The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

HEALTH

BODY&MIND
Escorts health package for Punjab’s poor
Tripti Nath

The Escorts Heart and Super Speciality Institute on Majitha-Verka Bypass in Amritsar, launched early this month the Escorts Kisan Swasthya Yojana for the neglected rural population of the otherwise prosperous state of Punjab. Launched on August 6, especially for the farmers, the scheme offers free preventive health check-up for the poor and needy persons and farmers with small landholdings. A letter from the sarpanch or production of the Kisna credit card will entitle a person to discount and priority in treatment.

The complete medical check-up camp will focus on cardiac health and will conclude in September end. Anybody who wishes to come for a medical check-up can walk into the Escorts Institute anytime between 9 am and 3 pm.

Mr Anil Maini, Haed Marketing, Health Care Business for the Escorts Heathcare Group, says that about 10 per cent of the total rural population in Punjab is afflicted with heart ailments due to sedentary lifestyle, wrong diet and stress arising out of inability to repay debt. “Nobody has ever thought of the farmers as a group which needs healthcare. We have already covered Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, Jandiala, Ludhiana, Morinda, Mukaerian, Pathnakot and Taran Taran. It is an extension of the community outreach programme. The camps have been held at clinics, hospitals, nursing homes and schools. We will cover 10 districts by September end and then cover the rest after a month’s break.

So far, we have covered Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Fardidkot, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Nawanshahar and Roop Nagar. Most needy persons go to government medical colleges, as they cannot rely on private hospitals.

We are offering diagnosis, angiography, angioplasty, heart bypass and paediatric cardiology at very competitive rates at our hospital in Amritsar. A patient’s family has to pay only 40 per cent of what they would have to pay in Delhi for the same treatment,” says Mr Maini.

Alarm bells as conjunctivitis spreads: Dr Mahipal S. Sachdev, Medical Director of Centre for Sight here and senior consultant ophthalmologist at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital has warned that conjunctivitis can assume epidemic proportions as it has spread to three states.

Apart from Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR), conjunctivitis cases are being reported from Gujarat and Rajasthan.

According to Dr Sachdev, the last two weeks have witnessed an increase in the number of conjunctivitis cases in Delhi and the NCR region. The first case of conjunctivitis in Delhi was reported a month back. “Conjunctivitis cases are reported during the rainy season every year, but this year, the occurrence is manifold.

This is due to a long spell of monsoon accompanied by heat and humidity. Conjunctivitis is highly contagious. It spreads if a non-infected individual comes in contact with a person suffering from conjunctivitis or touches an object that has been touched by such a person after wiping his eyes. Wearing a pair of goggles helps as it acts as a barrier in rubbing the eyes and makes the patient more tolerant.

Normally, conjunctivitis starts from one eye. By and large, it is bilateral. Anybody who has had conjunctivitis once develops immunity to it.”

Dr Sachdev says that although conjunctivitis is not life threatening, patients suffering from conjunctivitis should not be allowed to attend school or office, as they may pass on the infection to others. “Self-medication should never be attempted. People should consult an eye specialist instead of buying medicine off the counter. The treatment includes use of antibiotics and astringent eye drops.

Steroid eye drops available off the counter can lead to corneal ulcers and blindness.

The Ministry of Health should launch an awareness campaign to help the public take adequate precautions.”

He further explained that conjunctivitis is caused either by entero virus or adeno virus.

While the adeno virus causes haemmorhagic conjunctivitis, which we are seeing in 10 to 20 per cent of the cases, the entero virus caused pharyngo conjuctival fever, which includes sore throat, fever and conjunctivitis.

The symptoms of normal conjunctivitis are sensation of foreign body in the eye, watering, discharge and redness.

If the cornea gets involved, the patient will experience fall in vision or blurred vision and develop intolerance to light.

Dr Seth brings glory to India: Padmashree Ashok Seth, Head of the Department of Invasive and Interventional Cardiology at Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre (EHIRC) here, has been invited by New York-based Cardiology Research Foundation to teach his skills to nearly 15,000 angioplasters from all over the world.

Dr Seth will perform complex angioplasties on his patients during a two-hour live telecast for angioplasters, who will assemble at Washington Conference Centre for a five-day international meeting scheduled to begin on September 15.

The telecast is scheduled on the second day of the conference.

Dr Seth, who learnt angioplasty from Dr M F Shou while serving in Birmingham University in England in 1982, has trained 250 angioplasters in India over the last 10 years.

He is looking forward to the interactive session with angioplasters and views it as a recognition of the skills of Indian angioplasters. “It will be a big day for about 300 angioplasters in the United States.

Of these, about a hundred are expected to attend the international conference. “This is the first time that the West will learn angioplasty skills from the East. This is unprecedented. I have been invited to do angioplasties – non-surgical treatment of blockages in the heart by ballooning and putting in stents. I will perform four procedures, which will be transmitted live via satellite. These will comprise complex angioplasties - multiple and diffused blockages in small arteries.”

SPORTS

Delhi Hockey League in two phases
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, August 16
The Delhi Hockey League, organised by the Delhi and District Hockey Association (DDHA), will be held from August 18 at the Shivaji Stadium. The hockey league, to be sponsored by the Punjab National Bank, will be held in two phases. The first phase will be for institutional teams, which will be followed by the Club League.

The Institutional League will get off the mark with a match between BSNL and Railway Board at 11 am.

