HEALTH

Issues relating to newborns discussed
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 21
It is procedures like Kangroo method and nutritional care through breastfeeding, which will be promoted as part of the newly adopted resuscitation guidelines and Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) programme for newborns, in which doctors and other health professionals are being trained in 90 districts of the country.

Seeing the encouraging results of the newly adopted guidelines to help the child in breathing at the time of birth, the Neonatal Resuscitation Programme is being implemented in 90 districts of the economically weaker states of the country and will soon be extended to 80 other districts.

“It is the National Neonatology Forum (NNF), which has been entrusted with the responsibility of conducting workshops to apprise doctors, nurses, trained birth attendants and other health professionals of essential newborn care,” said Dr Arvind Saili from Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi. He was speaking at a seminar organised by the Paediatrics Department at the PGI today.

“To save a newborn from the effect of hypothermia (getting cold), the newborn is given skin-to-skin care, as he is kept next to the breast of the mother and as a result the child gets warmth, without any equipment,” explained Dr Saili. He said this not only eliminated the need for any equipment but also created a special bond between mother and child.

Dr Saili, said under this programme, so far Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Orissa would be covered. “It will soon be extended to other parts of the country and workshops have already been held in four districts of Punjab,” said Dr Saili.

He said the other methods being adopted was resuscitation at birth, prevention of infection, nutrition through promotion of breastfeeding and identification of early warning signals so that the newborn could be looked after immediately. He said the focus was a shift from institutional care to home-based care.

He said the focus was on training health care professionals in the art of essential newborn care so that the child could be saved from problems like birth asphyxia. “We are imparting the skill of heart compression, where the baby is assisted in breathing without causing damage to his ribs and avoiding pressing his lungs too hard so that they cannot expand,” he said.

A new concept being encouraged is to the use of bag and mask, where even in the absence of oxygen the baby is helped in breathing air, which has enough oxygen to prevent any adverse impact on his brain. He said other things which needed to be monitored were his blood pressure and sugar level in his blood.

The issue of birth trauma, where the baby sustains injury during the process of birth was also discussed at the workshop.

SPORTS

Arif puts defending champion to test
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, September 21
Defending champion Alok Kumar of Punjab was given a tough fight by unseeded local player Arif Gul before the former could win 5-4 on the second day of the Third Chaudhary Vishnu Pal Singh Memorial National Pool Championship held at the Chandigarh Club, here today.

In another match, local boy Sumit Talwar created a flutter by defeating international star Mukesh Rehani.

In other matches of the day, Sandeep Duggal of Chandigarh scored an easy win over Harprit Singh of Haryana 5-0, the tie finished in 10 minutes. Former national junior snooker champion Rishab Thukral of New Delhi outplayed Ayush of Punjab 5-2. Another promising Punjab star Dharminder Lilly made short work of Manoj Tyagi 5-0. Manan Chandra beat Jagjit Singh of Punjab 5-0.

Earlier, the organisers decided to allow two players from each group to qualify for the knockout .

In other matches, Vijay Prashad of Karnataka beat Munish Goel of Rajasthan 5-4; Munish Srivastava of Haryana beat B.S. Pandya of Gujarat 5-1; Imran Khan of UP beat Neeraj Kumar of the Railways 5-4; Varun Taneja of the Railways beat Ayush Bansal of New Delhi 5-1; Amrit of New Delhi beat Achint Verma of Punjab 5-3; Rahul Rao of AP beat A. Joshi of Chandigarh 5-1; Sheetal Verma of Punjab beat Prem Prakash of Tamil Naidu 5-3; and Palav Gupta of J&K beat Jagjit Singh of Himachal Pradesh 5-2. Second seed K. Venkatashan of Andhra Pradesh beat Sunny Chadha of New Delhi 5-3 and Sidharth Anand of New Delhi beat S. Mahesh of Tamil Naidu 5-0.

