The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

HEALTH

NGOs, blood donors honoured
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 1
To mark the National Voluntary Blood Donation Day, a state-level function was jointly organised by the Health and Family Welfare Department and the State Blood Transfusion Council (SBTC) at the Government College for Women here today.

Mr K.B.S. Sidhu, Secretary, Health, and Director, SBTC, presided over the function. On this occasion, 23 voluntary organisations from all over the state, who had made excellent contributions in organising blood donation camps and motivating blood donors, were honoured.

As many as 24 persons, who had come forward for voluntary blood donation several times in the past, were also honoured.

Addressing the function, Mr Sidhu remarked that blood donation was the noblest service to the suffering humanity and donating a single unit of blood meant saving a precious human life.

He exhorted NGOs working in this field to mobilise people in general and youth in particular to voluntarily donate blood on a regular basis so that the rising need of blood units for needy patients could be met.

He also stressed on the need to create a nationwide network of registration of voluntary donors, so that they could be called upon for blood donation in case of emergencies.

Mr Sidhu further said in its endeavour to promote voluntary blood donation, the SBTC had decided to honour distinguished donors and NGOs at public functions.

He regretted that the percentage of voluntary blood donors in Punjab was much less than the national average of 51 per cent.

Dr Yash Pal Singla, Civil Surgeon, while addressing the function, appealed to the NGOs to focus on persuading the youth to donate blood voluntarily. Mr Priyank Bharti, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development), Ms Pappo Avinash Singh, Ms Rubi Fernandez, Ms Usha Malhotra, president, District Mahila Congress, and Mr Ravinder Sayan, vice-chairman, Rogi Kalyan Samiti, were also present.

Over 300 examined at medical camps
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 1
Intensifying its community outreach programme, doctors at the Hero DMC Heart Institute (HDHI) here organised two free medical camps today. Over 300 patients were examined at the camps.

While one team of doctors examined patients at the camp organised under the aegis of the Lions Club Royal at Sangrur, the other camp was organised by the Rotary Club at Ghamnewal village near Hambran.

Speaking at the camps, the doctors stressed on the need to seek medical advice before any disease really took root. The best way to ensure this was through regular heath check-ups and by investing one’s time and money in one’s health, which, unfortunately, was lacking in the country.

Medical professionals as well as members of the two host clubs were unanimous in their view that such camps should be regularly organised in areas which lacked healthcare facilities.

Apart from free medical consultation, free ECHO, ECG and blood sugar testing was made available at the two camps. Dieticians provided diet-counselling to those suffering from cardiac ailments and diabetes. In addition, medicines were distributed free of cost.

The team of doctors from HDHI, who participated at the two camps, comprised Dr Sarju Ralhan, Dr Naved Aslam, Dr Rohit Tandon, Dr Vikas Bhadu and Dr Amandeep Ahuja.

Seminar on drug menace
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 1
A seminar on “Role of women in curbing drug menace” was organised at GHG Harparkash College of Education for Women, Sidhwan Khurd, here yesterday to mark the college’s golden jubilee celebrations.

Dr Inderjit Kaur, president of the Pingalwara Trust, Amritsar, Novkiran Kaur, Principal, Dr Prabhjot Kaur, Dr Amarpreet Singh Deol and Gurbachan Singh Sidhu were the main speakers.

They were welcomed by Sidhwan Institutions Trust secretary Kirpal Singh Bhattal. Trust members, staff and students attended the seminar and interacted with the speakers.

Dr Inderjit Kaur emphasised the need for service toward humanity and mankind. She urged students to avoid materialistic pursuits and serve humanity by various means.

Dr Prabhjot Kaur highlighted the role of women in man-dominated society.

Dr Deol asked students to work against drug addiction. He also answered the queries of the staff and students.

