Ludhiana, January 14
The four-day conference of Regional Institute of Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research concluded at Christian Medical College and Hospital here today.

Delivering the keynote address at the first fellowship programme of CMCH-FAIMER, Dr Ravinder Singh, Vice-Chancellor of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, appreciated the efforts of CMCH to initiate this program which would go a long way in bringing qualitative improvement in the field of medical education and research.

He laid stress on more interaction between the faculty and research workers which could pave the way for faster transfer of latest technology.

The CMCH here is one of the two centers in the country, which were chosen by the FAIMER as centers for providing training to medical teachers. Dr Tejinder Singh, a farmer fellow and global faculty advisor, is the regional director of the institute.

Speaking at the occasion, Dr William Burdick, Co-Director, FAIMER, Philadelphia, appreciated the efforts and projects of the participating faculty. He explained the importance of training the trainers.

Dr John Pramod, Acting Director, CMCH, highlighted the activities of CMCL-FAIMER regional institute. Dr M. Verghese welcomed the participants and faculty.

Sixteen participants from different parts of country were being trained by faculty from key centers, including AIIMS, New Delhi, Seth G.S. Medical College, Mumbai, CMCH, Ludhiana and Pune.

This four-day programme started with an interactive session on development of leadership qualities. During deliberations, the role of audiovisual aids in learning process was highlighted. Conflict management was discussed in detail with the participants.

In addition, a micro-teaching session was conducted to improve teaching skills of the participants.

The faculty discussed the projects of participating teachers and the concept map was applied for improvement of projects of the participants.

These projects would be implemented at their respective institutes by the teachers. The projects would be evaluated on the basis of principles of programme evaluation.

The participating teachers and faculty would also be in touch with each other through an online group. These participants would again get together at CMCH here to discuss the outcome and impact of their project work in session-II, informed Dr Tejinder Singh.

Ludhiana, January 14
The Health Department here is all set for the second round of mop-up polio immunisation campaign in the district tomorrow. The city has been divided in 15 sectors and 900 teams have been deployed to administer polio drops to all children between the age of 0-5 years. In order to ensure total coverage of nearly 5.22 lakh children, 2,100 booths will be functional in the district on Sunday while the teams of health staff would conduct house-to-house visits during next two days to cover the remaining children, if any.

The Health Department today took out an awareness rally in the city to mobilise people for the polio immunisation drive tomorrow. Volunteers from several NGOs and schoolchildren marched through several city localities to spread the message of prevention from polio. The rally was flagged off by the Civil Surgeon, Dr Rajinder Kaur. The District Immunisation Officer, Dr Kuldip Kaur Sahni and the District Family Welfare Officer, Dr Manorama Awasthi, were also present at the occasion.

Dr Rajinder Kaur said that the mop-up operation would be carried out block-wise under the supervision of SMO concerned. As many as 8,800 workers from the Health Department and other departments as well as NGOs would be deployed to carry out the operation smoothly in the city and elsewhere in the district. In addition to setting up 900 booths in the city and another 1,200 in the villages, mobile teams had also been constituted, which would be covering the children in brick-kilns, huts, hamlets, industrial area and jhuggies on highways.

According to the Civil Surgeon, the gigantic task of vaccination would be carried out with the assistance from employees and workers in the public and private sectors, along with school and college students. Volunteers from medical, dental and nursing colleges and hospitals would also be deputed for this purpose.

She said that arrangements for required vaccine for the mop-up immunisation campaign had been made. Apart from 2,100 polio booths, mobile and transit teams had also been constituted to cover the Railways Station and Bus Stand so that each and every child could be covered under this campaign.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, January 14
Professor R.K. Pathak, President, Anthropological and Behavioral Sciences section of Indian Science Congress held recently at Hyderabad has recommended to the Union Government that Ministry of Rural Development should amalgamate in its various programs and projects, the problems concerning nutritional status and assessment; incorporating the methodologies and expertise available with anthropologists and behavioral scientists.

Referring to the presidential address made at the conference and recommendations made through the aegis of ICSA Dr Pathak that while focusing on the issues of health, growth and nutrition, the role of anthropological and behavioral sciences could not be ignored.

“Anthropology — the science of man, has been constantly in search of excellence in quality of life. Evidence suggest that throughout the vast span of time, man evolved both biologically and culturally with regional variations and there had been constant experimentation and discovery of means for betterment of life,” elaborated Dr Pathak claiming that these experiments were meant for security of food and shelter and against deceases and calamities.

Showing concern over the slow pace of development, Dr Pathak claimed that many developmental projects intended to improve nutrition were constrained by an inadequate knowledge base.

“Unfortunately, many project officers do not have all the information they need to maximize the nutrition impact of rural development projects. There are many nutritional assessment methodologies in anthropology that can assist practitioners in achieving desired results,” said the anthropologist.

Emphasizing on the focal theme of the 93 Indian Science Congress “Integrated Rural Development: Science and Technology”, Dr Pathak said women and children were the most vulnerable sections of society in general and rural society in particular. Even the World Health Organisation has observed that the children were the future of society and their mothers the guardian of that future.

“Though the Indian Government has initiated several measures to ensure that the problems of deprivation and discrimination faced by the poor women and children were overcome, the target could not be achieved as social scientists were not involved earlier,” pointed out Dr Pathak.

Claiming that anthropology and behavioral sciences including archeology, psychology and education had become necessary to achieve desired results in health, nutrition and family welfare Dr Pathak said: “As major nutrition related programs in our country are being implemented by the three separate ministries , Health and Family Welfare, Women and Child Development and Education with rather limited coordination between them, we recommend that anthropology and behavioral sciences should be involved in the programs.”

Ludhiana, January 14
In order to further promote the game of hockey in this part of the country, the Ludhiana Sportsmen Welfare Association has resolved to organise All India Guru Gobind Singh Hockey Tournament here at the astro-turf ground of the Prithipal Singh Stadium at Punjab Agricultural University from March 6 to 11.

Giving deatils of this six-day tournament, the former national hockey coach and the chief organiser of the Ludhiana Sportsmen Welfare Association Baldev Singh and the president of the association, Amrik Singh Minhas informed that this tournament would be conducted on the pattern of the Champions Trophy in which top six outfits of the nation namely Indian Airlines, Punjab Police, Bharat Petroleum, Namdhari XI, Punjab and Sind Bank and Army XI would take part.

Besides Namdhari Seeds, a number of other organisations have approached the association to sponsor this mega event in which the best available talent would be on display. The Indian Hockey Federation has categorised this torunament as grade A, they added.