The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

HEALTH

PGI patients may pay less in future
Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 15
Patients coming to the PGI for treatment might have to pay less for various tests and investigations as the Governing Body (GB) of the institute has directed the authorities to draw a comparative statement of the charges at the PGI and AIIMS so that they are at par.

As per the minutes of the GB meeting, received at the PGI on July 5, The Union Health Minister, Mrs Sushma Swaraj, has directed the PGI authorities to prepare a comparative list of the hospital charges being made here and those at AIIMS. She has directed that the comparative list should then be circulated to all members of the GB, as it had been brought to her notice that patients at the PGI were being made to pay more than at AIIMS for certain tests.

It was on a specific reference made by Mr Suresh Chandel, Member Parliament at the GB meeting, held on May 12, that the matter came up for discussion. It is reliably learnt that Mr Chandel pointed out that despite AIIMS and the PGI, following the same pattern, some of the charges being made at the PGI were more.

A proposal for making an increase in the hospital charges at the PGI, was placed before the Standing Finance Committee (SFC) on September 28 last year. Though the SFC and the Union Health Secretary, Mr S.K. Naik, had favoured the increase but the then Health Minister, Mr Shatrughan Sinha, and other GB members had turned it down, saying that it would burden the poor people, majority of whom came to the PGI for treatment.

The PGI Administration, when contacted on the issue, said hospital charges at the PGI, were the ones approved by the Government of India.

“These charges have been rationalised in some of the cases and implemented with the approval of the GB,” said PGI spokesperson. He added that the charges levied here were the ones approved by the government both for the PGI and AIIMS.

In reply to a query whether some of the charges were more than the amount being charged at the PGI, he said though they had rationalised some charges, they were not aware if a similar exercise had been undertaken at AIIMS. “All the same time we have been asked to prepare a comparative rate list of the charges at the PGI and AIIMS and the same shall be done,” he added.

Though the PGI authorities did not specify if some of the charges at the PGI were more than the ones at AIIMS, but it is reliably learnt that this was being done. “While certain amount of money is charged from indoor general ward patients at the PGI, the patients in this category at AIIMS are provided free treatment,” said sources at the PGI.

PGI doc alleges threat to life
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 15
An Assistant Professor in the PGI’s Cardiology Department has made a complaint to the police and the PGI Director, alleging that he faces threat to his life from a junior doctor.

Police sources said a counter-complaint had been made by the doctor concerned, who is a junior resident in the department. The Assistant Professor, Dr Yash Pal Sharma, in his complaint alleged that the doctor misbehaved with him and tried to create hindrance in his work.

According to PGI sources, the incident took place in the Cath laboratory on the fourth floor of the Nehru Hospital at the PGI on July 9. Following a heated exchange between the two doctors, the junior doctor allegedly threatened Dr Sharma. The matter was brought to the notice of the Director and the Deputy Director (Administration) the same day.

It was later referred to the police. Dr Sharma refused to comment on the issue, saying that the matter had been brought to the notice of the PGI Director and the police.

Meanwhile, the police said no case had been registered so far.

SPORTS

Cricket talent-scout in city
Arvind Katyal

Chandigarh, July 15
Vijay Gaundalkar, an ardent cricket promoter from Mumbai, is often seen in cricket stadiums, whether it is a Test match, a Ranji tie or even an inter-district tournament. But his presence is not restricted to grounds in Maharashtra. Whenever any of his favourite cricket players is in action in any part of the country, Gaundalkar is there. His father and his brother have both played cricket for Maharashtra at the state level.

He is here in the city to watch promising cricketers from Punjab and Chandigarh playing at PCA Stadium, SAS Nagar.

A batchmate of Sunil Gavaskar from St Xavier’s College, Vijay was selected in the top 17 of the college team. But as luck would have it, he could not make it to the first 15. This led to his ouster from the college team. Vijay, unfortunately, could not make it to the team later also. But so great was his passion for cricket that he moved on to umpiring and later began spotting talent.

