Chandigarh, December 31
The Health Department, Chandigarh Administration, intensified the campaign and field operations in Hallo Majra today. As a part of the follow-up action, the house to house search was carried out in the Khera chowk as well as the remaining areas of Hallo Majra.

A mobile van with a team of doctors and technicians was deployed at the site for treating the patients suffering from jaundice. Arrangement for screening the population from the left out areas was also made by collecting blood samples from the suspected cases. The team of doctors examined 37 patients today and as many as seven blood samples were collected.

The Medical Superintendent and other senior officers of the Health Department visited the areas day. The special teams of the Health Department carried out the field operations in all the areas of Hallo Majra. The anti-fly measures were carried out in a big way by ensuring treatment of all the refuge points with lime and dust.

A massive drive was launched in all the areas of the village to detect fresh cases. The teams deployed in different areas of the village for the purpose found no fresh case of jaundice. The residents were continuously informed about taking preventive steps so as to check the further spread of the disease All those patients who were earlier reported to be suffering from viral hepatitis were followed up by the “search teams”. Such patients were given on-the-spot treatment at their doorstep.

Meanwhile, the Health Department has decided to keep the dispensary open tomorrow for providing services in the village. Likewise, the survey teams shall also be conducting the survey in the remaining area of the village tomorrow.

Chandigarh, December 31
Six-month old Mithil had not even learnt to sit on his own when trouble came knocking in the form of life-threatening cyanosis which made him blue everytime he cried. With two blocked values, his lungs were not getting enough blood, leading to blueness.

As if this wasn’t enough, Mithil suffered from pneunomia and an ultra sound at his native place, Ganganagar in Rajasthan, revealed he was suffering from heart disease. The world of Gaja Nand, father of this baby, came crashing down and that’s when the doctor recommended treatment at PGIMER.

Today, after balloon dilation of the pulmonary valve, he’s like any other toddler, smiling and happy in the cradle of his mother’s arms. “He would throw up after a feed and go blue, hardly sleeping and crying for most of the time. We were shocked to learn that our kid was suffering from such a serious medical condition,” the mother said. The doctors at PGI found the child had a pulmonary and tricuspid stenosis.

Dr Manoj Rohit Kumar of the Department of Cardiology, PGIMER, one of the doctors who operated upon the child, said this condition meant that the valve of the pulmonary artery was also blocked. “Though around 8 out of 1,000 children have pulmonary cyanosis (pulmonary valve blockage), this child condition was very rare due to the second blockage in the tricuspid valve. This is the second such case we have treated at PGI and it was challenging because of the two blocked valves,” he explained.

A team of three doctors comprising Professor K.K. Talwar, Head of the Department of Cardiology, Dr Manoj Kumar and Dr Narayana, anaesthesist, performed a balloon dilation of the pulmonary valve on December 26 and the baby recovered soon after the surgery. The other blockage was removed once the pressure due to the first blockage was eased.

Another rarity in the case that the doctors came across was the persisting PDA, a connection between the aorta and the pulmonary artery. Dr Manoj Kumar said the connection usually closed within 24 hours of birth but in Mithil’s case it did not and was one of the reasons why the baby survived despite blockage. “The baby will have a healthy life. There is a minor problem which we will take up after six months. For now, he is absolutely fine and will be able to live like a normal child,” the doctor said.

Chandigarh, December 31
The arthrospine tube assembly retracter system is the Indian answer to the European tubular retracter system used during keyhole surgery of the slipped disc. The good news is that it is far less priced than the foreign version and it has been made in the city.

Dr Mohinder Kaushal, consultant (orthopaedics), spinal and arthroscopic surgeon, the brain behind the innovation and improvement over the European system, says: “The popularity of arthroscopic or endoscopic (key hole surgeries) techniques for spine surgeries is growing rapidly. However, the high costs of the imported instruments used in the surgery were a constant cause of concern. This promoted me to work upon developing an Indian version.”

Granted the INOR Research Grant Fellowship 2004-2005 during which he worked on the project of developing the retracter system, Dr Kaushal explains: “The European version for the entire set meant for slipped disc surgery, costing nearly Rs 20 lakh, is not compatible to the 30 degree arthroscope which is present with most doctors in India. My project was to make it compatible to the 30 degree arthroscope. With the developing of the arthrospine tube assembly retracter system, I have realised my mission.”

