HEALTH

PGI patients suffer basic material crunch
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 30
Acute shortage of basic hospital material like bandages, saline, soaps and bulbs in the operation theatres and wards at Nehru Hospital in the PGI is seriously affecting health care. Patients, in the absence of any heaters or blowers, are forced to shiver in the cold.

Despite the officials concerned bringing the shortage of these items to the notice of the PGI authorities at every Hospital round meeting, since May, the shortage in the operation theatres (OT) and wards continues. The Deputy Nursing Superintendent, OT as well as the Central Store and Supply Department, raised the issue at the hospital round meeting held on September, 11. The issue once again came up for discussion at the meeting held on November, 6.

The problem is so acute that there is shortage of even halogen bulbs, used in the lights above the operation tables. “The worst is when daily use items like bandages, fluids, soaps and disinfectants are not there at all and the situation has not improved one bit despite sending in requests to the departments concerned every month,” says a nurse in the OT.

At one of the meetings, the Joint Medical Superintendent even suggested that 25 metres of good quality rexene should be purchased so that torn mattresses in the wards could be repaired, to prolong their life. The consultant dieticians have time and again focussed the attention of the authorities towards the problem of cockroaches as patients complain that at times the food given to them has these insects.

The Medical Superintendent, Dr A.K. Gupta, when contacted admitted that there was shortage of these items, but there was little he could do as there was shortage of funds. “Though we have been given Rs 1 crore to make the essential purchases but even this amount is insufficient as almost Rs 3 crore would be needed to meet the requirement,” he said.

Another major problem being faced by the patients is that in the absence of central heating system, the wards are very cold and no heaters or blowers have been provided so far. “The money meant for providing heaters had been diverted to buying surgical supplies and consumable items, but within a week’s time we will provide these in the wards and the old ones are also being repaired,” said Dr Gupta.

It is not just the shortage of essential hospital material which is bothering the staff but also the poor biomedical waste management. It has been pointed out that the Government of India guidelines in this regard must be followed and as such there is need to make improvement in this area. “The biggest problem in government hospitals is that of infection and it is unfortunate that this problem is very acute at the PGI, with the chances of infection in our intensive care unit (ICU) being very high,” admits a doctor, while expressing dissatisfaction over the cleanliness and sanitation in the Nehru Hospital.

How to cope with stress
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 30
ODE (optimising development in education) as part of its new endeavour, ODEPQ (optimising development in emotional and personality quotient) organised its inaugural workshop on stress management, “Making stress work for you” at Indira Holiday Home, Sector 24, Chandigarh, yesterday.

Mrs Bharati Kapoor, Director of ODE, gave an overview about the meaning of stress and casualties of stress and laid the emphasis on dealing with the day-to-day stresses faced by people and how to deal effectively with them. The Chairperson of ODEPQ Prof Dr Vidhu Mohan, who is also the honorary secretary of ICCW, and a former Head of the Psychology Department, Panjab University, Dr Vidhu Mohan talked about various causes of stress affecting all spheres of an individual’s life which consisted of developmental crisis ranging from childhood till old age, environmental pressures, situational factors and inherent predispositions.

She said “under increasing stress there is a decrease in productive thoughts and an increase in distracting ones”. Talking about various coping mechanisms of dealing with stress, which could be physical, mental, social, emotional and spiritual, Mrs Bharati Kapoor took the participants through mental and physical exercises to identify the stressors as the first step in the process of stress management. The isometric and isotonic exercises were found to be helpful.

Computerisation of General Hospital set in motion
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November, 30
A patient undergoing treatment at the General Hospital here may no longer be inconvenienced even if he ends up losing all his medical records as the ball has been set rolling for the installation of a Rs 40-lakh computerisation programme at the hospital.

The General Hospital, Sector 16, here is all set to go hi-tech as an MoU has been signed with the C-DAC, an undertaking of the Ministry of Information Technology, for computerisation at a cost of Rs 40 lakh. In the first phase, to be completed within the next three months, the outpatient department (OPD), indoor patients, medical records, billing, inquiry services and all the store inventories will be computerised.

“The company has already done a preliminary survey of the hospital building and taken inputs from various departments about their requirements for preparing a module,” said sources in the Health Department. They said it was on the basis of this module that the SRS system would be prepared, to be approved by the UT Administration.