SPORTS

Punjab, Delhi athletes dominate
Our Sports Reporter

Girl participants cheer fellow athletes at the function. — Tribune photo by Sayeed Ahmed

Ludhiana, October 1
Athletes from Punjab and Delhi dominated proceedings on the opening day of the third National Athletics Championship for the Blind taking place at Guru Nanak Stadium here today. The hosts clinched five gold medals while Delhi secured three gold medals.

Mr Avtar Singh Makkar inaugurated the three-day championship during which more than 150 athletes from different parts of the country will take part. He announced a financial assistance of Rs 50,000 for the Punjab Sports Association for the Blind. The championship is being organised by the Punjab Sports Association for the Blind.

Results:

B I (junior men) 800 m — Ankur Dhama of Delhi 1, Deen Dyal of Punjab 2 and Kuldeep Sharma of Punjab 3; B I (senior men) 800 m — Gurveer Singh of Ludhiana 1; Hardeep Singh of Chandigarh 2 and Manoj Pal 3; B II (senior men) 800 m — Amar Singh of Delhi 1, Hemant Kumar of Punjab 2 and Harpreet Singh of Punjab 3; B III (senior men) 800 m — Kuldeep Upadhyay of Uttaranchal 1, Munshi Singh Verma of Punjab 2 and Tarsem Singh of Punjab 3.

B I (senior men) 200 m — Rajender Singh of Punjab 1, Hardeep Singh of Chandigarh 2 and Prakash Gupta of Delhi 3; B II (junior men) 200 m — Tarsem Lal of Punjab 1, Parveen Sharma of Delhi 2 and Deen Dyal of Punjab 3; B II (senior men) 200 m — Kunwar Pal of Delhi 1, Harjinder Singh of Punjab 2 and Amar Singh of Delhi 3; B III (junior men) 200 m — Gurpreet Singh of Punjab 1, Mangal Ram of Punjab 2 and Jaskarn Singh of Punjab 3; B III (senior men) 200 m — Gurbhinder Singh of Punjab 1, Kuldeep Upadhyay of Uttaranchal 2 and Munshi Singh Verma of Punjab 3.

KVM swimmers win overall team championship
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, October 1
Swimmers from Kundan Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Civil Lines, gave a sterling performance to win the overall team championship in the junior as well as senior section of the Ludhiana District Swimming Championship which concluded at the MC swimming pool, Rakh Bagh, here today.

KVM swimmers secured 98 and 91 points, respectively, to emerge the overall winner in the junior and senior sections.

In the junior girl’s section, Guru Nanak Public School garnered 42 points to win the team championship while runner-up Kundan Vidya Mandir School secured 29 points.

In the boy’s section, Kundan Vidya Mandir with 69 points finished well ahead of others. AS Senior Secondary School, Khanna, could muster 33 points and secured the second spot. In the senior section (women), Guru Nanak Public School stamped their superiority scoring 78 points while Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, BRS Nagar finished runners up.

In the men’s section, Kundan Vidya Mandir School scored 72 points to clinch the team championship while PAU Club, Ludhiana earned 33 points to bag the second position. Mohit Bhardwaj, Vibhor Mundepi, Amarpal Singh Grewal, Deepanshu Sharma, Nikhil Sunil, Bharat Sharma, Chiranjiv, Shubhkarman and Arshpreet Kaur were awarded the outstanding swimmers prizes (junior and senior sections).

Khalsa College girls win volleyball title
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, October 1
Khalsa College for Women, Civil Lines, quelled a strong challenge from Ganga Giri Senior Secondary School, Raikot, before emerging champions in the Ludhiana District Volleyball Championship that concluded at the SD Government College for Men ground here today.

The Khalsa College eves wrapped up the first two sets quite easily (25-15 and 25-18) but lost their rhythm in the next sets, losing 15-25 and 11-25. However, they regained their composure to rattle their opponents in the deciding game 15-8 to clinch the title.

In the men’s section, the Khanna Club faced little resistance from their rivals, Government College, Ludhiana, whom they outclassed in straight sets 25-23, 25-22 and 25-23 to lift the title.