The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

HEALTH

Bangladesh boy undergoes rare surgery at GMCH
Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 12
Twelve-year-old Nazrul Aslam from Bangladesh might not have generated the kind of media hype and attention that the visit of little Noor from across the border (Pakistan) for a heart surgery earlier this year had attracted. Yet, the rare spine surgery Nazrul had undergone was equally important for him to lead a normal life.

The doctors at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), who performed the rare scoliosis surgery, done only at a handful of institutes in India, are hoping that this would prove to be a harbinger to bring in more patients from Bangladesh, where these facilities are not available.

With a serious deformity in the spine, Nazrul was barely able to walk to school, leave aside play and prance around like other children of his age.

“It was all due to the help and cooperation of Dr Raj Bahadur and his team here at the GMCH, that my son will now be able to lead a normal life as we could have never afforded the surgery, which is not done back home in Bangladesh,” said boy’s father Khalilur Rahman, expressing his gratitude and indebtedness. The 10-hour surgery was performed on November 7 and Nazrul is likely to be discharged within a week’s time.

“The boy’s spine had developed a deformity and it was so severe that the resultant cobs angle was 80 degrees, as he found difficulty in walking and leading a normal life,” explained Dr Raj Bahadur, Head of Orthopaedics and Medical Superintendent at the GMCH, who performed the surgery.

He said it was during his visit to Dhaka that he was told about Nazrul’s problem and he was brought here.

Khalilur Rehman, father of child was able to raise Rs 60,000 for the surgery only after selling his land and taking loan from his relatives. “With four sons and four daughters it was next to impossible for me to get the surgery done elsewhere and had it not been for the doctors here my son would have virtually been disabled,” he says.

The surgery which would have cost over Rs 10 lakh in England or the USA will cost the family barely Rs 60,000. “Though the cost of the titanium implants used cost over Rs 1 lakh but with the family barely able to shell out Rs 50,000, we requested the company to give it for half the price,” informed Dr Bahadur.

He said adolescent scoliosis was a disease which affected children between the age of five and 12 years and if untreated the affected child would not live beyond 40 years due to the functioning of the lungs being compromised and the patient having serious breathing problem.

The more common form of scoliosis is degenerative one, which generally affected people above the age of 60 years.

Dr Bahadur said he had been flooded with requests from orthopaedic surgeons in Bangladesh to give them a three-month training in spinal surgeries here at the GMCH.

“We had requested the Advisor to allow them to come here on Fellowship, but we were told that the permission of the Ministry of External Affairs will have to be sought,” he said.

SPORTS

Haryana tightens grip on under-15 cricket tie
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, November 12
A brilliant score of unbeaten 62 runs by Narender Sharma and another superb knock of 40 runs by Manish Dhillon put hosts Haryana in a strong position against Himachal Pradesh on the second day of the North Zone Inter State Under-15 Cricket Match for Poly Umrigar Trophy played at the J.R. Institute of Cricket Technology played at Barwala, near here, today.

Earlier in the day, Himachal Pradesh resumed their first innings. The start was bad as four of their batsmen failed to open the account. Spin trio of Sumit Kundu, Pawan Bhardwaj and Gaurav knitted a well-planned web around the batsmen. All of them were successful in getting wickets at regular intervals and did not allow the Himachal batsmen to put any resistance. It was Satpal and Jaskaran who crossed the magical figure of 98 but could not avoid a first innings lead of 133 runs in favour of the hosts as Himachal’s first innings closed at 115 all out.

Haryana skipper Nitin Saini, while opening the second innings’ scored quickly and made 44 runs before being bowled by Chander Rana after having a 64-run opening partnership with Narender Sharma. After the skipper’s departure, Narender took charge and executed some beautiful cover drives in his well-drafted innings of unbeaten 62 runs. Manish Dhillon kept the scoreboard moving as he scored 40 runs before being run out. Haryana were 156 for three at the end of the day’s play with a total lead of 289 runs. Tomorrow, Haryana may look for an early declaration in an attempt to push for an outright victory.

Brief scores: Haryana (first innings): 248 all out.

Himachal Pradesh first innings: 115 all out, Pawan 2 for 24, Sumit 3 for 20, Gaurav 2 for 19, Jarnail Singh 20. Haryana (second innings): 156 for 3 — Nitin Saini 44, Narender Sharma 62 n.o., Harish Dhillon 40.

Commonwealth games will boost economy, says Bindra
Arvind Katyal

Chandigarh, November 12
November 13 is a crucial day for Indian sports. The reason: the General Council Assembly meeting of the Commonwealth Games Federation will be held in Kingston, Jamaica, to allot the 2010 Commowealth games. Voting will be done by 72 member countries of the Commonwealth.

There are two contenders — Canada and India — with Hamilton city chosen by Canada and Delhi being India's choice.

Mr A.S. Bindra, the Managing Director of the Hi-Tech Group of Industries, said if the games were alloted to India, it would bring a sea change in Indian sports as the Commonwealth games were the second largest sports event after the Olympics. He said these games would boost the economic development also by giving a big opportunity to the country's corporate sector.

Mr D.K. Mukerjee, the founder president of the Chandigarh Badminton Association, said it was surprising that India, despite being one of the oldest members of the Commonwealth countries, never got the opportunity to host the Commonwealth games.

