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Govt role in palliative care of cancer patients not active, say experts Chandigarh, February 12 They assert that in Australia, hospitals in each region have palliative care centres funded by the government. In India the patients are being looked after by missionaries and other religious bodies in some of the places. The delegates further reveal that in India palliative care facilities are available at 75 centres, out of which 46 are in Kerala. Further, hospice for patients, who cannot be looked after at home, have been set up only at a few places in the country. At present, hospice are at Chandigarh, Delhi, Pune, Bangalore and Mumbai. The first one to become functional was at Mumbai. In Chandigarh, it was set up only about a year back in Sector 43. “About 140 patients have been admitted here in one year,” says the organising secretary of the conference, Dr F.D. Patel. The delegates further add that spiritual and psychological counselling can make a difference in the lives of terminally-ill cancer patients. They claim that relieving pain is just not enough and counselling is also essential for removing emotional discomfort. Giving details of the facilities available in this part of the region, the doctors revealed that specific treatment was available at PGIMER. “It started with out patients’ department (OPD) thrice a week,” says the Head of the Department of Radiotherapy, Dr S.C. Sharma. “A team of doctors, nurses and social workers from UT Red Cross is assisting. They not only provide psychological boost, but also symptomatic treatment”. Regarding home care — an essential part of palliative care — the doctors maintain that the patients are looked after free of cost with the help of donations from different societies. “The non-government organisations are providing infrastructure,” they reveal. Talking about palliative care in other parts of the world, including Australia, Dr David Bernshaw, Radiation Oncologist specialising in gynaecology cancer at Melbourne, says it all started at religious places, including churches. “Now there are specific cancer care centres with group of people supporting the patients,” he adds. In the UK, hospice was started in 1967 after being influenced by citizens of the other countries who cared for the dying. “Otherwise, there are 8000 centres in 100 countries,” says Dr Michael Wright of Lancaster University, associated with International Observatory on End of Life Care. |
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Nirankari heads PGI staff union Chandigarh, February 12 The others elected were vice-president — Mr Gurcharan Singh Khumbra; secretary — Mr Bal Krishan Sharma; organising secretary — Mr Manohar Singh; propaganda secretary — Mr Jarnail Singh; and cashier — Mr Balraj Sharma. The senior vice-president — Mr Jagdish Jaggi had been elected unopposed. Earlier during the day, over 1,700 employees exercised their franchise. The elections were held after over one and a half years. |
Navdeep confident of winning ITF junior title In a brief interaction with this sports reporter at Army Officers Mess, Chandi Mandir Cantt, where he is putting up with his maternal uncle Lieut-Gen J. J. Singh, GOC in C, Western Command, Navdeep said it was his father, Mr D.J. Singh, who motivated him to join tennis. He said from time to time, it was his uncle (General J.J. Singh) who had been advising him on his aim of career. Navdeep aims to play grand slams and do well. He said though his parents were settled in Dubai, his native place was Patiala. It was in Dubai when he fell in love with tennis under the initiative of his father who prompted him to go all out for this sport. He began playing national level and other AITA ranking tournaments at the age of 14 years. But it was veteran renowned coach John Hicks of the United Kingdom under whose coaching he honed his tennis skills, he added. Navdeep said, his whole family was full of ambitious people. This has helped him in attaining a greater confidence level. he said in december last, he was able to conquer the National Junior (under 18) title which had further enhanced his image. The recent ITF junior tournaments held in January in Bangladesh also enabled him gain valuable points. On the growth of tennis and its popularity in the country, Navdeep said, if Indian tennis players brought home grand slam titles, then certainly the game would see an upsurge in the country. Navdeep said, his daily workout involved sprints, weight training, yoga and other flexibility exercises. “Then the diet is another vital factor and since he is just 17, he has abundant energy to practise for hours and play rallies, said Navdeep who will be striving hard to win the prestigious ITF Junior title tomorrow. |
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MCM, GGS-26 surge ahead Chandigarh, February 12 In the second tie played between GGS College for Women, Chandigarh, and DM College, Moga, former won 19-0. Half time score was 10-0. The scorers are, Vanita 7, Satwinder Kaur 7, Manisha 3, Gagandeep Kaur 2. In yet another tie, Khalsa College for Women, Ludhiana beat Arya College, Ludhiana 13-0 with half time score of 7-0. 4 players selected:
Cricket tourney:
Brief scores: AG, Punjab — 219 runs in 40 overs (RP Singh 33, Randhir Nain 32, Amit Kakria 56, Rakesh Sethi 27, Satnam Singh 4 for 31, Parveen Sharma 2 for 28); AG, Haryana — 117 runs all out in 28.4 overs (Suraj Salhotra 54, Arun Tuli 4 for 23, Yogesh Sharma 2 for 27). In another semi-final tie, AG, UP defeated Delhi Audit by a margin of 12 runs. Now AG,Punjab will take on AG, UP, in the final to be played tomorrow at Sector 16 Cricket Stadium. |
Octroi contract given for
Rs 16.91 crore Mohali, February 12 Earlier three attempts had proved unsuccessful. The bid started at the reserve price of Rs 16.90 crore. The successful bidder, Messers City Associates, belongs to Dera Bassi and is into octroi collection at other places in Punjab also. Interestingly, despite claims by a councillor of the ruling group, that they will publicly object to privatisation of octroi collection, no one turned up at the council office today. The councillor, Mr Shyam Bansal, had last week stated that he will sit on a dharna outside the council office to oppose the privatisation of octroi collection. The council stands to gain over Rs 30 lakh this year when the final bid was Rs 16.59 crore. After the last year contract, the Local Government Department had revised the reserve price, increasing it by 10 per cent. However, despite two auction attempts in December 2003 and in January 2004, there were no takers for the new reserve price of Rs 19.09 crore. Following which, the Local Government Department reduced the reserve price to Rs 16.90 crore and another auction was held on January 15, 2004 but yet again there were no takers for the work. The council at that point decided to collect octroi itself. However, it was decided to hold another auction. Senior officials of the Local Government, Mr S.R. Kler and Mr A.S. Pannu were present during the auctions. The new contractor will start work after certain formalities are completed by the council. |
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Chandigarh, February 12