HEALTH

2004: IN RETROSPECT
A year of appointments, politicking, administrative clashes at PGI
Neelam Sharma
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 22
A new Director, a new Deputy Director, Administration (DDA) and the inclusion of more senior faculty members marked 2004. It also saw the PGI moving towards an administrative change under new stewardship amid a lot of mudslinging and tussle at the top.

Prof K.K. Talwar, former head of the Department of Cardiology at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, was appointed the new Director of the PGI after Prof S.K. Sharma’s tenure came to an end on March 31. The new person talked of introduction of package deals for various surgeries and making the institute more patient-friendly by flashing across placards of ``smile and serve’’ all across the hospital.

However, politicking and administrative clashes surfaced at the PGI within no time. The problem began from the office of the DDA, Ms Meeta Rajivlochan, who first grabbed attention by engaging in a brawl with the law officer, Mr. T.S. Bagga, and soon extended it to by unabashedly calling Professor Talwar, a ``medicine man’’ with little administrative knowledge.

The shift of power kept the institute’s faculty engrossed for more than two months till October when the DDA was sent packing. The entire drama unfolded under the close watch of the Union Health Ministry in New Delhi as Meeta Rajivlochan was prematurely repatriated to her parent state Maharashtra.

The year also saw a number of senior faculty members holding administrative charges in the name of decentralisation of power. Head of Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Sarala Gopalan was given the charge of acting DDA, head of Department of General Surgery J.D. Wig was given the charge of registrar and head of Department of Psychiatry P. Kulhara the additional charge of associating in training and management of the activities of the Department of Hospital Administration.

Controversy around the sanitation contract involving the Medical Superintendent’s office and the CBI team visit in connection with the shop-allotment case too remained in focus at the PGI. The issue of deanship kept remained pending this year even as the institute body decided that Professor Gopalan was senior to Dean, Sudha Suri.

Package system of treatment was introduced in the Department of Ophthalmology and also for patients admitted in the hospital’s general ward, who are now required to pay Rs 50 daily for treatment. To check the misuse of poor patient benefits, the PGI introduced the yellow cards (below poverty line cards) for free treatment.

The Advanced Urology Centre was inaugurated by the Union Health Minister, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, and the facilities at Sarai for poor patients were also extended. A new arrhythmia clinic in the Department of Cardiology and two special clinics for breast and vascular surgery also came up this year at the PGI.

1,000 donate blood
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, December 22
Amartex organized a blood donation camp on Sunday at Comfort Resorts here. More than 1,000 employees of Amartex across the region comprising Chandigarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal came forward for the noble cause. Later a car rally was taken out to create awareness about traffic rules. As many as 30 cars drove down the city roads carrying the message “Obey the Traffic Rules”. A cultural evening was organised. A scintillating Gatka performance by martial art exponents was another highlight.

SPORTS

US expert gives tips on cho kwon do
Arvind Katyal

Chandigarh, December 22
Master Marshall Pereira, black belt (6th dan) from the USA, who has been teaching martial arts for over 20 years and is an authority in choi kwon do, was in the city today to guide trainees on this art. Pereira advocated the imbibing of this martial art for the coming generation so as to build a stronger nation. He said Indians were basically better in many respects as compared to people from the USA and Europe, but were not organised and disciplined.

Pereira, who came to Chandigarh for the first time, says, “At present choi kwon do is being practised in over 40 countries.”

He said the US Government had been encouraging this art since it helped in developing a new culture among children who were deviating from sports activities.

On the benefits of choi kwon do, Pereira said it developed one’s overall personality. He complimented the efforts of Mr V.S. Kundu, president of the Chandigarh region of the choi kwon do school and the technical director, Mr B.S. Thapa, for giving a thrust to this art in the region.

Earlier, Pereira demonstrated various techniques of choi kwon do to more than 100 participants present on the occasion in the Sector 10 skating rink. The workshop will continue for two more days.

Infighting hits SGFI working
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, December 22
Confusion continues to prevail over the working of the School Games Federation of India (SGFI), which is responsible for the conduct of school sports in the country. The key office-bearers of the federation have been fighting over the control of the federation and in the past many years, the lust to remain in power has brought a bad name to the federation.

A third body of office-bearers of the SGFI, with Mr Sat Pal as president and Mr A.K. Mishra as secretary and formed in October, 2004, has so far conducted three National School Games in different disciplines at Sirsa, Pune and Ludhiana (which will conclude tomorrow) in the past two months. The merit certificates of the players who took part in these tournaments have been issued under the signatures of Mr Satpal and Mr Mishra. However, the Punjab and Haryana High Court, in its judgement on December 13, has ignored the formation of the third body.

Surprisingly, the Government of India, which send the national school team for various international meets has not taken any action to set things right. In order to have control over federation, office-bearers had been moving court to further delay the functioning.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court, in its judgement on December 13, had said that the orders passed by the District and Sessions Judge were without jurisdiction and did not have any binding effect on the parties. The elections of the SGFI were held in February, 2004, in Pune as per the directions of the District and Sessions Judge, UT, where Mr Diggiker and Mr A.K. Mishra were elected president and secretary, respectively.

Prior to the judgement, a few members of the previous body had met in Delhi, in October, 2004, to change its president, and Mr Satpal was elected the new president while Mr Mishra continued to be the secretary. On October 9, 2003, another election of the SGFI was held, in which Mr Satpal was elected president and Mr PS Chhabra secretary.

For the past over a year all affiliated units of the SGFI states had been under confusion as there used to be two parallel national school games, one held under the banner of Mr Satpal and the other with Mr Diggiker as president.

Meanwhile, in a fax message sent by Mr B.S. Sen, treasurer of the SGFI (unit headed by Mr Satpal (president) and Mr P.S. Chhabra (secretary), it has been alleged that a few office-bearers are trying to send a wrong message and are playing with the career of sportspersons. Mr Sen, who represents the Himachal Pradesh unit, said their elections were held on October 9, 2003, and were never challenged in the court.

Haryana AG win football tourney
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, December 22
Varinder Kanwar of AG, Audit, Haryana, enabled his team to win the final tie against the DGACR, New Delhi, by one goal to nil to win the title in the North Zone (IA and AD) Audit Football Tournament played here today at the football grounds, Sector 17. Varinder scored the goal in the fourth minute of the match. Mr Nand Lal, Accountant-General, Punjab, was the chief guest and gave away the prizes.

Cricket match

A superb batting by Sarul, who scored 75 runs, and fine bowling by Aditya, who bagged four wickets, helped DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, in making it to the final of the Shivalik Trophy Cricket match played here on Wednesday at the Sector 16 stadium.