A portion of the Rs 40 lakh expenditure on computerisation will be borne by the Centre as subsidy, while the rest will be given by the UT Administration. The various components of the programme will include hardware, software, training and after-sale service.

The biggest advantage of the computerisation programme will be the coding of any disease as per the World Health Organisation recommendation. “This will come in very handy in preparing the statistical data for any epidemiological study and help in studying the pattern of diseases in the UT,” said a senior doctor.

The computerisation of the various hospital units will help in reducing the waiting time for patients who have to spend a long time in the queues as till now all registration work is being done manually.

500 treated at medical camp
Our Correspondent

Dera Bassi, November 30
As many as 500 patients suffering from various ailments were treated at a 21-day free magneto therapy camp organised by Master Bhagirath Das Memorial Charitable Trust which concluded in Pracheen Hanuman Mandir here on Sunday.

On the valedictory function, Mr Krishan Pal Sharma, a member of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, was the chief guest. He said the therapy could prove beneficial for many persons ailing since long time. Earlier, Mr Ravindra Vaishnav, president of the trust, also spoke. Mr Jagjit Singh Dalli, former president of Dera Bassi Municipal Council, Mr K.L. Gandhi, a social worker, Mr Suresh Gupta, president of Block BJP unit, Mr Chaand Rana, sarpanch of Mubarikpur village were also present.

Old, young donate blood for jawans
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 30
Not only the youth but also the elderly citizens donated blood generously at a blood donation camp for jawans organised by the CHAINZ, a youth club, today. The first person to donate blood was the SSP, Chandigarh, Mr Gaurav Yadav. The oldest persons to donate blood were 56-year-old Sneh Sharma and Mr Gurmail Singh. The youngest were Rashmi Kumra and Rikki Yadav, both 20 years of age. A total of 42 units of blood was donated. 

SPORTS

Tender Heart School win overall trophy
Our Sports Reporter

Mullanpur (Ropar), November 30
It was an evocative experience in the lap of nature for more than 300 children drawn from eight schools of Chandigarh and nearby areas who took part in a cross-country race organised by Tender Heart School, Sector 33, Chandigarh, at Ferozepur Bangar village, Mullanpur, Ropar district, about 15 km from Chandigarh, today.

The event meant for ICSE schools (Chandigarh region) was held in below 17 years and below 14 years groups, both in boys and girls categories. The eight participating schools were St Kabir Public School, Sector 26, Chandigarh, Little Flower Convent, Sector 14, Panchkula, Saupin’s, Chandigarh, St Stephen’s, Sector 45, Chandigarh, St Xavier’s, Sector 44, Chandigarh, St Xavier’s, Sector 20, Panchkula, Tender Heart School, Sector 33, Chandigarh, and the first time entrant Carmel Convent, Nahan.

A total of 7.5 km terrain track was created for senior boys with four check posts being put up, each manned by volunteers. The rivulet, where the finishing point was put up, had almost 1 km stretch of sand making it tougher for the participants. Even nearby village children gathered at various points to cheer up the participants: An elderly man uttered” Oh shehri munde kudiyan vi aj josh dikha rahe hai, changa hai (Look, urban boys and girls were also showing enthusiasm, it is good).

For junior boys and girls the race distance was reduced to 5.5 km and for junior girls it was nearly 4.5 km. The race was flagged off by Mr Harold Carver, Principal of St Stephen’s School, Sector 45, Chandigarh, and first to run were the senior boys, (group A), It was Deepinder Singh of the host Tender Heart school, Sector 33, Chandigarh, who jogged his way to glory by finishing the race first.

Among senior girls, Manmeet Bajwa of St Stephen’s School maintained the lead from the beginning and finally won it. Among the junior boys, it was soccer player Jashanpreet Singh again of St Stephen’s School, whose running was so immaculate that it won applauds from the organiser school Principal, Ms Prem Suri, and Mr Harold Carver, Principal of St Stephen’s School. A young girl student from St Xavier’s School, Sector 44, Chandigarh, Prinkpreet Sidhu, was the first to complete the race.

Tender Heart School was later awarded the overall trophy as it scored 2174 points, while St Stephen’s School, won the runners-up trophy scoring 1713 points. The participants were also served snacks after the meet.

