The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

HEALTH

Health workers to be trained under CVD project
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 27
About 200 health workers in five separate batches, each consisting of 35 workers under the UT Health Administration, will be trained for the Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD) Project which was recently launched in the city.

Under the project of the who, six batches of 134 doctors working in UT health dispensaries have already been trained at the General Hospital, Sector 16.

The health workers will be made aware about the CVD, the risk factors and the complications. They would also be trained for correct blood pressure measurement. Health education on heart, diet, physical activity cessation of tobacco use would also be provided.

The project is being carried out in the urban, rural and slum areas. Field workers have been conducting door-to-door survey to find out cardio-vascular risk factors and till now 825 residents from four randomly selected sectors have been covered.

The project has been initiated keeping in view the high incidence of hypertension and deaths due to CVD.

The data shows that while the prevalence of hypertension has doubled in past 30 years in Chandigarh, currently 35 per cent of the population above the age group of 30 years has hypertension, as many as 33 per cent of deaths in the city are due to CVD.

Free drugs for AIDS patients at PGI
Neelam Sharma
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 27
It is a move that will finally give some relief to the AIDS patients in the region.

The Union Ministry of Health, the World Health Organisation and National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) has decided to make the first-line anti-retroviral treatment (ART) drugs available free of cost to the AIDS patients approaching the PGI.

It is a major shift from an earlier decision this month, when the Union Health Ministry had sanctioned free drugs for merely 200 infected persons who are getting treatment in city.

The latest decision has been taken at the meeting of the representatives of the Union Health Ministry, NACO and WHO and the representatives of the New Delhi centres where the free distribution of the ART drugs is being introduced.

“It's a major change in the decision as all the AIDS patients, who approach the PGI, would now get the free drugs against the earlier decision where the stock of drugs was limited to merely 200 patients," says Dr Archana Sood of the Department of Internal Medicine at PGI.

“While in the previous decision, the patients who are already paying for the expensive drugs themselves were not included in the scheme, the decision has now been reverted and they would also be supplied free drugs,” says Dr Sood, who represented the Institute at the meeting held in New Delhi last week.

The patients who would be on the therapy would be issued a separate card to keep a track of the drug dosage received from the centre.

Regarded as an extremely costly treatment, the drugs start from around Rs 1200 a month and can go up to Rs 17,000 for a month.

“The majority of our 250 patients here are on the first-line treatment, which the government would be providing free of cost.

“It is less expensive than the second line of the treatment where the cost accelerates to several thousands. We are hoping that in the future, the second line of treatment would also be made free for the patients,'' remarks the doctor.

However, with this sudden change in the decision, the earlier plans of the ministry and the PGI to introduce the free distribution to the patients in the month of December itself would now be delayed by a couple of weeks for the want of an adequate stock of first-line drugs to reach the institute, as a limited stock is already lying with the PGI.

“We have another meeting in New Delhi during the first week of January before finally launching the distribution of the drugs. We are also expecting more supply of drugs to meet the enhanced demand. The issues of additional staff and the facilities are also being worked out,'' adds Dr Sood.

The PGI here has also recommended the provision of the free testing facility of the CD4 count, which now costs Rs 500 for each test.

SPORTS

PU hockey team return disappointed
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, December 27
Women hockey players representing Panjab University, Chandigarh, who went to take part in the All-India Inter-University Hockey Championship at Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut, had to return disappointed. The PU team which were runners-up last year in the inter-varsity hockey meet held in Tamil Nadu, were to play direct quarter-final tie with Mangalore University on December 23. They won by 2-0 and qualified for the semifinal league.

Other teams who entered the league included hosts the CCS University, Meerut, the GNDU, Amritsar, and the MDU, Rohtak. On December 24, the PU pitted against hosts CCU, Meerut, and in the midst of the tie, as alleged by the PU eves, umpires gave biased decisions and even manipulated the rules of the games much to the convenience of the Meerut team.

As a result the sure goal scored by their team was not accepted which invited protests from PU captain Kuldeep Kaur. Girls alleged that the public also protested in the PU’s favour but the umpires did not heed to anybody’s request.

Three players, Kuldeep (captain and right full back) , Neha Wadhwa (goalkeeper) and Usha (inside right) were debarred by organisers for playing any more tie in the tournament.

Ms Gurinder Kaur, manager-cum-coach of the PU team alleged that even observer Ajit Singh appointed by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) was not present when their league tie was on and for repeatedly two days, they tried to contact him but of no avail.

