HEALTH

Nurses to know patients better
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 12
In its endeavour to improve nursing care through better interaction between nurses and patients’ families, the Indian Nursing Council (INC) will be launching a quality assurance programme at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and the PGI, to be extended to rest of the country later on.

Delivering the keynote address on the occasion of International Nursing Day today, the Nursing Adviser and president of the Indian INC, Mr T. Dileep Kumar, said under the pilot project to be launched shortly, the nurses would be given short-term training to assess the needs of the patient so that comprehensive individualised care can be provided.

Under the project, special focus would be laid on proper documentation and evaluation of patient care. “One of the most important aspect of the project would be better inter-personal relationship between nurses, patients and their families, so that a congenial environment can be created,” informed Dr Indarjit Walia, Principal, National Institute of Nursing at the PGI.

To begin with, a few wards would be identified where the nurses would be given short-term training. “ We have already prepared the module and about 35 nurses would be selected to start the programme at the Male Surgical Ward and another ward, yet to be finalised,” informed Dr Walia.

She said though the nurses were being taught all that would form part of the programme, but unfortunately it was not being followed strictly in hospitals. She added that during the project there would be continuous evaluation and supplementation of education.

Mr T. Dileep Kumar, informed that very soon a data base would be prepared to have the actual number of nurses in the country as it would help in policy making. “We have started a three month clinical specialisation programme, drawn up by the World Health Organisation (WHO),” he informed.

He stressed the need for having more research-oriented education for nursing students. “There is an urgent need to improve the image of nurses in the eyes of the public and create higher positions for clinical nurses,” he opined. He felt that there was an urgent need to improve the working condition for nurses and as part of this 430 houses had been constructed at a cost of Rs 37 crore in Delhi.

He said all those nurses who had studied abroad would now be required to clear an examination before they start working in India.

SPORTS

Gymnasts flex muscles at ITBP centre
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, May 12
More than 160 gymnasts converged on the new gymnasium hall today at the Indo-Tibeten Border Police (ITBP) centre, Behlana, near Chandigarh. The idea was to provide the children feel of a modern gymnasium where most of the equipment was of national specifications. The effort was made by the Chandigarh Gymnastics Association in co-ordination with ITBP gymnastics coach Samir Deb.

According to Mr S.S. Budhwar, as many as 163 children drawn from 23 schools of the city flexed muscles under the supervision of various coaches. These include Rajender Sharma, Neelam Sharma, Sandhya, Madhvi, Mr Shashi and Shashi.

Samir Deb said they want to develop this centre as a modern centre and would like to have more participation of children from various schools. They were tying up with Government High School, Behlana, to send maximum number of children to be groomed into future gymnasts, he said. Through efforts of the Sports Authority of India, a foreign coach would also be called to this centre to train the trainees, here, he added.

A promising powerlifter

Nirmaljit Singh, a Chandigarh-based international powerlifter, brought laurels to the city when he bagged a gold medal in the just concluded Ist Masters Asian Men and Women Powerlifting Championships at Almaty, Kazakhstan. He won the gold medal by lifting a total weight of 745 kg in 110 kg class (squat-285, bench press-170 kg and deadlift-290 kg). Nirmaljit also won two gold medals in squat/deadlift and silver in bench press. He will now prepare for the Senior National Powerlifting Championship to be held at Mangalore in August, 2003, and also for the World Masters Powerlifting Championship to be held in Canada in October this year.

DAV karatekas excel

Karatekas of KB DAV School, Sector 7, Chandigarh, who won medals in the Open Chandigarh Karate Meet.

The karatekas of KB DAV Centenary School, Sector 7, Chandigarh, brought rich haul of medals in the Open Chandigarh state karate Championship, organised by All-India Anti-Terrorist Front, Chandigarh state that concluded last evening at Sector 10 skating rink

The gold medal winners were: Tejasvi, Kanav Singla, Mukul, Tarun Sharma, Prabhjot, Divjot, Suhas and Piyush, while silver medalists were, Nikhil, Raghav, Ishan, Akshay, Dolika, Karan Garg, Rishi Khanna and Karan Sharma. The bronze medals were won by Amitoj, Jatindeep Shaurya, Taranjot, Karan and Dhiren Verma.

IT tourney

Bhavan Hawk, a sports and cultural club, a unit of Bhavan Vidyalaya, Sector 27, Chandigarh, today organised 11th Bhavan Vidyalya School Table Tennis Tournament. About 40 players from 8 to19 years, took part in eight events. Ms Meenakshi Mohindra, Principal, of the school gave away the prizes. Results: cadet boys — Rachit Kakkar, Madhur Gupta, Amrinder Singh and Apurve; cadet girls — Bhavneet Kaur, Vibhuti Mahajan, Khushboo and Garima Goyal; sub-junior boys — Rachit Kakkar, Ankit Gulati, Mukul and Sidhant Mahajan; sub-junior girls — Khushboo, Vibhuti, Bhavneet and Surbhi; junior boys — Ankit, Rachit, Mukul and Utkarsh; junior girls — Guneet, Saloni, Mahima and Vibhuti; senior boys — Rachit, Mukul, Ankit and Apurv and senior girls — Guneet, Mahima, Saloni and Khushboo.