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Muscular dystrophy patients need lot of care
Chandigarh, December 25 “It was 10 years ago that I was diagnosed with MD. I have consulted many doctors but they say so far there is no treatment available. But life goes on anyhow,” says Inderjit Kaur, mother of two teenagers and an employee with an insurance company in Chandigarh. What could make a great difference in her life is the availability of some treatment for this genetic disease, which so far is incurable throughout the world. There are many forms of muscular dystrophy, some noticeable at birth and others in adolescence. The types of the diseases differ in terms of pattern of inheritance, age of onset, rate of progression, and distribution of weakness. After Vankatesh in Hyderabad died of MD, following a long battle and raising the question of mercy death or euthanasia, doctors at PGI say patients have a ray of hope as efforts are on for finding some breakthrough in the treatment. “There is no cure so far for the disease anywhere in the world,” says the Head of the Department of Neurology at the PGI, Prof S. Prabhakar. Though the department, under its project, has been able to find three genes responsible for the disease, it further needs years of input to achieve the desired results. “We get more than five to six patients of MD daily in our OPDs. The problem is that though the limbs of the patients stop functioning due to muscle degeneration, the mental state of the person remains absolutely perfect. This implies that though the patient cannot move or perform daily tasks, his thinking remains unaffected by the disease,” explains the doctor. “MD requires extreme care and full attention of attendants, otherwise patients die before reaching the last stage, where they wish for mercy death,” adds Professor Prabhakar. However, the president of the Chandigarh chapter of the MD Association, Mr Gurbir Singh, says patients, who get depressed due to non-treatment and indifferent attitude of doctors need a lot of convincing and infusing of positive thinking to make them enjoy life. “We have more than 50 members in the association and have also involved persons with us who have not ventured out of their homes for more than a decade due to the disease,” he says. |
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Governor launches heartline project
Chandigarh, December 25 General Rodrigues gave a clarion call to NGOs and the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to adopt a multi-pronged strategy to check female foeticide. He added that clubs should come forward with concrete programmes for the rehabilitation of destitute women. Mr Baldev Aggarwal, president, Rotary Club, Chandigarh, said through the project people could help those who could not afford costly cardiac surgeries. General Rodgrigues also presented post-operative medicine kits to first two beneficiaries of the project. On the occasion students of Bhavan Vidyalaya donated Rs 65,000 to help the needy. |
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Nursing institute gets recognition
Chandigarh, December 25 |
Netball teams practise for national meet
Chandigarh, December 25 Mr Gurbir Singh, president of the Netball Association of Chandigarh, who is also the president of the Netball Federation of India, was present to supervise the training. He asked the school and college girls to prepare hard as the NFI would scout talent for its various Asian meets and for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. According to Mr R. Sharan, secretary of the local association, the training camp for the men team was being held at SGGS College, Sector 26, and for the women team at Government Model High School, Sector 28. He said daily, thee players practised for more than four hours in two sessions. The team would leave on December 27. The final team selected is: Men:
Opinder Sharma (captain), Sandeep Rana, Vikram Rana, Bhupinder Singh, Captain A.Singh, Vijay, Jitender, Parvesh, Sukhjinder, Harmanjot, Amit Kumar and GP Paul. Coaches: Amit and S. Kaur. |
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Local girl among football probables
Chandigarh, December 25 According to a press note issued by Mr Rakesh Bakshi, honorary secretary of the Chandigarh Football Association, Haranchal is one of the 40 probables selected from the Second Girls National Football Championship (under-17) held at Tamil Nadu recently. A trainee of Bhupinder Singh, SAI coach at Panjab University, she is the first girl from the city to be selected to attend a coaching camp for the Indian team. |
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Archers out to prove mettle
Chandigarh, December 25 Juniors from various parts of the country were seen carrying bamboo-made as well as imported bows and arrows to the venue for hours of practice on the eve of the Junior National Archery Championship, being conducted by the Chandigarh Archery Association from December 26 to 28. Scores of target boards are available to felicitate archers in practice. The archers were so eager for their routine drills that they did not bother to put the target sheets. The trainees of the Tata Archery Academy, Jamshedpur, had the most impressive look. The archers, both boys and girls, looked more impressive without the dress as well as equipment. The 12 TAA trainees, including six girls , are part of the 24-member Jharkhand squad. Prabhat Kandir is a silver medallist in the Junior World Championship held in the UK early this year. Prabhat, Ranjit, Amardeep and Ranjit Hembrom