Since he lives near Wankhede Stadium, he has been lucky to watch several good cricket matches. Later, he became an ardent fan of Sachin Tendulkar. Wherever Sachin played, he used to be present there to cheer him up. Vijay said Sachin used to bat at number 9 or 10 in his college days and then gradually started playing in the top order.

On his visit to Chandigarh and SAS Nagar, Vijay spotted a few budding cricketers and was of the opinion that Punjab was a big nursery for cricket. He said in the under-17 group, there were Gaurav Gambhir, Uday Tej Paul, Simranjit Singh Bathlana and Nikhil Dwivedi, all from Chandigarh.

Gaundalkar wishes to settle in this part of the country and hopes to see more cricket players from Punjab donning national colours.

ADMINISTRATION

Sanitation contract cancelled
Tribune News Service

Panchkula, July 15
The Municipal Council today cancelled the contract for sanitation services on account of poor services provided by the contractor. The president of the council, Ms Seema Chaudhary, said the contract was cancelled following the poor sanitary conditions prevailing in most parts of the town. She said the contractor had also not employed many ‘safai karamcharis’ in each ward as was promised in the contract.

Ms Chaudhary said tenders for the new contract would be invited shortly. She said certain changes in the conditions for tenders would be made like increasing the strength of ‘safai karamcharis’ from 295 to 400.

MC to approach Punjab on water theft
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, July 15
Concerned over the increasing number of cases involving slum and colony dwellers damaging pipelines allegedly for stealing water, the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) has decided to get in touch with the civil and police authorities in Punjab for initiating legal action against the offenders.

Confirming this, a senior corporation engineer revealed that the need to get in touch with the authorities in Punjab was essential as a large portion of the pipeline was outside Chandigarh. Giving details, the engineer revealed that the total length of the pipeline supplying water to the city was 28 km. Just 3 km of it was in Chandigarh while the rest was in Punjab.

Majority of the incidents involving damage to the pipeline were taking place outside Chandigarh, the engineer further added. At least seven such cases have been reported so far in the current year.

Meanwhile, the sources in the corporation stated, “The police authorities are being requested to lodge FIRs against the culprits for damaging public property and other offences under the provisions of the IPC.” They added that it was extremely difficult to catch the offenders. However, at least two such cases were recently registered. The decision to take legal action, according to the sources, is significant as every other day water supply to different sectors was being disrupted

A recent leakage in the pipeline had affected water supply to Sectors 20, 21, 40, 42, 46, 47 and 48, besides Maloya village, Ram Darbar, Dadu Majra and industrial area. Special teams comprising subdivisional officers and inspectors have been constituted to patrol the sensitive areas.

At present the requirement of water in summers was 90 mgd, while the water supply to the city was just 65 mgd.

Apprentices not considered for recruitment
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 15
Two cases have come to light in which the Engineering wing of the Chandigarh Administration has overlooked basic considerations for recruitment.

In the last week of June, interviews were held for filling posts of Junior Engineer without considering the claims of apprentice trainees who had been under training for the past year.

In another case, an advertisement has sought applications for the posts of Junior Draftsman. The age limit is almost impossible to meet. The department has said that the candidate should be a matriculate and have a two-year diploma in civil draftsmanship from an ITI. Besides this, experience of five years in the trade is required and knowledge of computers is a must. It is the age limit which has raised eyebrows and led to protests. The department says the candidate should be between 18 and 25 years.

Pointing out that the all listed requirements of the advertisement cannot be fulfilled as desired, a source has said that a candidate completes his matriculation by the age of 15 or 16 and the next two years are spend in an ITI. Obtaining the results of the ITI and seeking a job takes a few months. So even if a candidate is 19 when he gets employment, the five-year experience means he will be 24 years old.

If the time spend in acquiring computer proficiency is added to this, it is almost impossible for a majority of the candidates to be within the age limit. The source said in these times of unemployment it was possible that the candidate may not get a job immediately after doing an ITI course.

The Engineering wing conducted interviews for posts of Junior Engineer without considering the claims of people who have been apprentices for more than one year in the department. The apprentices have pointed out that in the past JEs have been appointed by selecting candidates who had done apprenticeship. Other departments have absorbed people after apprenticeship.