The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

HEALTH

BODY & MIND
Exercise daily to be in the pink
Tripti Nath

ON World Health Day (April 7) two years back, the World Health Organisation (WHO) coined the slogan ‘Move for Health’. Stickers distributed on the occasion said, “Keep healthy. Do at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day.”

Wrong body movement and sedentary lifestyle are leading to problems related to the backbone.

Dr Ravi Gupta, an ortho specialist and surgeon at Jaipur Golden Hospital, says that spinal units in hospitals are reporting a large number of patients with backache and slip disc. “Spinal endoscopy has proved to be a boon for persons who are unable to get rid of paralysing back pain. In the United States and other developed countries, spinal endoscopy is the best technique for slip disc. A large number of youths are also coming to clinics with disc symptoms due to changes in lifestyle. These include lifting of heavy weight, wrong posture, sudden jerks and wearing high heels by women. Lack of physical fitness and proper exercises lead to early disc degeneration. Even dancing is harming the backbone,” he says.

Sushma’s dream

Sushma Swaraj completed on January 29, one year of her portfolio as Union Health Minister. Monitoring healthcare in a country, which has a population of over one billion is certainly a herculean task. Inspired by the Sanskrit shloka ‘Sarve Shantu Nirmayah’ (Let all be healthy), Sushma Swaraj is determined to fulfil her dream of providing a doctor and a health worker for every 500 houses. “It is an achievable goal and I want to be make it achievable in a year.”

For this purpose, a meeting of the macro economic Commission will be chaired by the Finance Minister and the Union Health Minister to look into the modalities of public sector expenditure.’’

A booklet published by the Health Ministry enumerates several initiatives taken by the Ministry in 2003-2004. These include campaign to control population, introduction of bill in the Lok Sabha to give death penalty to manufacturers of spurious drugs, a scheme for providing anti-retroviral drugs to AIDS patients, a new national programme for mental health and health melas across the country.

Swaraj will launch the Vande Matram scheme on safe motherhood at Pushpanjali nursing home and medical centre on Vikas Marg on Monday. The scheme represents collaboration between the government and the private medical sector. The policy makers in Nirman Bhwan, the headquarters of the Health Ministry are of the view that although the country has a large number of highly trained and experienced gynaecologist, many of them are not part of the official health programmes. The programme is participatory, in that, it makes an appeal to the gynaecologists to dedicate a day every month for attending to pregnant women free of cost. The 9th of each month has been set apart for this national effort. The participating doctors will be called Vande Matram doctors. The Ministry claims that more than a thousand doctors have already got their names enlisted for participating in the scheme.

Dr Sapna Chopra, a senior gynaecologist in Mayur Vihar Phase I in East Delhi, thinks that the idea is brilliant but its execution would need a lot of effort on part of the government. “It looks very good on paper but it will be a mammoth task for the government to execute it.

I can only volunteer to attend to would-be mothers, but I cannot go to the slums and ask them to come to me. The GOI (Government of India) will have to notify names of Vande Matram doctors for the target beneficiaries.

As far as doctors are concerned, they would be only too happy doing something charitable. It is very satisfying.”

Laser treatment in progress at a clinic in West Delhi.

A laser clinic in Punjabi Bagh organised a seminar here on Friday to clear misconceptions related to laser treatment for removal of unwanted hair. Dr Sandeep Sharma, Medical Director of New Look Laser Clinic assured the audience that laser is the safest treatment for removing unwanted hair, but it is important not to remove hair by epilation, waxing, plucking or threading four weeks before treatment.

Tanning should also be avoided before and during treatment. He said that their advanced erbium yag laser technology is one of the most advanced treatments for acne, scars and freckles. The clinic also specialises in treatment for acne, scars, freckles, moles and warts, vascular and pigmented lesions, psoriasis and laser teeth bleaching.

SPORTS

Tushar Liberhan triumphs
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, February 7
Tushar Liberhan kept the Indian flag high when he annexed the boys singles title, defeating compatriot Divij Sharan 0-6, 7-5, 7-5, in the Adidas ITF Junior Tennis Tournament at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association deco-turf court on Saturday. Divij seemed to be on a roll when he captured the first set without labouring much.

But Tushar pulled up his socks, fought back from the brink to eventually triumph.

In the girls singles final, I-Hsuan Hwang of Taipei defeated Pichittra Thongdach of Thailand 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Mr S. Ganesh, head of marketing and PR, Adidas India Ltd, gave away the prizes.

SMS Gold Vase Polo

Black Dog will meet Aravali Polo in the final of the Lipton SMS Gold Vase (8 goals) Polo Championship at the Jaipur Polo ground on Sunday at 3 pm. In the semi-finals on Saturday, Black Dog defeated Thunderbolt 6-5 while Aravali Polo trounced Marco Polo 8-4.

North Zone make 203 for 5
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, February 7
North Zone were 203 for 5 off 91 overs against West Zone on day one of the Vizzy Trophy Cricket Championship at the Jamia Millia ground on Saturday.

Scores: North Zone: 203 for 5 (Adnan Ali 13, Bhuvnesh Sharma 53, Sudhir Singh 25, Ankur Sondhi 53, Amandeep Singh 19, Kuldeep Rawal 2 for 52, Bharat Solanki 2 for 38).

Bright enter final

Bright Club defeated Malviya by five wickets to enter the final of the fifth Goswami Girdhari Lal Memorial Cricket Tournament at the Kalindi College ground Scores: Malviya: 177 (Siddarth Verma 32, Pankaj Joshi 60,

Scores: Nishal Good 3 for 33, Oniel Wilson 33, Akash Malhotra 2 for 30, V Sharma 2 for 25, Sumit Narwal 2 for 23).

Bright: 178 for 5 in 36.4 overs (Nishal 90 n o, Sanjeev 47 n o, Oniel Wilson 2 for 34).

Rajender, Prasad share lead

Rajender Rai and SS Prasad were in joint lead on day one of the fourth DDA Invitational Golf Tournament for the Lt. Governor’s Cup at the Qutab Golf Course on Saturday.

ADMINISTRATION

Voters’ list being updated
Our Correspondent

Noida, February 7
The Additional District Magistrate (Admn) and Deputy Election Officer, Mr Rakesh Chandra, stated that the administration had begun the process of updating the voters list for the coming Lok Sabha polls, which would continue till February 20.

In a meeting with the representatives of the RWAs, Mr Chandra acquainted the polling officers and staff with the officials designated by the administration for updating the voters list in the various residential sectors.

The officials were also acquainted with the procedure to include new names in the voters list as also how to update and amend the voters lists.

Mr Chandra requested the representatives of the various sectors to call a meeting in order to amend and update the voter’s list.

Form 6, 7 and 8 for the purpose have been handed over to the sector representatives, Mr Chandra said. The voters lists will be read out in the presence of RWA representatives and complaints will be accepted on the spot. All rural and urban voter lists will be completed by March 20.