Indian surgeons the best, says US Fellow
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, February 18
Dr Zoltan Szabo, Fellow of International Colleges of Surgeons, Founder and Director, Micro-Surgery and Operative Endoscopy Training Institute, San Francisco, USA, feels that Indian surgeons are the best in the world. The only thing the country needed was to invest on the expensive equipment. "If this is done, I am sure health facilities in India would improve tremendously”, he said.

Dr Zoltan Szabo is in the city to attend The 6th national conference of endoscopic surgery, organised by the Indian Association of Gastrointestinal Endo Surgeons. The three-day conference will start tomorrow.

The expert from the USA has been teaching laproscopic suturing for the past more than 30 years. He said that it was heartening to see the enthusiasm among the Indian surgeons to know the latest in laparoscopy. It needed more than 80 hours of experience or practice to get confidence. “The more you practice, the more skillful you become. Initially, one can perform simple surgeries and then only complex procedures can be performed. I am here to impart training on the subject to keen Indian laproscopic surgeons”, said Dr Szabo.

He added that the surgeons needed to learn many technical tricks. Practice was the keyword to master laproscopic suturing. “The method is an alternative to expensive clips and stapling. There are absolutely no side-effects but one has to spend on expensive material used for the job”, he said.

Dr Zoltan said that visiting India and, particularly Ludhiana, was like a homecoming for him. “People are very warm-hearted, generous and you feel like you are in the family”, said Dr Zoltan.

Meanwhile, a pre-conference of laproscopic suturing was conducted at Park Plaza here today. The workshop was attended by 45 delegates from all over the country. Its aim was to train of budding surgeons, who wished to be expert in minimal access surgery (MAS)- the keyhole surgery, which involves making small punctures to carry out surgery inside the abdomen.

The experts, including Dr Ramesh from Bangalore and Dr US Gadgil from Mumbai were welcomed by the organizing secretary of the conference, Dr Kuldip Singh. The event was conducted on mock inanimate module provided by Carl-Store and Ethicon Companies. The session started with a short lecture by Dr Gadgil followed by a detailed lecture by Dr Zolton. Later in the afternoon, delegates had hands on training on the models to learn and perfect the technique of laproscopic surgery. The participants were awarded certificates during the valedictory function.

Manjit emerges fastest runner
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, February 18
Manjit Kaur emerged as the fastest runner, winning 100 m race in the annual sports meet of the Bank of India, Ludhiana zone, conducted at the Guru Nanak Sports Complex here yesterday. Sushma Aggarwal finished runner-up while the third spot was shared by Sona Bansal and Jammohan Gulati.

In women’s final of carrom, Rajni Goyal came out triumphant while Sushma Aggarwal secured the second position. In the musical chairs race, two rounds were organised in which Jagmohan Gulati won the first place and Sushma Aggarwal earned the second spot. In the second round, Sushma Aggarwal emerged winner, followed by Sunita Rani.

In table tennis (men), Sunil Ahuja got the better of O.N. Sharma to bag the trophy while in the doubles, the pair of Sunil Ahuja and O.N. Sharma defeated duo of P.J.S. Walia and B.C. Joshi to lift the trophy.

In the doubles final (carrom), Ashok Gupta and A.S. Ahuja prevailed over the pair of K S Bhatti and R.K. Mehta to wrap up the issue.

Earlier, Mr H.S. Bhatia, General Manager, Bank of India, Ludhiana zone, declared the meet open in which more than 40 participants took part.

Annual athletics meet: Kamla Lohtia Sanatan Dharam College, Subhash Nagar, Daresi Road, is organising the annual athletics and sports meet on February 20. In a press note issued here yesterday, Mr B.D. Budhiraja, Principal of the college, Mr Jagmohan Gupta, president, managing committee, will inaugurate the meet. Mr A.A. Siddiqui, Director-General of Police, Punjab, will be the chief guest at the prize distribution function, while Dr D.J. Singh, Deputy Director, Punjab Police Academy, Phillaur, will preside over the function, the note said.