DDHA secretary Charanjit Singh said on Saturday that 12 teams will participate in the institutional league while 31 clubs will compete in the Club League, to be held from August 25.

The teams in the institutional league have been divided into four pools and the top team from each pool will qualify for the Super League, to be played from August 25 to 29.

The teams for the Club League have been divided into eight pools, and the top team from each pool will qualify for the Super League. The final of the Club League will be played on October 5.

Following are the groupings of teams for the Institutional League:

Pool A: Food Corporation of India (North Zone), Delhi Police, Customs and Excise. Pool B: Northern Railway, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Railway Board. Pool C: Food Corporation of India (Headquarters), Delhi Audit and Delhi Transport Corporation. Pool D: Indian Airlines, IPGCL (DVB) and State Bank of India.

Feroz Ali sews up a title at Cotton City
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, August 16
Feroz Ali ended a year-long title drought when he annexed the Cotton City Open Golf Tournament at the Coimbatore Golf Club course, according to information available in Delhi. Feroz lifted the title despite ending with two bogeys on the last two finishing holes on the final day. His four-day total was one-under 287 to wrest the crown by four strokes. He pocketed a prize money of Rs 13,7700.

S. Madaiah not only carded the day’s best score of three-under par 69, but finished tied second with former Indian Open winner Vijay Kumar with a total of 291. Both the players earned Rs 74,375 each. Rajesh Choudhary, who plays with a handicapped leg, was given a cash award of Rs 2,600 by the Coimbatore Golf Club members for his endurance.

Delhi pro Pappan finished fourth while Uttam Singh Mundy and Amritinder Singh were tied for the fifth spot. Digvijay Singh finished seventh while Mukesh Kumar, who had a score of four-under score in the third round, shot a 80 to end up eighth.

Feroz, armed with a four-stroke lead, had only one aim—to finish par, and he did take pains to be on the road to his goal. After a couple of pars on the opening holes, he strayed into the tree and chipped over the green..

However, he made par from there as he pitched four feet from the cup.

He hit a brilliant drive on the par-5 fifth, and with a seven-iron shot, he was on the green. However, he three-putted for a par.

On the par-4 eighth, his second shot went over the green into the bushes from where he was forced to settle for a bogey. He quickly made amends with a birdie on the par-5 ninth.

Feroz began his return journey with a bogey before making a commendable up and down from the bunker on the 12th for a par.

With a calculated second shot landing about 15 feet from the pin, he was in for an eagle putt. But he left it short by a couple of inches and made a birdie.

Oblivious of the lead group’s show, second-placed Madaiah played some fine golf in testing windy conditions on the back nine.

After a disastrous drive that landed in the woods, the Bangalore lad came out but was way short of the green.

Vijay Kumar, who started four strokes behind the leader, added three more bogeys on the front nine before making his sole birdie on the 13th while bogeying the 17th too.

A flurry of soccer ties live on Star Sports
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, August 16
ESPN Star Sports will feature five ‘live’ matches of the English Premier League every week, adding over 160 live matches in the 2003-04 season. These matches will include three ‘live’ matches every week at prime time, promoted as ‘EPS Weekends’. The sports channel will continue with their live and exclusive coverage of soccer action from Europe’s top football leagues, which include the English Premier League, the UEFA Championship League, the UEFA Cup and the Spanish Primera Liga for the current season.

The coming season will see over 350 hours of live action and 300 hours of feature programming that includes Goals, English Premier League highlights, Here We Go, Premiership Extra, Premiership Saturday and Super Sunday, among others.

The biggest European league—the UEFA Champion’s League—gets underway from September 16, with plenty of action from last season’s competitions still fresh in memory. A C Milan, last year’s winners, will be desperate to retain their crown. They do have some fabulous quality players in Andreiy Shevchenko, Fillipo Inzaghi, Carlo Ancelloti and captain Paolo Maldini.i.

The English Premier League matches to be featured live this week includes Portsmouth vs Aston Villa, Arsenal vs Everton, Leeds United vs Newcastle United and Liverpool vs Chelsea.

Last month, Star, along with the FA Premier League, the organisers of the English Premier League, had brought the first and only fully sanctioned Premier League pre-season tournament in the world—the FA Premier League Asia Cup, to Asia. The FA Premier League Asia Cup had three full strength EPL teams—Birmingham City, Chelsea and Newcastle United playing against each other just three weeks prior to the start of the season.

It has been very unusual close season for EPL with the cycle of big money summer spending sprees almost grinding to a halt...with one exception. That would be in West London where Chelsea has been acquiring players after being taken over by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. The Blues, who came fourth last season, strengthened their already strong squad—with defenders Glen Johnson and Wayne Bridge, midfielder Geremi Njitap, Joe Cole and Juan Sebastain Veron and wingers Damien Duff..

The departure of David Beckham from Manchester United to Real Madrid was also a big soccer story. Now the Old Trafford giants must make do without Beckham’s trademark free kicks, crosses and long cross-field passes. But United have not used much of the 28 million pound Beckham fee yet.

So far, they have signed Cameroonian midfielder Eric Djemba-Djemba, US international keeper Tim Howard and French striker David Bellion. Their playing ranks already include Ryan Giggs, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Paul Scholes, Roy Keene and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

United’s pre-season form has been awesome as their US tour saw them demolish Celtic of Scotland, Club America of Mexico, Juventus of Italy and Barcelona of Spain. Last Saturday, they also won their first trophy of this season, the Community Shield by beating Arsenal 5-4 through penalty kicks.