The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

General Hospital needs treatment
Ruchika M. Khanna
Tribune News Service

What ails the hospital ?

* Doctors are in excess, while 20 posts of staff nurses are vacant.

* Most emergency cases are referred to PGI/ GMCH, Chandigarh.

* Shortage of medicines, syringes and blood at emergency.

* CT scan and X-ray machines often develop snags.5

Panchkula, July 30
General Hospital, Panchkula, it seems, is ailing. Defunct diagnostic machinery, paramedic staff crunch and its near total dependence on the superior health set up in neighbouring Chandigarh has marred its growth.

In spite of tall claims made by the Health Department regarding the state- of- art facilities and further expansion plans of the hospital, the authorities, it seems, have been unable to sustain even the existing facilities at the hospital.

A top heavy management and shortage of paramedic staff is unable to deal with the heavy patient inflow. The hospital has seven senior medical officers and 42 medical officers, but only 25 staff nurses. The SMOs and MOs are in excess of the sanctioned posts, while as against a vacancy of 45 staff nurses only 25 are posted here. The rules specify that there should be one staff nurse per five patients in emergency and one for 10 patients in other wards. However, here the staff nurse-patient ratio is 1:15 in emergency and 1:50 patients in other wards.

On an average 1,000 patients visit OPD. As many as 100 emergency cases come to the hospital daily, of which 45 come at night. Thus most of the emergency cases are simply referred to the PGI or GMCH, Chandigarh. Most of the times even minor cases like fractures, minor head injuries or deliveries that come to the hospital at night, are referred to the PGI.

As complaints about most cases being referred out of the hospital kept pouring, a top official of Health Department conducted a surprise check at the hospital emergency recently. The official reportedly found that a normal delivery was being referred to the GMCH. When the doctor on emergency duty was questioned, the doctor reportedly sighted shortage of blood as the reason for referring the case. The doctor was later pulled up. Now it has been made mandatory to specify reason for referring any case out of the hospital.

Often shortage of medicines, syringes, and blood have been reported in the hospital emergency. A former Financial Commissioner of Haryana, who does not want to be quoted, was recently injured below the eye and taken to the hospital at night. He was shocked to learn that even a particular gauge was not available and his attendants had to rush to the chemist shop outside to buy the gauge.

The Senior Medical Officer at the hospital, Dr Kamla Singh, while accepting that there was shortage of medicines in the emergency, says that for the past one month, she has been trying to improve the emergency services. “Now, there is no shortage of medicines or syringes, and we have been trying not to refer cases to other hospitals,” she says.

Though this is a 150-bed hospital, only 125 beds are operational. The CT scan machine here has been defunct for the past almost eight days after rats ate a portion of the machine. This speaks a lot about the sanitary conditions prevailing in the hospital. The X-ray machines often develops minor snags and work is held up, forcing patients to run to private clinics.

Dr Kamla Singh says that she is also trying to ensure that the shortage of blood here is sorted out by asking various residents organisations to organise blood donation camps.

Mohali Civil Hospital to be upgraded
Kulwinder Sangha

Mohali, July 30
There is a proposal to upgrade the local Civil Hospital located on the national highway from 50 to 200 beds at a cost of Rs 7 crore. Earlier, the building had been extended at a cost of Rs 2 crore, but due to the inadequate funds under the civil construction component of a World Bank project, the upgradation could not be carried out.

There has been a persistent demand from the public to upgrade the hospital. The PGI authorities, too, have been emphasising that hospitals adjoining Chandigarh in areas like Mohali and Panchkula should strengthen their facilities so that the load on the PGI could be reduced and better healthcare provided.

The Kharar MLA, Mr Bir Devinder Singh, had in March written to the Punjab Chief Minister seeking the upgradation of the hospital to a 200 bedded full-fledged multispeciality facility. However, he said, that as an immediate measure the hospital should be upgraded to 100 beds as the infrastructure available at present was sufficient for such a facility except for a few additional requirements.

He said the 50-bedded hospital catered to the needs of a population of 4 lakh, which included Mohali and adjoining areas like villages and slums. The 100-bedded district hospital at Ropar catered to a lesser number of people.