The innovation took Dr Kaushal to French surgeon, Dr Jean Destandue, who first made the instruments in 1993. “I went to him to learn the basics about instrument-designing in 2002. Since then, I had the plan at the back of my mind and was working upon it. Against the European version, the Indian set of three instruments will cost 10 times less than the foreign make. The cost of the entire set will come down to just over Rs 5 lakh against the existing Rs 20 lakh. This will also benefit the patients since the benefit of the low cost will come down to them eventually,” the doctor maintained.

Back after having presented a paper on his scientific work in golden jubilee conference of Indian Orthropaedics Association at Mumbai, Dr Kaushal said this new Arthrospine system could be used with arthroscopic equipment used in knee arthroscopy along with conventional disc surgery instruments. “I took the help of CSIO in the making of these instruments,” he said.

With these newer techniques recovery is much faster. Patients are usually operated upon in the morning and are back home a few hours after the surgery. “The patients, too, prefer arthroscopic surgery to the conventional open surgeries which are more painful and need more recovery time. We will shortly apply for a patent and enter into a contract with a company to make this on a commercial basis,” he added.

Chandigarh, December 31
Chandam Shaolin of Chandigarh created a flutter when he shocked fourth seed and 1025th ranked Won-Hak Lee of Korea in the boys singles first-round qualifying tie in the ITF Junior (grade 3) Tennis Tournament which began at the CLTA Tennis Stadium here today.

Shaolin, who has been adopted by Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association under its rural scheme, popularly known as CHART, served and volleyed well to snatch an easy straight set 6-2, 6-4 verdict to justify his wild card entry.

Other Indians in the race for four qualifying berths in the main draw of 32 were Vihesh Bhatia, eighth seed Fariz M, Tejas Chaukulkar, N Sriram Balaji, B Navanetha Kannan and Anmol Singh Ladhar.

The best match in the first-round was witnessed between Kannan and Akash Gujarati. Both traded stroke for stroke before Kannan prevailed over in three thrilling sets 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Second seed Niroshita Madanala kept her hopes alive for a spot in the girls main draw after first-round qualifying matches were completed in a draw of 16. Madanala defeated another Indian, Monica Menon, 6-1, 6-0. Madanala was joined in the final qualifying rounds by Zhou Yi Miao (China), Hanna Andreyeva (Ukraine), Zhong YI (China), Zhou NI (China), Nadezhda Guskova (Russia), Kelsey Sundaram (USA) and Wang Wen-Bo (China).

Results:

Qualifying boys singles (Ist round): Konstantin Blank (Isr) b Kush Jagga (India) 7-5, 6-2; Vishesh Bhatia (India) b Nicoletti Francesco (Ita) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; 8-Fariz M (India) b Dody Siregar (Indonesia) 6-3, 6-4, Ankit Sachdeva (India) b 2-Lee Si-Yong (Korea) 6-0, 6-3; Tejas Chaukulkar (India) b Lakshit Sood (India) 6-3, 6-2, N Sriram Balaji (India) b Srikant Kumawat (India) 6-4, 3-6, 6-0; 7-Antonio Comporto (Italy) b WC-Parul Verma (India) 6-0, 6-4; 3-Roman Petrunin (Russia) b WC-Ravneet Saini (India) 6-0, 6-1; WC-Antonio Seidita (Italy) w/o Siddharth Kaushik (India); Shao Dong-Lu (China) b Chandril Sood (India) 6-0, 6-0; 5-Lila Tsibsulsky (Israel) b Pulkit Mishra (India) 7-5, 6-0; WC-Chandam Shaolin (India) b 4-Lee Won-Hak 6-2, 6-4; B Navaneetha Kannan (India) b Akash Gujrati (India) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; WC-Anmol Singh Ladhar (India) b Sanchit Balhara (India) 6-0, 6-0; 6-Dang Hong-Bo (China) 6-2, 6-1 b Akshay Kohli (India) 6-2, 6-1.

