HEALTH

Medical tourism to be promoted in UT
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 15
In order to bring Chandigarh on the tourism map of the world by providing vast medical facilities available in the city to the visiting tourists, the Chandigarh Administration has decided to promote it as a destination for medical tourism.

It was decided in a high-level meeting held under the chairmanship of Home Secretary-cum-Secretary Tourism, Mr Krishna Mohan, which was also attended by the representatives of a large number of public and private hospitals located in the city and its periphery.

The Administration has also decided to facilitate setting up health resorts and centers for spa and fitness centres and facilities of alternative Indian treatment systems viz yoga, meditation, panchkarma and massage in the rural areas of the city to attract the foreign tourists.

Those who attended the meeting included Mr Vivek Atray, Director Tourism, Prof A.K. Gupta, Medical Superintendent, PGI, Dr Usha Bishnoi, Joint Director, Health Services, Mr Vijay Kumar, Tourist Officer, and Mr Jayant Banerji, Medical Superintendent of the INSCOL, besides others.

In this direction, the Department of Tourism, will compile a directory of the medical facilities available in the city and around.

Post treatment packages will also be introduced. In order to facilitate foreign visitors, trained guides or interpreters will be deputed. Efforts will be made to introduce efficient transport system for patients and relatives of the patients from the airport, bus stand and railway station to the hospitals. A single window system will be set up to facilitate the tourists especially the foreigners and the NRIs.

Programme on rural health awareness
Tribune News Service

Mohali, December 15
Fortis Hospital, Mohali, yesterday held its rural health awareness programme here. Over 100 villagers from Sohana came to Fortis to participate.

Inaugurating the programme, Mr M. L. Sharma, SDM, Mohali, stated: “Villagers should follow and benefit from the latest technologies used in healthcare.” According to Dr T. S. Mahant, Executive Director, Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, “If India has to grow as a nation, rural population has to be educated on healthy lifestyle. After covering Sohana, the health awareness programme will be extended to Maloya in January and then Mundi Kharar in February. A minimum of one camp and one public lecture would take place at each village. A general physician, an ophthalmologist, and cardiac surgeon would go to each venue”.

Talking about the necessity of a good lifestyle for maintaining a healthly heart, Dr G. S. Kalra, DM, Head of Department, Interventional Cardiology, said, “In the earlier days, farmers used to exercise a lot as they used to plough the fields manually. Even water needed to be physically hauled from a well. Today tractors, tubewells and combine harvesters are in use. However, the dietary habits of the rural population have not changed and their diet is still rich in ghee, butter and milk. This was having an adverse impact on the health of the villagers and they need to adopt a lifestyle that consists of adequate exercise and a balanced diet”.

Talking about diabetes, Dr K. P. Singh said: “Today, one in every three persons suffers from diabetes and the reason is not because of eating too many sweets but eating a lot of fried food.” He advised consumption of curd instead of milk. Dr Singh also emphasised the importance of maintaining a weight instead of a heavy diet.

SPORTS

RECALL 2005
City emerges as a major sports venue
Arvind Katyal

Chandigarh, December 15
City hosted a number of sports events in 2005 and a lot is in store as far as the sports activities in the city are concerned in the next year. The year 2006 will begin with a grand hockey event titled Premier Hockey League II in which several reputed National hockey stars will be seen in action. Then the ITF Junior tennis meet is also scheduled to be held from the first week of January.

The year 2005 had been declared as the Global Year for Sports and Physical Education by the United Nations, and in Chandigarh and nearby areas, a lot of opportunities were offered to the sportspersons.

The Sector 42 Astro-Turf Hockey Stadium was much in demand as the national men’s hockey camp was conducted for the eight-nation hockey meet in Holland. The Indian hockey players were a treat to watch and there presence served as a motivating factor for the local youngsters. The floodlighting of the said stadium will also be completed by the end of this month. This would help in the smooth conduct of the PHL league which will be starting from January 5.

The CLTA Tennis stadium in Sector 10 played host to the ITF Men's Futures Tennis meet where many top ranked players from more than 25 countries flexed their muscles. Sunil Kumar, a local player, became the National Hardcourt Tennis Champion while other local players like Kinshuk Sharma, Sanam K. Singh also played in many international tennis meets and brought laurels to the city. The wheelchair tennis event and other Open AITA Talent series events were also held in the city.

