Pbi varsity, Jains to start science of living project 
Our Correspondent

Mandi Gobindgarh, April 20
Punjabi University, Patiala, will soon introduce special classes in science of living in collaboration with Jain devotees on the university campus to promote Punjabi culture. The university will provide one acre costing Rs 4 crore while Rs 4 crore for infrastructure will be provided by Acharya Shri Maha Prigya of the Jain organisation.

Dr Swaran Singh Boparai, Vice-Chancellor of the university, said this at a function here today. He lauded the role played by the Jain faith to promote the Punjabi culture. The university has already started Ph.D classes in Jainism.

Mr Surinder Singla, Finance Minister, Punjab, was the chief guest at the function of the Tera Panth Sabha Prati Nidhi Sabha organised at the local Government Girls Senior Secondary School here today. He stressed on the need to follow the path shown by the Jain dharam. He advocated the policy of privatisation, giving the instance of the telephone department which is earning profit of Rs 20,000 crore.

Mr Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Parliamentary Secretary (Home, Justice and PWD), who presided over the function, flayed the policy of some political parties which divide the people in the name of caste and creed.

Acharya Shri Maha Priga Maharaj expressed his worries over the spread of intoxicants amongst the youth. He stressed on the concept of simple living. He called for the reduction of expenses and using the surplus money for the welfare of the downtrodden sections of society.

Mr Bansi Lal, state president, Mr Ram Gopal Jain, president, local committee, Mr Parveen Jain, Ms Lachhmi Mittal, Ms Krishna Mittal, Mr Anand Jain, Mr Sandeep Jain, Mr Surinder Mittal, Mr Ram Niwas Jain, Mr Parshotam Jain, Mr Surinder Mittal, Mr Ram Niwas Jain, Mr Parshotam Jain and Mr Gurmeet Singh, councillor, were also present on the occasion.

Technical symposium concludes
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 20
A technical symposium “e-vision 2006” concluded today at Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College with enthusiasm and innovations of bright technical minds. Mr Rajinder Singh, vice-president of Hutchison Essar and an alumnus of the institute, was the chief guest on the occasion.

He interacted with students and shared his experience on fast evolving technological advancements. He told the students that with India developing on hardware infrastructure and software applications, there would be no dearth of opportunities for young engineers, who needed to keep their options open rather than being blinded by money multiplying job race. He emphasised on discipline, commitment and urge for excellence as key to success in professional life.

Mr Rajbarinder Singh, senior engineer with Orange, UK, was the guest of the honour. He appreciated the efforts of the students to organise such symposiums.

Prof Kanwaljit Singh, Head of the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, said “The event covered plethora of upcoming technologies in electronics and communication.”

Registrar’s appointment hailed
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 20
The Punjab Civil Medical Services Association (PCMSA) has hailed the appointment of Dr P.L. Garg as the new Registrar of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences saying the Punjab Government had taken a right step in handing over reins of the university to such an experienced medical person.

In a statement issued here today, Dr Hardeep Singh and Dr Vijay Kumar, state president and finance secretary of the association, respectively, expressed confidence that with Dr Garg at the helm of affairs the prevailing chaos, arbitrary and scandalous functioning of the university was bound to take a turn for the better.

Till now, for sheer lack of enforcement by the university a virtually ‘lawless’ situation had been prevailing in the medical institutions of the state with the private dental, medical and nursing colleges not caring two hoots for the rules and violating all laws with impunity.

“Most of the private institutions had refused to enforce the fee structure, finalised by the Fee Fixation Committee and duly mentioned in the prospectus. The institutions have been charging their own fees totally in contravention of the prospectus provided to the students. The affected candidates under the threat of losing seats have no option but to pay the fees demanded by the college management”.

Guru Nanak institute students excel
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 20
Students of the Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology (GNIMT), Gujarkhan Campus, have exhibited excellent performance in academics. As per the results declared by Punjab Technical University (PTU) recently, the students excelled in the odd-semester examinations that were held in December 2005.

In MBA-III semester, 99 per cent of the passes students got first divisions. Ruma Mehta bagged first position with 92.37 per cent marks. Prabhjot Kaur stood second with 88.25 per cent marks and Preetanjan Kaur and Anudeep Kaur bagged the third positions with 87.25 per cent marks each.

