HEALTH

UNAIDS, NACO for accurate assessment of AIDS mortality in India
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 28
Faced with the need to make accurate assessment regarding AIDS mortality in India, UNAIDS and National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) have decided to go all out to produce complete and reliable statistics in this regard.

Despite years of prevalence of the virus, India has not been able to generate correct estimations as to how many people actually die due to AIDS. The only correct figure available pertains to Indians living with HIV. Currently there are 5.13 million Indians living with the virus.

At a high-level meeting held in New Delhi few days ago, officials from UNAIDS and NACO discussed the implications of the issue with 10 health experts from India and decided the future course of action. It has been decided to resort to Mathematical modelling method as also to sample registration system to find out how many deaths are occurring due to AIDS.

In this regard, the PGI will play a role by submitting its report on the causes of 50,000 deaths in India. Dr Rajesh Kumar from the PGI who attended the meeting in Delhi as an HIV/AIDS expert told The Tribune,

“Along with 15 institutions from India, we have been collaborating with the Centre for Global Health Research, Canada, to assess the causes of deaths from the sample of seven million Indians collected under the Registrar-General of India’s Sample Registration System.”

By the end of this year, the PGI will submit a report on causes of 50,000 deaths in India. Among these, AIDS deaths will also be accounted for. The final report, to be submitted by the 2006 end, will have a larger base. It will discuss 1.5 lakh deaths and their causes.

Meanwhile, Dr Kumar talked about the problems being faced in the assessment of AIDS mortality and solutions that were discussed in Delhi. “The greatest handicap is improper registration of births and deaths in India. Due to lack of enforcement and consequent punitive action, the exact deaths are never known. Roughly half of the deaths that occur are registered. Of those, only in about one fifth cases are the causes of death registered. Naturally it is impossible to know who died of AIDS,” said Dr Kumar.

The importance of enforcing the Births and Deaths Registration Act cannot be underestimated because only after the number of AIDS deaths are known will the policies for HIV/AIDS combat gain momentum.

Sources tell: “If we know how many die of AIDS, we can know the efficacy of anti retro viral treatments being given free of cost by the government. If deaths are registered and so are causes of deaths, we can know if ARV treatments have helped enhance the life span of HIV/AIDS patient. Accordingly, strategies can be altered.”

SPORTS

Chess championships begin
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, July 28
The 16th Chandigarh Chess Championships began at Jawahar Navodya Vidylaya, Sector 25, here today. As many as 67 participants are competing for the top honours. At the end of the day, 16 players were leading. A team of four players will be selected to represent Chandigarh in the forthcoming National B Chess championships to be held in Delhi from August 3 to 13.

The point positions at the end of the second round are as under:

Two points: Sanjiv Biswas, Himal Gusain, Anmol Razdan, Naveen Bansal, Nitin, Ashwani, Sunil Bansal, Anil Raina, C.M. Oberoi, Swapan Biswas, S.S. Cheema, A.P. Singh, Manish Sehgal, Satpal, Sanjay Chadda, Agangpu.

One point:Vipnesh Bhardwaj, Rohit Chodda, Simranjit, Kapil Dev, Himanshu, Varun, Harinder, Shweta, Mohit, Gagandeep, Charanjit, Vikram, Rajinder, Shivam, Deepak, Sarvpreet, Kewaljit, Dalbir, Abhishek, Pankaj, Anubhav, Gurnoor, Varun Rawat, Ravinder, Amit, Akshay, Ashutosh, A.P. Saksena, Tarun, Rita, Anita, Amit Shergil and Aashna.

Half point: Pushpinder Gusain and Ankush Verma.

Aerobics trials: The Chandigarh Gymnastic Association will conduct selection trials for aerobics team in senior and junior groups of both male and female players on August 6 at the Gymnasium Hall, Sector 7. In the junior section, the age group is between 12 to 17 years. The selected gymnasts will take part in the 8th National Aerobics Gymnastics meet to be held in Trivandrum from September 12. This was stated by Mr S.S. Budhwar, secretary of the association. 