Several cricket matches were also played in the city and in Mohali. Two international matches held in PCA Stadium, Mohali, with Pakistan and Sri Lanka drew big crowds as usual. Besides that, PCA also hosted Challenger Series and Ranji Trophy matches. Then it was Sector 16 Cricket Stadium, which remained in news due to Ranji ties and Cooch Behar meets. The stadium is also being spruced up and if all goes well, it might be the venue for India-England international tie in March next. In cricket, VRV Singh was picked up for the Indian Cricket team. A trainee of the Sports Authority of India Coach Sukhwinder Singh Bawa, VRV will be another trainee of the DAV School, Sector 8 coaching centre after Yuvraj Singh, to don the national colours. PCA also got big representation in the Board of Control for Cricket in India with M.P Pandove, Bhupinder Singh Senior and D.P Azad being elevated to a higher status.

The Chandigarh Olympic Association also deserves kudos for hosting the first ever Chandigarh Games in which as many as 2000 local sportspersons participated in 25 disciplines. The games proved to be a big hit. The COA team headed by Rana Gurmit Sodhi as President and Ravinder Talwar as secretary general besides others, organised these games in a befitting manner. Each association was given assistance of Rs 5,000 to hold the events. The deserving sportspersons in each discipline were also given cash prizes of Rs 5,000.

The large scale transfer of SAI coaches, however, disturbed the coaching centres. The inter- varsity tournaments got a delayed start due to ta change in the policy of the Association of Indian Universities. Besides the Inter-college and Inter- school sports, other regular state championships were also conducted.

The new ultra modern skating rink for speed skating built at a cost of nearly Rs 25 lakh also came up at the KB DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 7, The Gurukul school in Sector 20, Panchkula, hosted the First National Table Soccer meet. Manav Mangal School group also organised TT tournaments.

The Chandigarh Sport Journalists Association organised a big seminar on hockey.

Before the end of the 2005, city will have two more major national- level meets, the CBSE National TT meet to be organised by DAV Public School, Sector 8 and the National Soccer Festival for under-14 boys to be held under the banner of the Chandigarh Football Association.

Thumping win for AG J&K
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 15
Accountant General, Jammu and Kashmir, registered a thumping 281-run victory over AG Uttranchal in the inaugural match of three-day North Zone Indian Audit and Accounts Department Cricket Tournament at the DAV School, Sector 8, here today.

Batting first after winning the toss, AG J&K scored 367 for 7 in the allotted 40 overs. The opener Ranjit Bali showed his class by hitting 144 runs with the help of 17 fours and six sixes off 78 balls.

In reply, AG Uttranchal were bundled out on just 86 in the 21 st over. Ashwani Gupta of J&K claimed four wickets for 10 runs in just three overs.

The second match of the tournament was played at DAV College grounds, Sector 10, between AG Haryana and AG UP. The AG UP team put on 167 runs in 35 overs. The team from AG Haryana could not chase the score and finished at 136 for 9. S Durrai of AG UP claimed four wickets by for 24 runs.

In the third match played between Delhi Audit and AG HP at Government College Sector 11, Delhi Audit won by 9 wickets.

Hockey stadium clash: 10 held
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, December 15
The local police today arrested 10 youngsters on the allegation of creating a nuisance at the Sector 42 hockey stadium on Wednesday. The players and supporters of two teams playing a match allegedly turned violent following a dispute over a goal.

Giving details, sources in the Sector 36 police station said a case had been registered under Section 160, IPC, by the police. Taking action, the cops took 10 youngsters, including four minors, in custody.

Those arrested are Daljit Singh, Mikul and Varinder of DAV School, Sector 8, and Amanpreet Singh and four other players of the Chandigarh Hockey Academy and their supporter, Ramanjit, alias Ravi.

The police had said the previous day that the players had a verbal duel over a disputed goal, which later turned violent. The clash left three youngsters injured, who were discharged after first aid. The matter was amicably resolved after the coaches and other people intervened. The police had registered a daily diary report in this regard following a compromise.

On Wednesday, the moment DAV Academy boys took the lead, things took a turn for the worse. DAV boys won 2-0. It was post-match disappointment which led to the brawl. Eyewitnesses present at the venue confided that supporters of CFA had instigated the players and even coaches were involved.