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Telemedicine project links GMCH, PGI
Chandigarh, February 16 Delivering his inaugural address, General Rodrigues appreciated the initiative and asked the authorities to take early steps to link the five polyclinics set up in the Union Territory with this project to help the doctors and patients in managing clinical problems in these peripheral institutions. He said poor patients came to these polyclinics with no means of transport and no access to diagnostic centres for medical and clinical investigations like X-ray and laboratory tests and this facility could benefit them greatly. He said the healthcare network in the GMCH was being expanded with the setting up of a trauma centre with the required infrastructural facilities. Interacting with Dr K. K. Talwar, director, PGI, through the telecommunication network, he complimented him for linking GMCH with PGI through this facility and asked him to further streamline the systems by increasing the outreach and cumulative impact with focus on rural areas and urban slums. Dr Raj Bahadur, director-principal of GMCH, in his welcome address said that this telemedicine facility would be helpful in providing the best care to the patients in the hospitals and have the facilities of medical consultancy with PGI specialists. It will also help the faculty members in keeping abreast with the latest developments in different areas of the healthcare system. He said this project would involve academic interaction through which excellent academic activities going on in PGI would be made available to the faculty and the students of the GMCH. Dr Talwar assured that the PGI would do its best in making this facility a fruitful venture for the doctors of the GMCH and the patients coming for treatment to the hospital. Krishan Mohan, home secretary and secretary medical education and research, former GMCH directors Prof JS Chopra, Prof SBS Mann, Prof Atul Sachdev, chief of the IT Centre of the GMCH, were among those present.
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Rehabilitation medicine dept at PGI
Chandigarh, February 16 In fact, the PGI would soon start the process for the recruitment of faculty and senior residents. This would be followed by the three-year MD programme in rehabilitation medicine to prepare a pool of specialists for the future requirements. “The new department will significantly help in manpower development and high quality research as per the national requirement and help in fulfilling the objectives of National Health Policy, 2002, and National Policy for Persons with Disabilities, 2006,” Dr Sanjay Wadhwa, head of the department of occupational therapy, told The Tribune here today. Currently, the patients were getting fragmented treatment at the physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and orthotics-prosthetics sections of the PGI. However, with the setting up of the departments, patients belonging to Chandigarh, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal and Jammu and Kashmir would stand to benefit. And this would be the first such major clinical department in the northern part of India, besides Delhi, Dr Wadhwa claimed. Recently, the union ministry of health and family welfare had also cleared the department of physical and rehabilitation medicine at Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32. Sources said an OPD, in the new OPD block of the ground floor, of the PGI was already working with sections of the department working in the Nehru Hospital and the Advanced Pediatric Centre. The OPD deals with persons suffering from aches and pains due to disorders of bones, joints, ligaments, muscles, and nerves affecting a person belonging to any age group. Persons affected by modern day lifestyle disorders such as spondylitis, problems due to faulty posture, excessive and prolonged use of computers, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, stroke, Parkinsonism, spastics, cerebral palsy were also examined at the OPD. Services offered through OPD included guidance and demonstration of various types of exercises, relief of pain through the use of superficial and deep heating modalities, traction, uses of nerve-muscle stimulator and laser. This OPD also has advanced therapy equipment such as isokinetic exerciser and lymphedema therapy. The new department would bring all facilities under one roof for the benefit of patients, the sources added.