Ashish, A. Radhika win badminton championship
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, November 30
Fancied Ashish Sharma of AG, Punjab, went down fighting to Utsav Mishra of AG, UP, in the men’s singles final of the All-India Inter Zonal Audit and Accounts Departmental Badminton Championship which concluded at Badminton Hall, Sector 42. Sharma lost 2-15,11-15. A. Radhika of AG, AP, won the women’s singles title by defeating K Shiva Kamini also of AG, AP, in straight games with scores being 11-4,11-5. Sudharam Bose of Eastern Railway Audit, Kolkata, won the Veteran singles title by defeating MT Verkey of AG, Kerala, 15-5, 15-2.

Earlier in the team championship, AG, Tamil Nadu, managed to outwit AG, Bihar, 3-0. M Jerry Martin outplayed Anuj Kumar Singh 15-2,15-2. Ritesh Ranjan of AG, Bihar, however, put up some resistance before losing 5-11, 12-15. T Maran and J Martin won the decider doubles by beating S Nawab Khan and Nimish Kumar 15-8,15-9. Nand Lal, Accountant-General (A&E) gave away the prizes to the winners. Mr MKS Dhillon was the observer from New Delhi.

DAV College are basketball champs

DAV College, Sector 10, Chandigarh, clinched the Panjab University Inter- College Basketball (men) ‘A’ division championship, which concluded here today on the university campus. PU Campus, Chandigarh, team got second place while SGGS College, Sector 26, Chandigarh, bagged third place. DAV College, Hoshiarpur, won fourth place.

In the matches played here, SGGS College, Sector 26, Chandigarh, beat DAV College, Chandigarh 66-43 with half time score 33-19. In another tie, DAV College, Chandigarh, got the better of PU Campus, Chandigarh, 71-47.

MCM DAV college girls clinch rowing title

The MCM DAV College for Women, Sector 36, Chandigarh, won the PU Inter-College Rowing championship (women) by securing 30 points. PU campus, Chandigarh, GCG, Sector 11, Chandigarh, and GGDSD College, Sector 32, Chandigarh, bagged second, third and fourth places, respectively. The results are:

Single sculls: Gurpreet Kaur (MCMDAV-36) 1; and Kirandeep Kaur (PU Campus, Chandigarh) 2; and Ramanpreet Kaur (GCG, Sector 11, Chandigarh) 3.

Double sculls: Gurpeet Kaur and Kirandeep Kaur (MCM DAV-36) 1; and Kirandeep and Pooja (PU Campus, Chandigarh) 2.

Coxless Pairs: Gurpreet Kaur and Kirandeep Kaur (MCMDAV-36) 1; and Pooja and Anju (PU Campus, Chandigarh) 2.

Coxless Fours: Kirandeep Kaur, Pooja, Simardeep Kaur and Anju (PU Campus, Chandigarh) 1; and Gurpreet Kaur, Kirandeep Kaur, Rimpal and Kanwaldeep Kaur (MCMDAV-36) 2.

Tennis gold for Delhi varsity

Panjab University won bronze medal in the North-East Zone Inter-University Tennis (men) tournament which concluded here today on the Panjab University campus.

The gold medal was won by Delhi University, while Kurukshetra University was awarded silver medal.

Chess tourney concludes

Abha Kapoor and Himal Gusain won the first places in under-11 girls and under-11 boys sections, respectively, in the Chandigarh Chess Championship which concluded here today at Sector 25. Rishu Rathi secured the first place in under-13 girls section while Anmol Razdan got the first place in under-13 boys section. In the under-11 boys section, Gagandeep was second while Krutika got the same place in the under-11 girls section. Palak Grewal won the second place in the under-13 girls section while Mohit Arora won the second place in the under-13 boys section.

Saupin’s win overall karate championship
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, November 30
Saupin’s School won the overall championship at the conclusion of the two-day Chandigarh State Karate Championship which began here today at the Skating Rink, Sector 10. Organised by the Chandigarh United Karate Association, the meet attracted 145 participants drawn from 10 different schools in various categories in both boys’ and girls’ sections. Aurobindo School, Sector 27, here clinched the second place while Bhawan Vidyalaya, Panchkula, got the third place.

The meet was held under the supervision of Mr Lal Darda, Technical Director of the North and East region. Today a demonstration given by instructors of the Chandigarh Karate Association drew applause from all those present.