According to sources, the Managing Director, Punjab Health Systems Corporation, Mr Tilak R. Sarangal, wrote a letter to the Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, on July 20 stating that there was urgent need to upgrade the hospital to 200 beds in view of the growing population, emerging lifestyle diseases and migratory influx of professionals and workers due to the growing industry, especially in the IT sector.

Mr Sarangal further said in the letter that the upgraded hospital would be a multispeciality institution which would be able to tackle all types of emergencies under secondary healthcare. If adequate funds were provided, he said, the upgraded hospital could become operational within 18 months.

He said the requisite land was already available within the hospital complex. An additional covered area of 9302.55 sq mts would required for the upgradation. In addition, various types of medical and other equipment would be required which would cost Rs 57.42 lakh. More doctors, paramedics and other staff members would also be needed.

The total tentative cost of constructing the new structures in the present 12.96 acre hospital complex will be Rs 6,97,50,000.

PGI panels reconstituted
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 30
In pursuance of the communication received from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, PGI has reconstituted its governing body and the standing committees on finance, selection. academic, estate and purchase.

As per another communication related to promotions and consequent enhancement of scales, the following have been designated as senior professors in the pay scale of Rs 22,400 to 24,500: Prof Sudha Suri (Radio Diagnosis), Prof Sarla Gopalan (Obstetrics and Gynecology), Prof O.N. Nagi (Orthopedic), Prof G.K. Khullar (Biochemistry), Prof Indu Gupta (Obstetrics and Gynecology), Prof Vinay Shukla (Nephrology), Prof Amod Gupta (Ophthalmology), Prof Kusum Joshi (Histopathology) and Prof Kartar Singh (Gastroenterology).

SPORTS

Hockey team for Holland to be announced today
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 30
The probables of the eight-nation hockey meet to be held in Holland from August 14 put their best foot forward in a demonstrative match played in the presence the selection panel at Hockey Stadium, Sector 42, here, today.

Indian Hockey Federation president K.P.S. Gill and secretary K. Jyothikumaran along with other selectors — Mr Ajit Pal Singh, Mr S.S. Sodhi, Mr Aslam Sher Khan, Mr Gurbaksh Singh, Mr B.P. Govinda and Mr J.N. Tyagi — visited the city to scan the performance of the players.

During the match, Navpreet Singh and Raghunath, the drag flickers, impressed Mr Jyothikumaran with their skill of converting penalty corners into goals. "Navpreet is shaping well and the performance of Raghunath is also up to the mark", commented Mr Jyothikumaran after the completion of the match. He did not utter a word about Didar Singh, the third drag flicker at the camp.

Giving reasons for not including Sandeep Singh, who had netted 10 goals in the Rotterdam Junior World Cup held recently at Holland, he said, "As Sandeep had participated in the tournament so he was put to rest. Moreover, junior players were kept away from the seniors."

On the question of Navpreet's inclusion, who was also a part of the team in the junior world cup, Mr Jyothikumaran clarified, "Navpreet played single match there that's why he has been included."

The final team for the Holland hockey meet will be announced tomorrow after the morning practice session.

Mandeep beats Prikshat in carrom championship
Tribune News Service

Panchkula, July 30
Mandeep Singh, a national player of DAV School, Sector 8, beat Prikshat Vashisht, also a national player of Bhavan Vidyalya, Sector 15 , in a closely contested match with the score 25-20 in the finals of Boys Junior in 5th Panchkula District Carrom Championship at Saupin’s School, Sector 9, here today.

While in Girls junior finals Ridhi Kanwar of Chaman Lal DAV School, Sector 11, retained the title by beating Yamini Vashisht of Bhawan Vidyalya in a nail bitting finish 18-17. The championship is being conducted by the Panchkula District Carrom Association.

The other results are as follows:

Men (Senior): Nishant beat Shailesh 9-5; Girls sub junior: Raveena Aggarwal beat Sonal Bansal 4-0.

The finals of men and women (senior ) and boys and girls (sub junior) will be held tomorrow at 2.15 p m.

Selection trial: Trails to select players for its cricket academy in the different age groups like under 12, under 14 and under 16 will be held at Satluj Public School, Sector 4, Panchkula, on August 1 and 2 from 3.30 p m.

