HEALTH

A rare surgery
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 15
A 40-year-old woman from Bhawanigarh in Sangrur has been successfully operated upon for aortic aneurysm at Grecian Super-Speciality Hospital in Mohali. Mother of two sons, Mr Lovely Rani, was operated upon by Dr Shivpreet Singh Samra for treating aneurysm — weakness of aorta wall — right at the root of the aorta.

The life-threatening disorder that usually has the risk of rupture was handled dexterously, said Dr Samra.

Addressing a press conference at the Chandigarh Press Club, Dr Samra said, “Aneurysm, more commonly known as a weakness in the wall of aorta, the main blood carrying artery originating from the heart and passing through chest and abdomen proves a deadly ailment if not handled properly.”

Trained in England for performing such surgeries, Dr Samra operated upon the patient successfully over three months ago. The surgery included aortic root replacement, besides replacement of the ascending aorta, aortic valve and re-implanting of coronary arteries.“Aneurysms are uncommon and usually not undertaken by most hospitals in the country owing to lack of expertise and complexity of the procedure involved,” claimed Dr Samra.

Ms Lovely Rani said her repeated visits to various hospitals in Sangrur, Uttar Pradesh and even to the PGI, Chandigarh, for treatment did not yield much. Later, she decided to undergo surgery at the Mohali hospital.

“My health was deteriorating and I was unable to do my routine work. Now, I am quite fit after the operation,” she added. Mr Baru Ram, her husband, said he had to borrow money from his relatives for the surgery. “No doubt, the surgery was expensive, but we faced hardly any inconvenience,” he claimed.

Hearing in PGI standoff deferred to Jan 8
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 15
The hearing in a dispute between the PGI management and the Medical Technologists’ Association (MTA) was deferred to January 8 by the Labour Commission here today. It was deferred as office-bearers of the PGI Medical Technologists’ association failed to appear before the commission.

Sources in the Labour Commission revealed that the MTA had submitted a representation to the commission, expressing its inability to be present during the hearing. The administrative office of the PGI was, however, present.

The PGI authorities had approached the commission to intervene in the matter since the MTA had given them a notice under the Industrial Disputes Act.

The executive body of the association has decided to hold a massive rally at the dharna ground on December 18 while observing mass casual leave to press for their demands.

“The threat of “no work no pay” by the PGI management will not demoralise the technologists. It will not help in mitigating the hardships of patients due to the indifferent attitude of the PGI Director and Central Government”, claimed Mr Dev Raj Chumber, president of the MTA.

Showing solidarity with the MTA, Dr Pankaj Kaul, secretary of the Chandigarh unit of the All-India Medical Laboratory Technologists’ Association, said the present situation of the PGI was distressing. He said that the PGI should provide better facilities and incentives to the technologists along with proper infrastructure.

Meanwhile, following the call for one-day mass casual leave by the MTA, patients and their attendants are in a quandary. Ms Ranjan, whose son is admitted to the ortho ward of the PGI, said she had been staying in Chandigarh as she was unable to afford treatment at a private hospital. “I am alone and in case some tests are needed urgently, where would I go,” she rued.

Ms Rukmani Dei from Una, attendent of another patient, said inconveniencing patients would serve no purpose. The striking employees should solve their issues with the PGI management through dialogue.

The breakdowns have become a recurring feature in Chandigarh in the recent months, said Mr P.H. Vaishnav, president of the Chandigarh Senior Citizens’ association.

Union-management rift stalls PGI projects
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 15
Infighting between the PGI management and the employees’ unions have been causing huge losses to the PGIMER Contractors’ Welfare Association, besides hindering the pace of various undergoing constructions works.

Bills worth Rs 1 crore of almost 15 contractors have not been released by the PGI authorities for the past couple of months. The affected contractors are finding it difficult in continuing with the construction works.

At a press conference, Mr Madan Kharbanda, president of the association, claimed that almost all ongoing projects — advanced eyecare centre, advanced cardiac centre, doctors’ hostel, drug de-addiction centre, shopping centre, new mess block, engineering office — have virtually come to a standstill.