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Fatal attraction led to murder
Chandigarh, February 16 Even though the accused is insisting that he stoned the victim to death before biting his private part to teach him a "lesson for his unnatural sexual desires", the cops are exploring the angle of "first-ever same-sex offence in the city". It could be the result of a deal gone sour. The naked body of 42-year-old Pathania was found in a nullah in Dhanas on Friday evening. The victim’s head was bludgeoned and the body bore multiple stab injuries. Narrating the sequence of events leading to the murder, 25-year-old Nizzamudin, a resident of Dhanas, told mediapersons at the Sector 11 police station that he went to a liquor vend in Dhanas on February 14 night. He saw Pathania drinking in company of two persons, Mukesh and Amit Sharma. Mukesh and Amit were involved in an accident and Pathania was instrumental in effecting a compromise. They were giving a party to Pathania. An auto-rickshaw
driver, Nizzamudin said he wished Pathania and sat on another table and began drinking. After some time, Pathania went out of the tavern with Mukesh and Amit. He also followed them and when Mukesh and Pathania left, he began talking to Pathania. Pathania began hugging and kissing him. When he objected to his behaviour, he refused to budge and offered to pay him Rs 500 for sexual favours. “Seeing that he was harassing and humiliating me, I decided to teach him a lesson. I told him to go to some secluded place and we went to the Ram Lila ground in Dhanas. As there was still some light there, I asked him to come to the nullah to which he agreed. I was under the influence of liquor and he, too, was heavily drunk,” said Nizzamudin. He further said that he asked Pathania to undress and bit his private part. Pathania fell to the ground, writhing with pain, and he took a stone and began hitting him on the head, killing him. He then dragged his body to the nullah and left it there. He was wearing two trousers and two jackets. He put his blood stained trousers and jacket underneath. Thereafter, he went to the tavern again, but as the headlamps of the auto-rickshaw were dysfunctional, he took a scooter (CH-01-V-5472) parked near the tavern and went to Sector 38 to buy liquor. There a police party stopped him on suspicion and when he failed to produce the documents, they took him to the Sector 39 police station and kept him there. Next day, the police registered a case of car theft against him. Nizzamudin, however, claimed that he was implicated in the car theft case. ASP Madur Verma said the SHO of the Sector 39 police station, Rajesh Shukla, read the scooter’s registration number in a newspaper and informed that they had arrested a man with a similar description with the scooter. During questioning, the accused admitted to having killed Pathania and his blood-stained clothes were also recovered. Nizzamudin was today produced before a local court, which remanded him to police custody till February 19.
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Tribune Special
Chandigarh, February 16 Residents of the locality, accustomed for years to the chirping of the birds, have noticed a decline in the number of birds in the sanctuary. The light causes great inconvenience to the birds in finding their way. Moreover, the lights have also disturbed the sleeping pattern of the birds. The birds, converging on these trees during evening, have been leading a regulated life and are disturbed with the development. The area is governed under the Wildlife Protection Act. The condition of the signboard, which has been removed and is rusting in shrubs, is a testimony to the indifferent attitude of the authorities concerned towards the sanctuary. The instructions and guidelines on the board for the visitors become meaningless as the authorities have not bothered to reinstall the board. The board installed by the Municipal Corporation has no instructions on it to guide the visitors to be careful with the birds living here. The MC installed the lights for the convenience of the evening walkers nearly two years back. The shorter lights, unlike lights on the tall poles, are covered from the top and are not more than three feet high, thus they do not disturb the birds, said Harman Sidhu, a bird lover living in the area for over three decades. Concerned at the “drastic” development at the cost of the “oldest inhabitants” of the area, Sidhu contacted experts on bird behaviour through the internet to find out the reason behind the decline in their numbers in the sanctuary. A USA-based bird expert told him that the lights that could definitely cause problems for the parrots, as birds depend on photoperiod (the amount of light and darkness in each day) to let them know when it is time to breed and molt, amongst other things. Thus, it is very important that birds
receive adequate amount of undisturbed sleep during the night. The light would also force them to seek shelter elsewhere, said the expert. Recalling the old times, a regular visitor to the sanctuary Ajit Singh Thekedar of Sector 21 here said, “The park was developed in front of my eyes. The old Ropar-Ambala road passed through it. The entire area was covered by mango trees. Thousands of parrots converged on the trees in the evening and announced their arrival by chirping in large numbers. It was known as the parrot park.” Another resident, Paramjit Singh Dhillon added, “Yes, there were thousands of parrots in the park, but something happened to them after the installation of the tall lights”. UT mayor Pardeep Chhabra said the project was started before his tenure began. He said if the installations of the lights was causing any inconvenience to the birds, he would take up the matter with area councillor and review it.
