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Online AIDS hotline draws huge response Chandigarh, November 6 Though there are 35 such AIDS hotlines in the country, the Chandigarh hotline is the only one which was upgraded to an online one. Chandigarh was the third city after Delhi and Hyderabad to launch an AIDS hotline but took the lead in becoming online. Being funded by the UT AIDS Control Society, the helpline was launched in 1996 for only two hours time. Later, the project was granted to the NGO, Servants of the People Society under the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) programme to create awareness about the disease. “It was on September 5, earlier this year that the hotline was upgraded to an online one, which is proving to be very helpful, especially for those suffering from AIDS or HIV positive,” remarked Dr Avnish Jolly, physician and rehabilitation specialist, who is the coordinator of the project. He said since the hotline was launched, a total of 6.53 lakh calls had been received. The toll free number of the hotline is 1097. The two councillors, Ms Renu Sharma and Ms Monika Babbar said on the pattern of computerised telephone enquiry services, eight questions and their replies had been fed. These include what is AIDS, its symptoms, mode of transmission, testing facilities and precautions against it. “Due to the intensified campaign launched by NACO, the level of awareness among the people is very high and many of the callers are curious to know as to why there is no cure for AIDS,” said Dr Jolly. Another aspect about the disease, which concerns the callers is about maintenance of confidentiality in case they go to a testing centre. The service is available in three languages Hindi, English and Punjabi. The maximum number of callers who have availed themselves of the services in Hindi are 3,47,633, followed by Punjabi with 2,12,441. “In case of online services, though we have 72 hours at our disposal to reply to a particular query of a caller but mostly we feed the response on the same day,” informed the councillors. It is rare that they need to get in touch with a doctor or other specialists to reply to these queries. Interestingly, the number of female callers is negligible. “The fact that even today there is a lot of social stigma attached to AIDS is confirmed by the fact that every caller says that he is making queries for a friend or a family member,” said Dr Jolly. The patients seeking information about testing facility are referred to the Skin and Gynaecology Departments at the PGI, Government Medical College and Hospital, General Hospital and Sector 22 Polyclinic. |
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US nephrology society
invites Dr Chugh Chandigarh, November 6 Professor Chugh, an Emeritus Professor of nephrology in the PGI, will debate on “Payments to potential donors should be used to increase the transplant pool”. While Professor Chugh, will be opposing the payment system in transplant of kidneys, Dr Eli Friedman from the State University, New York Health Science Centre, will speak in support of it. Professor Chugh, said about 3,500 kidney transplants were being done in India every year and more than 90 per cent of these were paid transplants, despite impositions of a ban on it in 1994. He said he would focus on the fact that the relationship between the alleged buyer and seller would be exploitative and constitute commodification of the body. He added that this also proved to be disadvantageous to the recipients who were unable to pay the market rate. He further said paid transplants would undermine voluntary donations and would discourage those wanting to donate out of altruism. Citing an example, he said when the sale of blood was allowed, the percentage of voluntary donations dropped. He said unrelated transplants were done not just in India but also in other countries, including Pakistan, Iran, Brazil, China, the Phillipines and some east European countries. |
Allahabad Bank storm into soccer final Chandigarh, November 6 Earlier, the tie between Allahabad Bank and the Bank of India drew much spectator response. The General Manager of Allahabad Bank, Mr Bikash Ghosh, cheered his players. Som Pramanik scored the first goal in 34th minute. After few minutes, Surojit Chakarvorty scored another goal for Allahabad Bank. Both the teams continued to play a defensive game for some time before Chandrakant of the Bank of India struck the first goal for his team in 44th minute. After the lemon break, Allahabad Bank mounted pressure on Bank of India players and they were rewarded when Dipankar scored a superb goal in the 61st minute. The final will be held tomorrow at Patiala. Cricket:
Brief scores; SBOP: 247 runs for six in 45 overs (Sanjay Mahajan 75, R. Sharma 42, Anoop Kumar 34, Vashash Vaishnav 2 for 26, S.P. Mehra 2 for 20). Bank of Baroda:
130 runs for eight (Deepak Salvi 43, Sunil Shah 30 n.o., Ranjeev Sharma 3 for 23). In another match, State Bank of Indore beat Syndicate Bank by nine wickets. Brief scores: Syndicate Bank:
140 runs all out in 43.3 overs (Arvind Shetty 50, R. Nauly 16, Sanjay Pandey 2 for 16, Sunil Lahore 2 for 12). State Bank of Indore: 146 runs for one in 21.2 overs (C.P. Sahu 84 n.o., Manish Panchasara 45). In yet another tie, State Bank of Mysore outclassed State Bank of Travancore by seven wickets. Brief scores: SBOT:
102 runs all out in 39 overs (V. Suresh 16, M.P. Sorab 19, Arvinda 4 for 26).
