HEALTH

Anti-tobacco exhibition at Hero DMC
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 4
To encourage the staff of Hero DMC Heart Institute (HDHI), to contribute in eradicating the menace of smoking from society by creating awareness about its ill effects, a poster-making competition-cum- exhibition was organised by the staff of Hero DMC Heart Institute team here yesterday. The event was specially organised to mark an anti-tobacco day.

The HDHI is pioneer in establishing the free anti-smoking clinic-cum-counselling centre. The state-of-the-art hospital is running the social service project, free of cost, for people desirous of quitting smoking.

Dr G.S. Wander, chief cardiologist, HDHI, Dr V. Mohan, Dr Raj Kumar and Mr Talabgar were the judges for the poster-making competition. Ms Prabhjot, cardiac nurse, HDHI, was given first prize, Mr Satish Kumar, technician, was given the second prize while Tarun, computer operator, was declared third. The consolation prize went to Ms Shweta, a receptionist. Dr Kumbhkarni, in charge, anti-smoking clinic, was also present.

In his address, Dr G.S. Wander applauded the effort of nurses and emphasised the need of creating awareness among the rural folks about the ill effects of tobacco as tobacco chewing habits were on rise in the villages of Punjab. In his speech, Dr V. Mohan said that smoking had shown a downward trend in the upper strata of society due to awareness created by media.

While talking about the anti-smoking clinic of HDHI, Dr S. Kumbhkarni said, “The aim behind starting the anti-smoking clinic at Hero DMC Heart Institute is to encourage people to adopt a healthier life style as smoking is one of the major triggers of heart disease. Under this project, a special clinic is organised on every second and fourth Saturday (twice a month) in the OPD area of HDHI, where a team of experts provide consultation to people desirous of leaving smoking. Those who want to benefit from this free clinic can get registered by dialling 2480890 to 2480896.”

Along with the cardiologist of the HDHI, chest experts and psychiatry experts of the DMCH are also providing their consultation for the treatment and counselling of these patients. The Department of Social and Preventive Medicine of DMCH is also educating the villagers visiting its Rural Health Care Centre at Pohir about the ill effects of smoking on health.

“While treating patients, counselling remains to be our first priority, treatment, through drugs come later as research has shown that counselling can be helpful in 60 per cent of the patients and drugs can be useful in 40 per cent cases. A new oral drug has been introduced in the market which is free of nicotine while earlier the anti-smoking drugs in the market contained nicotine,” an expert added.

Smoking is one of the major causes of heart diseases and it also triggers breathing problems and many other diseases. Smoking leads to gangrene and limb amputation. Seventy per cent of people want to quit smoking but only 2 per cent to 3 per cent succeed in that, the expert added. 

Rare surgery performed
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 4
Six-year old Shubham had difficulty opening his mouth. He was not able to eat properly or speak normally, had facial deformity and was facing physical, psychological and social trauma. He was suffering from a peculiar temporal mandible (jaw) joint deformity caused due to fusion of joint with the base of the skull, generally the result of a neglected trauma.

It all started two years back when Shubham met with an accident while playing. Nobody thought a normal fall and tooth injury would gradually result in a severe deformity and stunted growth. It was only when Shubham started feeling a lot of pain while opening his mouth and his facial structure started showing deformation that his father, Mr Dayanand was alarmed and started taking consultation from various dental experts.

One of the reputed hospitals of the city advised joint removal surgery. Being a menial construction worker, he could not afford the cost and was unsure of the treatment also. Then some doctors referred him to Baba Jaswant Singh Dental College and Hospital.

Dr Vikram Prabhakar, Professor, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, and his team of experts doctors, including Dr Ajay Bibra, Dr Rajesh Bansal and others performed this complicated surgery where in the deformed/broken temporal mandible (jaw) joint is approached through the scalp and is reconstructed with muscle taken from the skull of the patient. This critical surgery lasted three hours and the main challenge for the surgeon was getting the tube inside the mouth of the child for such a long time, opening the skull and transplanting muscle from skull to jaw.

Shubham was able to open his mouth the next day and after three weeks, he will be able to eat normally. By the time he is 18 years, there will be no trace of any kind of facial deformity as the reconstructed joint will grow naturally and the mandible also grows gradually. The scar will not be visible as the incision above the ear will be covered by hair growth.

Dr Prabhakar informed that this kind of severe joint deformity was more common in the lower economic group as people tended to ignore minor dental traumas and jaw injuries.

Lotey rejoins as DSO today
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, June 4
Mr S.L. Lotey, a senior Punjab sports officer, is joining as District Sports Officer, Ludhiana, on June 5. He replaces Mr Harpal Singh Kanwal who has been posted at Hoshiarpur. Mr Lotey has earlier also worked as DSO here for more than three years (January 1, 1999 to May 6, 2002).

Under his first stint as DSO here, the city had witnessed a number of sports activities and he supervised many projects. To name a few, under his supervision, the synthetic track at the Guru Nanak Sports Complex was relaid, astro turf at the Punjab Agricultural University was prepared, the indoor basketball stadium was constructed, the renovation work at the multi-purpose indoor hall at the complex was done and the addition to the cycling velodrome at PAU was carried out.

During the 31st edition of the National Games held a in 2001, Mr Lotey was the convener of the supervisory committee constituted by the Punjab Government.