Selected

Ambar Gill (16), a Class XI student of Sri Guru Harkishan Model School, Sector 38, has been selected member of the Indian skating team, which will take part in the World Speed Skating championship to be held from November 1 to 9 in Venezuela. Amber is the second boy from Chandigarh after Harkiran to be selected for the world speed meet.

It may be recalled that Amber, who took to skating in 1999, bagged a gold medal and silver medal in the state championship in 2000. Amber gives credit of his success to his father Mr BS Gill who has inspired him to do well in the sport.

City badminton team enters semis

Chandigarh teams in all four events entered in the semi-finals of the North Zone Inter-State Badminton Championship being played at Shimla.

According to a press note issued in Chandigarh today, in the Shafi Qureshi Cup, Chandigarh beat Punjab 2-0 in a tough tie. In the first singles, Mala Gaba defeated Navita 13-10, 1-7, while in the doubles, Mala Gaba and Harleen outplayed Amritpal and Jaspreet 17-16, 13-15 and 15-13.

In the Rahimtoola Cup for men, Chandigarh defeated J&K 3-0. Amit Sachdeva defeated Avnish Sharma 17-15, 15-3; Ashish Sharma beat Rahul 15-10, 15-2; and Vivek Sharma and Gurjeet defeated Avnish and Rahul 15-11, 15-4.

In the Narang cup for boys, Chandigarh beat J&K 2-0 (Puneet Bansal b Arunav Gupta 15-10, 15-12; Puneet and Robin beat Vikram and Vipul 15-10, 15-8.

In the Chadha cup for women, Chandigarh beat Himachal Pradesh 2-1 (H. Sarda beat Kamini Sandil 4-11, 11-2, 11-7; and Kamini and Poonam b H. Sarda and Isha Sharma 15-9, 7-15, 15-5.

In other matches in girls, Rajasthan beat J&K 2-0 and Rajasthan beat Himachal Pradesh 3-2.

Swimming championship

Aanchal, Vrinda among girls while Harsimran Brar and Gagandeep Boparai among boys stole the limelight at the 15th Chandigarh State Swimming Championship which concluded here today at the Panjab University swimming pool. Mr S.S. Channy, IAS, and Managing Director, MARKFED, was the chief guest and gave away the prizes.

Results: boys: 100 metres: breast stroke; Nikku 1, Gaganpreet 2, Sonu 3 Gr II; Mamaljeet 1, Navdeep 2, Akin 3. back stroke:Gr I: Harsimran Brar 1, Dalbir 2, Naveen 3. Gr II: Gaganpreet 1,Trilochan 2, Vinod 3. Gr III:Kamaljeet 1, Akin 2, Rishab 3.

50 metres: Breaststroke: Gr IV: Parminder 1, Kunal 2, Sidharth 3.

Gr V: Arsh 1,Vasu 2, Maninder 3.

Backstroke: Gr IV: Kunal 1, Saheb 2, Sidharth 3.

Free style: Gr V-Jagwinder 1, Vasu 2, Arsh 3. Gr I- Surinder Pal 1, Harsimran 2, Dalbir 3. Gr II- Gaganpreet 1, Trilochan 2, Nikku 3.

Girls: 50 metre breast stroke- Gr IV- Anchal 1, Isha 2, Divya 3.

50 metre backstroke: Vrinda 1, Shashi 2, Alka 3.

100 metres; Gr Iv: Isha 1, Aanchal 2, Divya 3. 50 metre Free style-Vrinda 1, Manju 2, Manpreet 3.

50 metre: Free style; Gr I-Aanchal 1, Isha 2, Manju 3.

Football tournament

Little Flower Convent School, Sector 14, Panchkula, bagged the under-14 and under-17 Inter-School Zonal Football tournament played here at the Sector 3 sports complex. In the semi- final, Little Flower School beat Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 7, Panchkula 5-0. In the final, Little Flower School beat Satluj Public School, Sector 4, Panchkula 1-0. In badminton, Hansraj Public School, Panchkula, beat Little Flower school, Panchkula 2-1.