School coach Sarpreet Singh Gill will supervise the trails. Interested players must come with
proper kits.

Carrom tournament begins
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 30
Anuj Kumar Sinha outclassed Vikram Gill at 20-00, 25-00 in the men’s singles in the 15th Chandigarh State Carrom Championship which commenced at St Stephen’s School, Sector 45, here, today.

Neha Goyal beat Nabhi in a one-sided affair tie at 25-00, 25-03 in the women’s singles tie.

Mr Amardeep Dahiya , an industrialist inaugurated the meet in which a total of 251 players are taking part in seven different categories. In the preliminary round, all seeded players advanced to the next round.

Today’s results:

Men (singles): Anuj Kumar Sinha beat Vikran Gill 20-00, 25-00, Mukesh Piplani beat Ashok Bangar 24-19, 22-14, Dhruva Chakraborty beat Qayyum Khan 25-05, 07-15, 25-15, Pardeep Mittal beat KC Saxena 25-04, 25-00.

Women (singles): Neha Goyal beat Nabhi 25-00, 25-03, Harshpreet beat Simriti Narang 25-03, 25-01, Farheen beat Vishakha 25-04, 25-00, Chahat beat Dishu 25-00, 22-01.

Boys junior (singles): Sartaj beat Gufran 25-01, 25-06, Irish beat Abhay Kumar Bedi 25-00, 25-00, Vikram Singh Vedi beat Simrat Pal Singh 25-06, 25-00, Jaffar Khan beat Gaurav Gupta 25-00, 25-00, Ravinder Kumar beat Mudassar Nazar 25-17, 25-13.

Girls junior (singles): Arishya beat Simriti Narang 25-09, Manish Budhiraja beat Disha Rao 25-00, 25-00, Kudrat beat Ridhi Mittal 25-00, 25-00, Tanya beat Sikha 25-00, 25-00, Bhanu Sadana beat Anu Gill 25-00, 25-00.

Boys sub-junior (singles): Rahul beat Harshul 25-00, Bharat beat Divneet Singh 25-03, Saksham beat Amit Kansal 23—07, Tanveer Chawla beat Puneet Jain 25-08, Rishav Sharmat beat Vasudev Bansal 25-04, Punit Bali beat Sahil Gupta 25-00, Kartik beat Abhikaran 25-00, Ojal Ananad beat Chirag Suri 25-00, Mudassar Nazar beat Parveen Prasad 25-00, Chaitanya Mehta beat Akashdeep Arora 25-09, Charanpreet Singh beat Harjot Singh 21-00, Anutam Chadha beat Harshit Gupta 25-00, Nikhil Sachdeva beat Shivam Sharma 25-01, Lakshya Piplani beat Karam Inder Singh 25-00.

Girls sub-junior (singles): Disha beat Purnima 25-04, Ayushi beat Tanzim 15-14, Ankita beat Akansha 25-07, Simridhi Piplani beat Anushthra 25-00, Surbhi beat Gunjan 25-00, Shina Kapoor beat Tavi Ghaggar 25-00.

Sadhika, Munish win tennis titles
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 30
Sadhika of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 35, prevailed over Naina Suri of DAV Public School, Sector 8, and won the sub-junior girls final on the penultimate day of DAV Public School Open Table Tennis Tournament held at Table Tennis Hall, Sector 23, here, today.

The Tournament is being organised by DAV Public School, under the aegis of the Chandigarh Table Tennis Association.

Sadhika won the first game comfortably 11-7 but lost the second game 8-11. In the third game, Sadhika thrashed Naina 11-9 but Naina again came back in the fourth game and won 11-6 but lost the deciding game 7-11. Sadhika won and the final score was 11-7. 8-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7.

In the sub-junior boys finals, Patiala paddler Munish started the match winning the first two games comfortably 11-5, 11-3. In the third game, his opponent Anil of Fatehgarh won 12-10, but lost the fourth game at 11-5. Munish won the match and the score stood at 11-5, 11-3, 10-12, 11-5.

Today's results (finals):

Sub-junior (boys):

Munish beat Anil ( 11-5, 11-3, 10-12, 11-5)

Sub-junior (girls): Sadhika beat Naina Suri (11-7, 8-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7)