SBOM: 105 runs for three in 23.5 overs (LK Vishvanath 49 n.o., K.S.T. Sai 26 n.o., T.R. Suresh 2 for 11). In the last match of the day, State Bank of Saurashtra defeated Union Bank of India by three wickets. Brief scores; Union
Bank:162 runs for seven in 45 overs (Swapna Thakur 38, Haresh Shetty 32, Rakesh Dhruv 3 for 31, Birju Pathak 2 for 18).
SBOS: 163 runs for seven in 39 overs (Kanaiya 66 n.o., Sandeep Dharajia 26, Vineet Sinha 2 for 48, Sandeep Kore 2 for 22). |
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Coaching Centre-42 bag title Chandigarh, November 6 In the girls final, CC-42 outplayed coaching centre of GMSSS, Sector 19, by 18-15 with half-time score of 7-6. For winners, the goals were scored by Rakesh Kumar (10), Baljit Kaur (2), Nirmal (2), Reena (2), Paramjit (2). While for losers Sushma (5), Renusam (4), Reena (4), Simpy (2) scored the goals. In the match for third place, CC-21 defeated GGSSS Club, Sector 8 by 7-3 with half-time score of 5-2. In the boys section, DAV school club-8 team ‘A’ defeated CC-42 to win the title. The scores being 35-24, with half-time score of 19-17. For winners, the goals were scored by Bunty (9), Salim (6), Narinder (6), Vicky (6), Rakesh (5) and for losers Chander Kishore (8), Manohar Lal (5), Kuldeep (5), Hukam Singh (3). Third place went in favour of CC-21 who beat DAV club team ‘B’ 24-20. |
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Sports delegates leave for Jamaica Chandigarh, November 6 In a brief interaction, Raja Sidhu, said the meeting was crucial in view of the voting for the decision to allot the 2010 Commonwealth Games. There are two contenders, Canada and India, with Hamilton being the city chosen by Canada and Delhi being India’s choice. Mr Sidhu, who was also part of the protocol committee of the Afro-Asian games at Hyderabad, said Commonwealth Games Federation teams were impressed with the organising capabilities of the Indian Olympic Association during their week-long stay in Hyderabad and Delhi. Moreover, more than 140 members who came from various countries were convinced with the sincerity of India’s attempt to successfully hold these games. Mr Sidhu said though the final voting would have 72 Commonwealth member countries, but for a majority they required 37 votes in their favour. Mr Sidhu said the team would reach Kingston tomorrow and the preliminary days would be spent in setting up an office, planning for making the visit successful, including organising dinners and receptions for various member countries. He said India’s position was favourable as India had never hosted Commonwealth Games though it had successfully conducted Asian Games in 1951 and 1982, now the First Afro-Asian games. Besides, Canada had already hosted these games thrice and it was also allotted the 2010 Winter Olympic games to be held in Vancouver. Mr Sidhu said he had met three eminent sports administrators from various countries during the Afro-Asian games who would recommend India’s case to host the games. They were Douglas Brown, Secretary of the Scotland Olympic Council, and two leading sports consultants, Dr Mark Daniel and Mr Aleksander Mineyko. He said Mr Suresh Kalmadi, President of the IOA, along with other sports dignitaries of India, would also visit Jamaica to support India’s case. Mr Sidhu said a lot of effort had undergone to bid for this coveted bid and if allotted, the 2010 Commonwealth Games would give a tremendous boost to the Indian sports. |
MC
order on stray cattle draws flak Chandigarh, November 6 A visibly upset Mayor, Mr Subash Chawla, told Chandigarh Tribune that he would take up the matter with the Commissioner tomorrow. He opined that the cattle owners should have been given time till the rehabilitation sites in Maloya and Khuda Lahora were ready. He said the more pressing problem was of the stray cattle roaming on the roads. The Senior Deputy Mayor, Mr Kuldeep Singh, said it was wrong to remove the cattle owners. But it had to be done as per the court orders. An officer of the corporation said enough time had already passed in rehabilitating the milch cattle. It may be mentioned that the villages to be targeted are Mani Majra, Burail, Buterla, Attawa and Badheri, all within MC limits. The corporation officers said the cattle from rehabilitated colonies or unauthorised slum areas located within municipal limits would be impounded and disposed of by the Municipal Corporation as per provisions of law. Challenging the yesterday’s order of the Commissioner, which stated that it had come to the notice that a large number of milch cattle were found to be roaming free on the streets of the above areas, the councillors said these were mostly stray cattle. It may be recollected that the Chandigarh Administration had prohibited running of milk dairies and keeping milch cattle in the limits of unacquired “abadi” areas of Mani Majra, Burail, Buterla Attawa, Badheri villages. When the Secretary, Local Government, Mr R.S. Gujral, reminded the MC of the notification, the MC General House passed a resolution seeking more time for shifting cattle. The administration rejected it . The MC House once again passed a resolution, which was again rejected. |
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Illegal shops removed Chandigarh, November 6
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