She further alleged that the Sports Officer, Meerut University, Dr G.S. Ruhal, asked them to play again the next day but with limited girls on the basis of umpires report who wanted their star players to remain away from the field. Even their goalkeeper was asked to stay out. They then had talk with Mr Gurdeep Singh, Member Secretary, Association of Indian Universities (AIU), who conveyed that they should play with full team.

Prof D.S. Toor, Professor in charge, sports, Panjab University, said the attitude of the host university was uncalled for and demanded re-scheduling of the league meet but at a different venue.

SGGS, GGS colleges win v’ball championship
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, December 27
SGGS College, Sector 26, in the men section and GGS College, Sector 26, in the women section emerged winners in the Chandigarh Senior State Volleyball Championship concluded here today. The meet was organised by the Chandigarh Volleyball Association.

In the men section, SGGS boys defeated the AG Club 25-17, 25-23, 25-21. In the women section, Guru Gobind Singh College, Sector 26, defeated the Coaching Centre, Sector 18, in straight sets by 25-14, 25-18, 25-20.

23 selected for cricket camp
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, December 27
As many as 23 girls have been selected as probables in the under-19 girls cricket camp for the national cricket meet by the Chandigarh Women’s Cricket Association. The camp for the probables will continue till January 12 at the MCM DAV College grounds, Sector 36.

The probables are, Supriya, Tanvi, Pooja, Nitu, Gazal, Meenu, Komal, Ankita, Vinayshree, Nidhi, Shweta, Meenu, Rajni, Sunaina, Kamaldeep, Ruchika, Deepika, Priyanka, Kirti, Ruchika and Harshita.

ADMINISTRATION

MC to monitor sanitation work
Tribune News Service

Mohali, December 27
The Mohali Municipal Council (MC) will put in place a system to monitor sanitation work in the township. This was decided at the monthly meeting of the council here today. Most councillors attending the meeting admitted that sanitation work was not satisfactory. They pointed out that this was due to the fact that the sanitation work was the responsibility of private contractors who were not supervising properly.

The Kharar MLA, Mr Bir Devinder Singh, who was chairing the meeting in the absence of the MC president, Mr Kulwant Singh, directed the executive officer to start a system to ensure that sanitation work was monitored on a daily basis.

He suggested that all sanitation inspectors should report on duty at 8 am and by noon report to the EO about the state of cleanliness within their jurisdiction. The daily report given by the inspectors would be noted on monthly charts. “The inspectors and other supervisory staff should ensure that the number of men that the contractor deployed for cleaning should be noted carefully. The councillors can keep a check over and above the supervisory staff for their satisfaction,” the MLA said.

Taking serious note of charges of corruption filed by the vigilance cell of the directorate of the local bodies, the MLA pointed out that the council had, instead of giving proper explanations from employees, allowed them to misrepresent facts before the vigilance cell.

Rejecting the explanations given by the two accused employees in this regard, final decision on the fate of the two was kept pending. It was decided that the explanation of the employees should be re-framed and sent to the vigilance cell.

It was also decided that those employees who had been absent from duty for various reasons should be chargesheeted and penalised forthwith. In case of an employee, who had quoted medical reasons for his absence from the council, it was decided that he should be taken back into the council only after a fitness certificate was given to him. Following which he should be chargesheeted for the absence and penalised.

Opposition councillors also raised objection to the payment of Rs 2 lakh by the council to the Punjab Government for the Indo-Pak games. Stating that the payment had been done from the wrong head, Mr Manjit Sethi pointed out that the council was not authorised to pay this amount for works beyond the jurisdiction of the township. A final decision on the matter was kept pending.

Rs 4.17 lakh was passed by the council for the repair and upgradation of the government high school phase II here.

Admin cruises on e-wave
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 27
Scripting a success story of its own, the 'Sampark' project providing e-governance in the city has handled, a total of 52000 transactions within 3 months of its launch.

On an average about 1500 transactions are carried out per day at the 3 centres.

On December 6 and December 20, the number of transactions was more than 2500 each , said a spokesperson of the administration.

The sampark centres offer services as follows: payment of sales tax and central sales tax, bus passes, senior citizen card, disability card, payment of electricity bills, births & deaths registration certificates, payment of water and sewage bills.

The services for the tenant registration and domestic servants registration, the payment of sticker and postal challans by the police and the acceptance of the passport applications are also provided for.

The centers remain open from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on each working day and on Saturday.

Some services are also available on the site www.Chandigarh.nic.in.

For any further inquiry, city residents may contact the help line no. 9815147500.