Girls singles (Ist round): 1-Zhou Yi-Miaq w/o WC-Ankita Singh (India); Hanna Andreyeva (Ukr) b Unnali Purushotham (India) 6-4, 6-2; 2-Niroshita Madanala b (India) Monica Menon (India) 6-1, 6-0; Yi

Zhong (China) b Tejeshwi Naryana (India) 6-2, 6-1; 3-Zhou NI (China) b Jaanesh Kaur (India) 6-0, 6-1; Nadezhda Guskova (Russia) b Isha Razdan (India) 6-0, 6-2; 4-Kelsey Sundaram (USA) b Sanjana Kapur (India) 6-3, 6-3; Wang Wen-BO b Liu Meng (China) 7-6 (4), 6-1).

Chandigarh, December 31
Akshat Joshi clinched two titles in the Fort Ramgarh YMCA Total Championship,at YMCA Total Tennis Academy in Sector 11. He won the title in boys under-14 and under -16 categories.

The first victim of Akshat Joshi was Shobhit Phutella, who gave some competition to Akshat but he sailed through, holding all his services and clinched the title. The final score went in favour of Akshat 6-1, 6-3.

The second victim of the day of Akshat Joshi was the second seed Sidharth Singh in the boys under-16 category final. Both started well to hold their respective serves till the score was 4-4 in the first set. Then Akshat showed why he is number one when he won the next eight games in a row to wrap up the match in straight sets 6-4, 6-0.

In the boys under-10 category final, it was a one -sided affair. The top seed Digvijay Singh Naruka proved too good for his inexperienced opponent Srijjan Uppal. Digvijay lost just one game in the match to win the battle and the title 6-1, 6-0.

In the girls under-10 category, the top seed Sheshna Sekhari had to wait for just 30 minutes to win the Total Tennis Championship when she defeated Hasan Abdaal with ease 6-1, 6-2.

The girls under-16 final showed some fight between the two players when the second seed Rajvir Kaur upset the top seed Ravnoor Kaur 6-0,0-6, 6-2 in a tough battle which lasted for more than an hour.

The promising player of the championship was Andrew Pradeep.

Results:-

Finals:

Boys under-10: Digvijay S. Naruka b Srijjan Uppal 6-1, 6-0.

Boys under-14:

Akshat Joshi b Shobhit Phutella 6-1, 6-3.

Boys under-16:

Akshat Joshi b Sidharth Singh 6-4, 6-0

Girls under-10:

Sheshna Sekhari b Hasan Abdaal 6-1, 6-2

Girls under-16:

Rajvir Kaur b Ravnoor Kaur 6-0, 0-6, 6-2.

Chandigarh, December 31
Indian Public Schools Conference (IPSC) cricket team has made it to the last four in the ongoing National School Games being played at Agra.

According to information reaching here, IPSC made short work of Gujarat by 35 runs in the quarter-finals. Batting first, IPSC made172 runs while Gujarat were bundled out for 135 runs. Gaurav of YPS, Patiala bagged three wickets. Earlier in the pre-quarterfinals, IPSC had beaten Goa. Now IPSC will face Punjab in the first semifinal while in the second semifinal, it will be a tie between hosts Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

Panchkula, December 31
Thousands of unsuccessful applicants in the draw of lots for residential plots in Mansa Devi Complex here need not lose heart. Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) today floated another housing scheme in Sector 27 and 28 here.

On offer will be 574 plots of varying size ( one kanal, 14 marla, ten marla, eight marla and six marla) in the two sectors. As many as 218 plots are on offer in Sector 27 and 356 in Sector 28. Senior officials in HUDA say that the plots on offer in this scheme are part of the residual plots ( left over plots from previous schemes). The applications for the scheme will be available from January 5, and will be accepted till March 7, 2006. It may be mentioned that HUDA has announced a residential housing scheme in Panchkula after a gap of almost two years.

Ever since the Mansa Devi Housing Scheme was caught up in legal wranglings in May 2004, HUDA had not floated any new scheme here. With the successful draw of lots being accomplished, the new housing scheme is likely to draw a large number of applicants.

Senior HUDA officials say that earnest money deposited by the applicants in Mansa Devi Complex scheme is also being refunded since December 26, thereby giving time to people to apply again in the new housing scheme.