Congratulating the students, Dr (Col) H.S. Singha, Director, GNIMT, said such a performance was indicative of a high degree of commitment on the part of the students as well as the faculty. 

HEALTH

CME on new neuro surgeries
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 20
Experts in neurosciences focused on the latest developments in the field like minimally invasive image guided surgery, brain tumour surgery, cerebra-vascular surgery and stereo tactic surgery.

Interacting with local medical professionals at a continuing medical education (CME) programme organised by the Physicians’ Association here last evening, Dr A.N. Jha, Director of neuro surgery at Max Institute of Neurosciences, New Delhi, covered different aspects of ‘deep brain stimulation’ for Parkinsonism and other movement disorders, neuro modulation and other modern trends in neuro surgery.

Dr Jha, along with his other colleagues at Max - Dr Vipul Gupta and Dr Sandeep Vaishva- apprised the members of the medical and surgical fraternity with the use of newer techniques for better handling and management of different cases in the related fields. The CME offered the doctors a platform to learn and discuss day-to-day practical issues with the visiting faculty.

Spearheading the discussion, Dr Jha dwelt upon the techniques for treatment of intra-cranial aneurysm. He observed, “When blood vessels burst and cause bleeding in the brain, endovascular coiling can be used for treating, thus avoiding open surgery. If no specific treatment is given, the chances of the survival of the patients are reduced to 50 per cent. Therefore, it is important for immediate referral to a specialist centre, which has surgical and endovascular facilities for angiography and treatment”.

He further explained that the minimally invasive spine surgery was an emerging method that involved performing surgery on the spinal cord and the vertebral column using minimally invasive techniques. “Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is safer than the conventional spine surgery and offers a much shorter recovery time. In such procedures, a tunnel is made through the back muscles for access to the spine, which leads to minimal tissue damage and much less pain. The operative scar consists of one or more small scars, measuring up to an inch versus a single long large scar in conventional surgery”.

According to Dr Jha, the MIS was mostly used for skipped or prolapsed discs, spinal fusion, which was often performed on degenerative discs, trauma and spondylolisthesis (one vertebra slips over another), deformity corrections such as scoliosis, the removal of herniated and prolapsed discs as also pain due to collapsed vertebrae.

Dr Vipul Gupta, senior consultant, Interventional Neuro-radiology at Max provided an insight in neuro-radiology, endovascular treatment of aneurysms, arteriole-venous malformations, arterial stenosis (angioplasties and stenting thrombolysis in acute stroke and percutaneous spinal procedures.

Dr Sandeep Vaishya, senior consultant neuro surgery, spoke on tumour surgery, spinal surgery, skull base surgery, deep brain stimulation, minimally invasive and image guided surgeries and peripheral nerve surgery.

He stated that deep brain stimulation was the pacemaker-like technology that delivered electrical impulses to targeted structures in the brain. Electrical impulses had the capability to block abnormal brain signals that caused symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

The implanted device could be programmed non-invasively to maximise benefit and minimise side effects. The therapy was reversible to preserve future therapy options, Dr Vaishya added.

Nurses threaten agitation
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 20
The Punjab Nursing Association (PNA) has threatened to launch an agitation if the state government continues to be indifferent to their genuine and long-pending demands.

Presiding over a meeting of the association here today, Ms Santosh Bansal, state president of the body, decried the low pay scales of staff nurses while demanding that the starting salary of a staff nurse be raised to Rs 5800.

She also pleaded for according due respect and proper form of address for the staff nurses as had been approved by the university and the Indian Nursing Council.

Ms Bansal further asked the government to give a higher pay scale to nursing graduates on a par with medical and dental graduates, grant time- scale promotion, enhance uniform and boarding allowance and also allow field traveling allowance to nurses. The PNA chief wanted the designation of nursing officers for nursing graduates.

Other speakers at the meeting criticised the government for undue delay in acceptance of several other genuine demands like the creation of a separate nursing directorate and providing all amenities in nurses' duty rooms in medical institutions.