nearby Palsora colony, both men and women, come out during the wee hours to defecate in the forest area along the road adjoining Sectors 39 and 40.” Fed up with the problem of open defecation by Palsora residents, various RWAs of Sector 39 and 40 have repeatedly been writing complaints to the Administrator demanding the declaration of the forestland as a green belt but no preventive measures have been taken so far. In view of the unhygienic conditions, this sector has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Most residents prefer to skip evening walk due to fear of mosquitoes. Mr P.L. Paul, president of the RWA, said the parks falling in the sector were in dilapidated condition. “Even a sum of Rs 2 lakh were sanctioned by MP Pawan Bansal for the beautification of the main park of the sector but the amount has so far not been used for the purpose”, alleged Mr Paul. Residents also allege that sweepers of the MC do not come for work regularly, despite repeated requests to the authorities concerned in this context. It is learned that an amount of Rs 80,000 was sanctioned about a year ago for the installation of tiles on the berms of central park from House No. 2742 onwards. However, this work has so far not been initiated. The other demands of residents include maintenance of streetlights and removal of stray animals. |
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VCD case: Dr Bali writes
to minister Chandigarh, May 2 Dr Bali, sent a letter to the minister yesterday after the PGI did not respond to his request for ordering a police inquiry into the allegations levelled against him by Ms Jaswinder Kaur, daughter of a patient from Ambala, who was operated upon at the PGI. “Even though the PGI Director had assured me that needful in the matter would be done without any delay , but till date the case has not been handed over to the police and FIR not registered,” said Dr Bali, in the letter. He has also sought an appointment with the minister to apprise her of the details of the entire case. “I have informally come to know that the Vigilance Cell at the PGI has evidence that a conspiracy was hatched by Dr Pawan Sharma, wife of Dr Anil Grover, Head of Cardiology Department, against me so as to defame me and harm me professionally,” alleged Dr Bali in the letter. He said the news reports about the VCD case had harmed his reputation and a thorough police investigation into the matter must be held at the earliest. Dr Bali had made a request to the PGI on April 25 for a police probe into the case. |
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Appointment
of PGI Dean not on agenda Chandigarh, May 2 Even though issues like the redesignation of the Kidney Transplant Centre as a separate department of renal transplant surgery finds place as item number four on the agenda, the Dean issue has been left untouched. “We are surprised that the Dean issue does not figure on the agenda, but it wouldn’t be surprising if the minister takes up the issue as table agenda,” a senior doctor said. PGI sources said the issue of the continuation of evening OPD could also come up for discussion at the governing body meeting. The meeting id scheduled for May 12 in New
Delhi. |
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Child dies of
suspected cholera SAS Nagar, May 2 Dr Brar stated that the two children, according to the residents, died of loose motions and vomiting. ‘‘If these were caused by cholera or not is still not
confirmed,’’ he said. |
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Tender Heart School win TT title Chandigarh, May 2 Results: Team championship: (finals):TH-33 b St Stephen's-45 (3-0): Arsh b Adhiraj 11-2,11-8, 11-3; Karanvir b Abhiroop 7-11,13-11, 12-10, 9-11, 11-6; Karan b Varun 11-1,11-6,11-6. Earlier in the semi-finals, Tender Heart School downed Little Flower School while St Stephen's defeated St Xavier's-44. In the Individual semi-finals, Arsh of Tender Heart school beat Abhiroop of St Stephen's 11-8, 6-11, 6-11,11-7,11-9,11-8. In the second semi-final, Raghav of St Kabir beat Adhiraj of St Stephen's 11-1,11-5,11-6.
Snooker meet The IVth Saurabh Khattar Memorial Snooker Tournament will begin here tomorrow at the Chandigarh Club. The tournament will commence tomorrow at 2. 30 pm.
CBA to take more time The Chandigarh Badminton Association (CBA) has decided to take more time in its decision whether to seek affiliation with the Chandigarh Olympic Association. This decision was taken at a meeting of the association held today. As per the Badminton Association of India (BAI) rules, any affiliated unit can get affiliated with its respective Olympic
body. Though at present, BAI itself was not yet affiliated to the Indian Olympic Association. According to experts, if any association gets affiliated to any Olympic body, then it has to abide by various rules of the Olympic body. CBA members also took the pledge to promote badminton among masses and it was decided to adhere to the
calendar made to organise the badminton activities. |
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Karnataka, AP
in last four Chandigarh, May 2 In the first tie played between AP and UP, at the JR Institute, Barwala, AP defeated UP by three wickets. Mamta Kanojia of AP played a superb game as she scored 39 runs and claimed five wickets for just 14 runs. In another tie held at the Sector 5 Cricket Stadium, Panchkula, MP got the better of Mumbai by 26 runs. Mumbai were able to score 111 runs in 28 overs. In reply, MP scored 137 runs in 29.2 overs. Ruchika of MP scored 42 runs, followed by Rupa Chakarvarti who made 20 runs and Nidhi Buley scored 16 runs. In the third tie played at Satluj Public School, Sector 4, West Bengal defeated Maharashtra by nine wickets. Maharashtra were all out for 124 runs in 39.2 overs. West Bengal scored 125 runs by losing just one wicket in 19.2 overs. Romelee was the top scorer for West Bengal with 52 runs. In the fourth tie played between Haryana and Karnataka, Karnataka won the match by nine wickets. Karnataka achieved the target with the loss of one wicket in 25.2 overs while Haryana were all out for just 89 runs in 32.2 overs. |
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