Work on badminton courts at PU hits roadblock
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 28
With the transfer of the only badminton coach of Panjab University the repair and construction work of the badminton courts in the Gymnasium Hall of the university has hit a roadblock.

The hall located at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Complex is under repair where two badminton courts are proposed to be built. More than Rs 4.5 lakh has been allocated for the project by a committee headed by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof K.N. Pathak.

The work was being carried on under the supervision of Surinder Mahajan, who was the only person with technical expertise on the matter. While Mahajan now stands transferred the SAI authorities have not provided any replacement for the coach.

Meanwhile, Prof D.S. Toor, Director, Sports Department, when asked why the university could not arrange a technical person from outside, said, "The plan to engage any person from the National Institute of Sports, Patiala, is not feasible as their TA/DA and staying expenses for such a long period will cost too much. We have got the floor of the court dismantled on the instance of Mahajan, who had the technical know how."

Injuries, allegations mar inter-school football match
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 28
Foul tackling, injuries, blames of over age and walk out were the main highlights of a football match in the inter-School tournament for the Pre-Subroto Mukherjee Cup. The semifinal match (under-14 category) was played between the teams of St. John's High School and DAV School, Sector 8, at Government Model Senior Secondary, Sector 37, here today.

St. John's team walked out of the field in 22nd minute in protest as its three players — Gaurav Jeet Singh, Karanbir Singh (custodian) and Gurbaaz Singh — got injured due to the alleged foul and rough tackling by the players of the other team.

Gaurav got his arm fractured during tackling. The DAV team was 2-0 ahead at the time of the walkout.

The issue of over age players in the school sports again rose up with the allegations made by parents of the players of the St John's team. "The players of DAV-8 are definitely over aged which is evident by their physical appearance", said Mr Adheesh Malhotra, father of the a player.

Mr Ravinder Talwar, Principal, DAV School, refuted all allegations and held that anybody could check the credentials of the players.

However, the St John's team has lodged its protest with Mr Ram Kumar, Secretary, Inter-School Sports Committee (Boys). The decision about the result of the match will be taken tomorrow. The uncertainty looms large over the final match scheduled to be held tomorrow at the same venue.

Meanwhile, the other semifinal match played between St Stephen's School-45 and St. Xavier School, the Stephens move into the finals a thumping 4-0 victory.

In the under 17 category, Vivek High School-38 defeated Guru Nanak Public School-36 by 5-2 in a tie-breaker while St. Stephen's School-45 hammered Government Model Senior Secondary School-10 by 7-0 in the quarterfinals of the tournament at Football Stadium, Sector 17.

ADMINISTRATION

DC suspends patwari for demanding bribe
Our Correspondent

Dera Bassi, May 28
The Deputy Commissioner of Patiala has placed Mr Rulda Singh, a Patwari of Bijanpur and Bhukari villages, under suspension for allegedly demanding bribe from villagers. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Tejveer Singh, after hearing villagers’ complaint at a “Lok Suvidha Camp” organised at Samgoli village near, suspended him with immediate effect. He also warned two other revenue officers — Mr Gurnaib Singh, a patwari, and Mr Karan Singh, a kanoongo. The Deputy Commissioner also directed Dera Bassi Tehsildar Sanjeev Kumar for maintaining transparency in his works relating revenue and keep a watch on patwaris.

While interacting with mediapersons, Mr Tejveer Singh said he would not spare corrupt government officials who have been harassing public. In case he receives complaint against any official, a vigilance inquiry would be ordered against them.

The Punjab Agriculture Department conducted tests of 42 water samples collected from different villages and found five of them contaminated. The health authorities also examined 272 patients in a camp. The district Red Cross Society, also distributed five tricycles and four artificial limbs among physically challenged persons. Kissan Cards (Gold and Credit) were also distributed among farmers.

Besides residents of 42 villages, Mr Deepinder Singh Dhillon, vice-chairman, Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation (PSIDC), Mr R.R. Bhardwaj, vice-chairman, State Planning Board, Mr Shiv Dular Singh Dhillon, Additional Deputy Commissioner, and Mr Narinder Kumar Sangha, SDM, Dera Bassi, were also present at the camp.