Nishant wins gold in karate meet
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, November 12
Nishant of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 10, won the gold medal in below-35 kg section of the UT Inter School Karate Championship for (below-14) boys which began at St Joseph’s Senior Secondary School, Sector 44 here today. The other results are as following:

Below-20 kg: Amit (GGSSS-20) 1, Ansh ( DAVPS-8) 2, Arun (CL Aggarwal DAV-7) 3 and Varinder (GHPS-40) 3.

Below-23 kg: Ankit (SNMSSS-22) 1, Paramjit (GMHS-41) 2, Pawan Kumar (GMSSS-22) 3 and Satbir Singh (GMSSS-37) 3.

Below-26 kg: Sahil (St Joseph’s-44) 1, Dhiraj (SGHPS-40) 2, Harbinder (GMSSS-22) 3, and Bunti (CL Aggarwal DAV-8) 3.

Below-29 kg: Sabir Singh (GMHS-39) 1, Moses (GHS-41) 2, Sarvan (GMSSS-37) 3 and Ajit (GHS-37) 3.

Below-32 kg: Rohit (SNMSSS-22) 1, Dharminder (CL Aggarwal DAV-7) 2, Jatin (GMSSS-46) 3 and Simran (GHS-37) 3.

Below-35 kg: Nishant (GMSSS-10) 1, Gurminder (SGHPS-40) 2, Abhilash (GMHS-36) 3 and Nitin (GMHS-41) 3.

Below-38 kg: Gourav (St Joseph’s-44) 1, Ravnish (GMHSS-36) 2, Vipul (GMSSS-46) 3 and Jaskirat (SGHPS-40) 3.

Merit certificate: Sunil Walia, the president of the Chandigarh Amateur Body Building Association, has been awarded a certificate of merit by the International Federation of Body Builders in recognition of his dedication and commitment towards the development and advancement of body building.

He was felicitated during the 57th Mr Universe Body Building Championship, which concluded on November 10 in Mumbai.

ADMINISTRATION

Road widening work halted
Nishikant Dwivedi

Mullanpur-Garibdass, November 12
The Punjab Public Works Department has gone ahead with widening of the 8-km road between the Chandigarh-Mullanpur barrier and the Majra Chowk in Kharar subdivision without clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests. This has resulted in the stoppage of the work.

The PWD, in assistance with NABARD, has taken up repair work, including the widening and raising of the road. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 1.6 crore.

The Superintending Engineer, Mr T.S. Gill, says the work has stopped as the next instalment of funds has not been released.

Till a few weeks ago, the work on the repair of this road was being carried out on a priority basis and within no time, a 2-km stretch of the road from the barrier was repaired. But today, the heavy machines used in the work and the labourers were nowhere to be seen.

Sources in the PWD said one of the reasons the work had to be stopped was that the department was awaiting clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests. The clearance is mandatory if an existing road has to be widened. Asked why prior permission was not taken before starting the work, an official with the PWD claimed that all necessary steps were taken as soon as the project was sanctioned and the clearance from the ministry was expected soon.

It was also learnt that there was no bitumen with the department. “As soon as NABARD releases the next instalment of funds, work will be started and the project will be completed in due time” claimed the official and added, “NABARD is expected to release the funds soon”.

The department would fell several trees and shift electricity poles for the purpose. Permission from the departments concerned had been taken, claimed the sources.

Several thousand vehicles ply on the road everyday as it is an alternative route to Kurali and Ropar from Chandigarh. Residents of the area have been demanding the widening of the road for the past several years. “Driving on the road, especially in the night, is very risky. Once the road is widened and relaid, driving will become smooth”, said Mr Dalsher Singh, a milk supplier in Chandigarh.

“The residents of the villages along the stretch of the road and lakhs of commuters were relieved when the repair work started. Now they are apprehensive as they are not sure when the work will resume and will be completed” said Mr Arvind Puri, president of the Youth, Sports and Health Club, Mullanpur.

End contract system, demand PWD staff
Our Correspondent

SAS Nagar, November 12
The Public Works Department Employees Welfare Front, Punjab, yesterday demanded that the state government should restore the works which were earlier being done by the department as it had experienced engineers.

At a rally organised by the Front in support of its demands, Mr Swinder Singh Lakhowal and Mr Amarjit Singh Randhawa, president and general secretary, respectively, said the PWD earlier used to undertake works for other departments. However, from time to time it had been deprived of such works causing a major set back to the PWD.

Speakers at the rally said works which should be done by employees at the circle-level were being got executed direct from the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB). The function of the PIDB was merely to release funds. The front also demanded the stopping of funds to the Punjab Mandi Board under the Prime Minister’s Gram Yojna as the Board was itself an agency which collected the mandi fees from farmers. Besides, funds should be made available for planned roads out of the Central reserve funds.

The Front’s other demands included an end to the contract system, revival of the 47 subdivisions of the PWD, filling of posts of various cadres, and grant of long-pending promotions of employees.

The general secretary said if the demands of the employees were not fulfilled, the Front would be compelled to intensify the agitation. He appealed to the employees to participate in the dharna at Ludhiana on November 18 which was being organised by the Punjab Mulajam Sangarsh Committee.