He said certain employees of the PGI have been tarnishing the image of this premier health institute for vested interests. The statements by certain leaders of the PGI employees’ unions in the media have been misleading the PGI management and the general public, claimed Mr Jaspal Singh, an executive member of the association.

Doctors wear black badges
Tribune News Service

Mohali, December 15
Doctors of the Civil Hospital wore black badges against the transfer of a lady doctor from the hospital on the complaint of a local MLA, Mr Bir Devinder Singh, here today.

The doctors also staged a dharna to revoke the transfer order. The joint secretary of Punjab Civil Medical Services Specialist Doctors Association, Surinder Pal Bhagat said we have decided to continue the silent protest for the next two days. If our demand are not accepted by the authorities, concehed we would go for a strike throughout the state in the hospital.” he added.

Blankets given to poor patients
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 15
Poor children admitted to the paediatrics ward of Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, were distributed blankets by the Chandigarh Industrialists Association here today. Blankets were also distributed among poor patients admitted to various wards of the hospital.

Mrs Jean Rodrigues, wife of Punjab Governor and UT Administrator distributed the blankets among the children.

She appreciated the efforts of the association for arranging the blankets.

Meanwhile, scores of patients were put to great hardship in the GMCH-32, following the visit of Mrs Rodrigues as the authorities restricted the entry of attendants of the patients. The worst-affected were the patients who had to use the lift.

Those having leg fractures and those using stretchers and wheelchairs had to wait for a long time till the lifts were put to use for them.

SPORTS

PU hockey team leaves for inter-varsity meet
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 15
An 18-member men’s hockey team of Panjab University left for Ludhiana to participate in the North Zone Inter-University Hockey Tournament to be held at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) there.

Fifteen members of the team are from SGGS College-26, two from PU campus and one from GNN-Doraha.

The tournament is to be held from December 13 to 21. The opening match will be played between the Nainital and Ghaziabad teams. On December 14, the PU team will play against the team that won the opening match.

Most of the players admitted that the commitment towards the game or the passion for winning medals for the country had suffered because the main aim of most of the players was to benefit under the job quota provision.

Prem Singh, a junior national player, said he did not see any bright future for those playing the game, but he still wanted to continue playing it. “I must say that I am playing hockey in the hope that I may get some position one day and could be lucky enough to get a good job also,” he said.

However, Ravdeep Singh is not so hopeful of getting a job under the sports quota. “What are you talking about… the jobs? Forget it. Recently C-DAC posts for physical education teachers were filled only on the basis of academic merit and the majority of the seats were occupied by candidates from Nagpur. Very few aspirants from Punjab got a chance this time,” he added.

“The gradation points earned by players by sweating out in the field do not fetch any weightage. Those with no sports background were selected on the basis of their scoring in theoretical tests. Just imagine how they would train the upcoming players when they are not aware of the basics of the game. On the other hand, those who had practical (field knowledge) as well as theoretical knowledge were ignored. If this is the selection criteria, nothing can be expected,” rued Bhod Raj.

According to Ameet Bhardwaj, representing India in hockey is no longer a thing of pride. “You see the deteriorating state of hockey, which happens to be our national game,” he added.

It was the passion for hockey that brought Sukhmeet Singh Sodhi to the grounds. His parents are still not happy about his continuing with his passion. “I want to play hockey, but I see no future in it. Since there is no job security, I am double minded. The selection procedure is also biased. This pains a lot,” he added.

SAI hockey coach Manjeet Kaur said there was no dearth of talent, but the players should have the assurance that they would be compensated according to their performance in the game. Only then, we could have committed players who could bring back the glory of the game.

The members of the team were: Harpal Singh (captain), Prem Singh, Gurvir Singh, Harasimranjit Singh, Varinderpal Singh, Gursewak Singh, Rajesh Kumar, Ravinder Singh, Raj Gaurav Singh, Ameet Bhargav, Harpreet Singh, Ranbir Singh, Sukhmeet Singh Sodhi, Bodh Raj, Jagjit Singh, Gurteg Singh, Ravdeep Singh and Gian Singh.