HEALTH

‘Slimming centres misleading people’
Tribune News Service

Mohali, February 6
“Slimming and weight loss centres are misleading people. Pills, certain machines or techniques are used to reduce water content in the body that results in temporary loss of body weight. Slimming packages can only be termed harmful since these are not based on any scientifically tested or approved treatments,” said Dr Pradeep Chowbey, head, Minimal Access Surgery, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi here today.

Stating that laparoscopic stomach banding was a technique that had to be used to treat morbid obesity, Dr Chawbey clarified that these surgeries were not done out of cosmetic requirements.

Surgery is now essential in cases where obesity has been virtually uncontrolled and has become morbid. People who are extremely overweight are not normal people who are fat but are diseased.

They suffer from a variety of life-threatening medical problems, other than having to deal with the social ones, he said.

“In fact surgeries are carried out only in cases where it is indicated. We use a formula to assess the extent of obesity. If is beyond a certain limit, surgery is indicated. If the patient is less obese than that, we suggest gradual weight loss programmes. No gastroenterological surgeries are carried out for cosmetic reasons alone,”said Dr Chowbey.

Obesity could be due to genetic and metabolic reasons, main cause of obesity in India was sedentary lifestyle. Affluence, urbanisation and poor dietary habits are the other reasons. “It would surprise many but a study showed that 5 per cent of the Indian population was consuming 40 per cent of all available fat,” 
he said.

The best way to avoid obesity is to keep a check on your dietary habits. “Going on sudden and drastic diets, losing weight quickly only to gain more is called yo-yo dieting. Weight loss by making basic changes in your diet is the most effective solution,” added Dr Chowbey.

Comparing advantages of laparoscopic stomach banding and laparopscopic stomach bypass, the two major surgical solutions to morbid obesity, Dr Chowbey said banding technique is better than bypass. “In the banding technique, we reduce the size of the stomach using a band and the patient feels full with smaller meals. The technique is simple, reversible and adjustable.”

Pointing out that the banding technique was becoming more and more popular, Dr Chowbey however said the future belonged to gastroenterological or stomach pacers. “These are already at the clinical trial stage. Pacers are small implants put in the stomach. These would simulate the feeling of fullness to the patient and can be adjusted depending on the level of obesity. These will be in Indian market by 2007,”he said.

Drug-addiction among teenagers rising: study
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 6
While adolescents in the West start taking drugs when they are barely 12-year-old, the PGI’s findings, backed by the data of past 15 years, have proved that kids in the region start taking it the age of 14.

More than 78 per cent of the total 85 adolescents addicts tried smack, cannabis, inhalant and smoking to have “just the feel of it,” the findings said.

Peer pressure came a distant second, with 16.5 per cent of the teenagers took to drugs because of it, while barely three adolescents had family problems before they got into it.

“The addiction is on the increase among the adolescents as teenagers are vulnerable due to experimentation and risk-taking behaviour,” noted the study.

Experts say early addiction not only leads to psychological stress, delinquency and criminality, impulsivity and alienation but also exposes the youngsters to unsafe sex practices, a phenomena particularly noted in the western countries.

The findings on these regular adolescents patients who got treatment at the Drug De-addiction and Treatment Centre (DDTC), PGI, from January 1978 to December 2003, has also thrown more surprises.

More than 97 per cent of these adolescent drug addicts belonged to fair and good families and 83.5 per cent of them were from the urban areas. Majority of them (57.6 per cent) were students and 28.2 per cent went to private schools. However, the dropout rate among adults was fairly high (54.1 pc).

Smack, cannabis and smoking were the common drugs and surprisingly, alcohol and nicotine do not figure on the list. 

Docs discuss surgical gastroenterology
Tribune News Service

Mohali, February 6
The development of surgical gastroenterology had made it possible to provide comprehensive health care to patients suffering from gastrointestinal disease requiring both specialised medical as well as surgical treatment. Doctors from across the country gathered here to discuss aspects of surgical gastroenterology in India.

Giving details deliberations, Dr Akhil Bhargava, said surgical gastroenterology was a relatively new superspeciality, that dealt with surgical techniques and appropriate operative treatment of diseases of the food pipe, stomach, duodenum, small and large intestines, including appendix and associated digestive organs like liver, spleen, gall bladder, billiary system and pancreas etc.

Prof T.K. Chattopadhya, from AIIMS, New Delhi, spoke on the need and justification for the development of superspeciality of surgical gastroenterology in India in order to increase expertise, improve patient care and avoid isolationism.

Prof Kuldip Singh, president-elect of the Indian Association of Gastro-enterology Surgeons and Professor of Surgery, DMC, Ludhaina, demonstrated that difficult gall bladder, which earlier could not be operated upon laproscopically, could now be successfully removed by laparoscopic techniques. He stressed on adequte training and skill of the surgen to deal with such cases. By taking these cases casually, a simple gall bladder patient could be made a biliary cripple if the judgement of the surgeon was not right. He demonstrated a technical modifications like using peanut gauze, water dissection and blunt dissection to deal with such cases.

Prof Anil Aggarwal, Head of the Department, G.B. Pant Hospital, Prof. J.D. Wig, PGI, Prof Adarsh Chaudhary, GB Pant Hospital, New Delhi,

Dr Pradeep Chowbey, Head of the Department of Minimal Access Surgery at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, Prof Sikora and Dr Arun Bihari from the SGPGI, Lucknow, Prof S.P. Kaushik of Silver Oaks hospital also spoke.