will make their maiden appearance in the Junior Nationals. Laxmi Rani Manjhi and Runu Swargeri represented the country in the Junior World Championship in the UK. They returned with more confidence and maturity. Naohmi Laloo claimed the gold medal in the Junior Asian Championship held this year in Jamshedpur. Giving details of the functioning of the Tata Archery Academy, chief coach Dharminder Tiwary said, “We have a capacity to train 32 archers in the academy, which came into existence on October 4, 1996. I am with this training centre since its inception. Purnima Mahto, the women’s trainer, joined the academy in 2001. Assistant coach Ashok Ghosh joined the TAA last year.” Mr Tiwary said the present strength of trainees was 20, including nine girls. “We have a four-year course. After getting employment, the archers pass out from the academy. Those talented, but remaining jobless, are given extension. They can continue for a period of another four years. “Those who fail to deliver the goods fall under the weeding-out process,” remarked Tiwary, who was happy with the results of the academy. Dola Banerjee and Reena Kumari of the TAA had represented India in the Olympics while Bhagwati Chanu had competed in the World Championship in the USA. Other outstanding products of the TAA were Limba Ram, Laldrem Sanga and Satyadev Prasad. Mr Tiwary clarified that in the National Championships, the TAA trainees represented Jharkhand, which had sent a 24-member team, excluding officials. The TAA trainees are trained for FITA round – individual as well as team championship. Other members of Jharkhand will compete in Indian round. Meanwhile, a six-member team from Shillong has arrived under the banner of the Services Sports Control Board. Bikash Crun, Sanjeet
Sharma, Y. Prem Chand, Dineshwar Singh, K.K. Singh and Captain Singh form the Army team. Most of the teams have arrived and were on the ground for sufficient time to hit the bull’s eye. A few teams are on the way as the train schedule has been upset by fog. Members of the Kerala team (Ranjith OR, Vinod K, Alrin Joseph, Sruham K, George Balu, Aliga G. Nair and Awasthi A.K) may be finding the cold weather not to their liking. |
Tiles’ sample to be tested
Panchkula, December 25 The council has also directed that the report should be prepared within one month and constituted a sub-committee comprising the Secretary, the SDO, the municipal engineer and junior engineer to look into the matter. It was also decided that all tests would be carried out in the presence of the complainant, Mr B.L. Tandon, founder of the People’s Welfare Action Group. He had complained about the poor and sub-standard work on some footpaths in Sectors 2 and 4. |
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Decision on power cuts soon
Chandigarh, December 25 A final decision is to be taken after consultation between the Administrator and his Adviser. The Engineering Department has favoured imposition of rotational power cuts. The same opinion has been given to the Adviser also. The department has also worked out how much money is required to purchase power at higher rates. Administration officials clarified that even if power has to be bought at higher rates, consumers would not be made to pay more. |
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2004: IN
RETROSPECT
Chandigarh, December 25 Bribery charges were made against an official and a councillor. While the former, on deputation from Himachal Pradesh, was embroiled in a controversy for demanding pashmina shawls in the name of high-ups of the corporation and was subsequently repatriated, the councillor was accused of demanding money from a contractor. The Mayor, Ms Kamlesh, too, was surrounded by controversies, the biggest being that of the Mohalla Sudhar Committee which, despite not having been registered, was getting a matching grant from the corporation. Ms Kamlesh was also in the news for being the most-widely travelled Mayor, hopping from one study tour to another. From Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Gujarat to Phillipines, the Mayor went places though none of them proved to be beneficial or profitable to the corporation. At loggerheads with the officers, the decision of the Municipal Commissioner to reject recommendation of the Budget Review Committee brought the confrontation to the fore. An inquiry was later ordered into the Rs 37,000 worth items purchased by the Mayor for her house. The initial rejection of the corporation to grant permission to Sector 22 traders proved to be a big fiasco. High drama followed as shopkeepers went on lightning strike, entered into direct confrontation with booth owners and finally moved court. The MC subsequently gave permission to host the Divali mela following court orders. The employees were on a perpetual strike for one reason or the other. While they protested to press for providing employment to the wife of an employee who died on duty, they held rallies and dharnas to lodge their protest on the absorption of an employee from the UT Administration on deputation to the MC. Finally, the curtain was wrung down with protests by daily wagers seeking the regularisation of their jobs. A by-election was also held after BJP’s sitting councillor resigned from his post. The Congress emerged victorious despite a lot of mud-slinging from the Bharatiya Janata Party. |
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A local girl, Haranchal Kaur Nagra, has been invited to attend a coaching camp for the junior Indian team at the SAI, Banaglore, from January 15.