Press Club beats UT Adviser’s XI
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, February 6
Chandigarh Press Club defeated UT Adviser’s XI and lifted the Samuel Banerjee Memorial Cricket Trophy tie played here today at Sector 16 Cricket Stadium. Chosen to field first after winning the toss, Ajay Bhardwaj, Captain of the Chandigarh Press Club team, showed understanding of the game as damp pitch and slow breeze helped his bowlers in doing their job in a better manner.

Despite a couple of good partnerships in the middle overs, the Adviser’s XI could not match the skills of journalists, losing by eight wickets in the end.

Starting on a cautious note, with Captain Vivek Attrey and the other opener, Narinder Kwatra, were put on a tight leash due to good fielding by journalists.

Attrey was soon back in the pavilion after scoring just one run in six balls. It brought Kwatra and Daniel Banerjee together. However, tight bowling and good fielding ensured that the runs did not come easily. Daniel got run out when Maneesh Chhibber’s throw from point region left him stranded in the middle. He scored 16 runs in 22 balls. In the end, the Adviser’s XI managed just 138 for the loss of seven wickets, with Harish Sharma adding a quick-fire 35 off just 28 deliveries. Dr Viney, Dr Honey and Roopesh Kumar all made eight runs each.

For the mediapersons, Jagwinder Patial took two wickets, while Surinder ‘Baijee’ and Vikrant Gupta took one each.

Given a target of 139 runs in the stipulated 25 overs, the Chandigarh Press Club-XI started in a fine fashion with both the openers middling the ball well.

Vikrant got out after making 14 runs in 15 balls, following which Gagan Sethi and Ajay Banerjee took control of the proceedings. But, for the last-minute departure of Gagan, the Press Corps would have won by nine wickets. Gagan made 33 runs in 33 balls while Ajay Banerjee top-scored with an unbeaten 37 runs in 47 balls.

Rohit Awasthi remained unbeaten with four runs. The target was achieved with over three overs to spare.

Chandigarh Adviser Lalit Sharma gave the man-of-match award to Ajay Banerjee, while Jagwinder Patial was chosen the best bowler. Narinder Kwatra (best batsman) and Roopesh Kumar (best fielder) were presented the awards by Mr S.K. Sandhu, Finance Secretary, UT.

Bedi Club beat cricket association XI
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, February 6
Led by skipper Arpinder Singh Bedi and with a brilliant performance by Kailash Sanwal with both bat and ball, Bedi Cricket Club had a convincing four wicket win over Chandigarh Cricket Association XI in the Amartex Cricket Cup, organised by the Panchkula District Cricket Association here today at the JR Institute of Cricket Technology, Barwala, near Panchkula.

After winning the toss, captain of Bedi Cricket club invited CCA XI to bat first. CCA were all out in 43.1 overs with Ajay Sikka and Saurav Arora claiming three and two wickets, respectively.

Brief scores: CCA: 140 runs all out in 43.1 overs (Bagheshwar Bisht 17, Michael Vishal 46, Sumit Kamboj 12, Saurav Arora 13, Kailash Sanwal 5 for 18, Hemant Bassi 3 for eight).

Bedi CC:141 runs for six in 36.4 overs (Arun Singla 16, Ajay Disodia 14, Deepak Bakshi 22, Kailash Sanwal 42 n.o., Arpinder Bedi 23, Ajay Sikka 3 for 28, Saurav Arora 2 for 24).

BSNL XI crush Airtel XI

A 110-run partnership between Harpinder Singh (88) and Ankur Kakkar (36) helped BSNL XI in routing AirTel CMTS XI by 117 runs in a pool A match in the Punjab Telecom Operators Friendship Cricket Cup Tournament being played at the Sports Complex, Sector 3. In a pool B fixture, Tata XI defeated Air Tel BIL XI by seven wickets.

Brief scores: BSNL XI: 196 for 4 in 25 overs (Harpinder Singh 88, Ankur Kakkar 36, Indu Choudhary 26, Mohan Sigh 13).

AirTel CMTS XI: 79 all out in 18 overs (Imran Khan 20, Kanav Verma 17, Bandhanpreet 5 for 11, Harpinder Siingh 2 for 25).

AirTel BIL XI: 97 in 22 overs (Sukhjeet 12, Kailash 11, Akash 3 for 18, Brijesh 3 for 16, Ashish 2 for 17).

Tatas XI: 101 for 3 in 16 overs (Akash 36 not out, Vijay Bhan 14, Pardeep 2 for 22).

SAIL-sponsored tennis tournament from today
Arvind Katyal

Chandigarh, February 6
The title sponsorship of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) for Grade 3 ITF Junior Tennis Tournament, which will start from February 7 to 12 at CLTA Stadium, Sector 10, has indicated that the tennis at the junior level is attracting the corporate sector. In previous tournaments, the CLTA had to depend on multiple sponsors for their expenses.

Mr Rajan Kashyap, Chairman, Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association (CLTA), said, “when players bring laurels to the city and the region, we get more response from sponsors”.

Mr Kashyap said, “in the tournament, with the participation of a large number of players from foreign countries, our boys and girls have more opportunity to compete with them and gain experience and confidence with less expenditure.

It will cost us dear if a player, without sponsorship, travels and competes in a foreign country.”

He said their rural scheme is a big hit.

Top AITA-ranked Indian player and Davis cupper Sunil Kumar Sipaeya was a product of the rural scheme. Sunil Kumar is now CLTA’s honorary tennis ambassador. CLTA had joined hands with the Army.

They had recruited 12 budding players from the rural areas of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and 
Chandigarh.