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Motorists to make detours to ease traffic flow
Chandigarh, February 16 On a trial basis, the UT engineering department has decided to close some of the small rotaries for the smooth movement of traffic from one sector to another. Over the next one week, results would be analysed to try the same experiment in other parts of the city. Explaining the concept, an official said the movement of traffic would be allowed in vertical or horizontal direction, depending upon the density of traffic. The traffic converging at small rotaries from within sectors would not be allowed to crisscross. Initially, the small traffic islands of Sectors 34 and 35 along the Himalaya Marg and of Sectors 37 and 41 along the Shanti Marg are being closed. Sources said the traffic police had been asked to put up barricades to allow only one-way flow of traffic. The decision had been taken at the level of the finance secretary. Earlier, the engineering department, on the recommendation of the traffic police, had decided to install traffic lights after removing the rotary of Sectors 34 and 35. But now, the decision has been reversed and the department was contemplating to conduct the trial on the vertical and horizontal links running across the city.
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PSEB fails to clear dues
Mohali, February 16 Narinder Singh, director of M/s DSL Power (P) Ltd, said at a press conference here today that as per an agreement dated May 27, 2004, four micro power plants located at Rohti, Thuhi, Nidampur and Daudhar were handed over to his company by the PSEB for a period of 10 years with a motive to increase power generation at low cost. He alleged that the Rohti plant was non-functional when handed over to his firm. He said after carrying out renovation of the three plants, his firm generated 72,50,600 units in the very first year and 78,67,050 units in the subsequent year. He claimed that power generation was done at half the cost incurred by the PSEB. He said the PSEB had only generated 35,58,576 units in the year 2004-2005. He alleged that officials of the board stopped making regular payments to his firm by making wrong interpretations of certain clauses of the agreement. As per the interpretations of the board officials, his company was to generate power even when adequate water was not available. He said now due to financial hardships his company was planning to close down the power plants and take legal action. He said after the plants were closed, the board would have to purchase 80 lakh units of power at the rate of Rs 6.79 per unit. The cost of power generation at the micro power plants was only 0.60 paise. However, chief engineer of the PSEB Prem Sagar said the allegations being levelled by Narinder Singh were baseless. He said Narinder Singh’s firm had failed to generate as much power as specified in the terms of the agreement. Payments were withheld according to the penalty clause of the agreement. He added that if Singh was not satisfied with the terms of the agreement he should not have signed it. Now he was interpreting the terms of the agreement to his advantage, added Prem Sagar. Sagar further said as Narinder Singh had served a legal notice to the PSEB, he should not have gone to the press.
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PETA bats for synthetic shuttlecocks
Chandigarh, February 16 Advocating the protection of chickens and other birds killed for meat/eggs and other purposes, PETA India has offered a commonsense solution to the shuttlecock issue. In a letter to L.C. Gupta, general secretary, Badminton Association of India, PETA’s functionaries have advised the association to consider using nylon shuttles. The suggestion was made in trademark PETA style; letter being accompanied by two boxes full of the highest quality vegan shuttlecocks symbolic of “vegetarianism”. “Just as birds should not be killed for sport, badminton need not die out because of bird flu,” PETA India’s chief functionary Anuradha Sawhney wrote in the letter, adding, “If any good can come from the bird flu epidemic, it might be that the synthetic shuttlecocks will bring this ancient sport into the 21st century.” Only last week, PETA had released its report on the cruelty chickens have to suffer as they go through the grind of abattoirs, mechanized slaughterhouses, scalding hot defeathering tanks and finally, the butcher’s block. The idea behind promoting nylon shuttles, says
N.G. Jayasimha, campaign manager, PETA, is to hammer the vital point of protecting millions of chickens that endure atrocity in the unscientifically manned poultry farms. In addition to the risk that players could contract bird flu from feather shuttles, the economic benefits of shifting to synthetic shuttles are considerable, says
PETA; they stated this fact in their letter to Gupta. As regards feather shuttles - they are known to be brittle and naturally need repeated replacement through the game. Nylon shuttles on the other hand are manufactured using state-of-the-art injection moulding equipment and the highest quality components. They also meet the most stringent performance standards and are similar to feather shuttles in flight and feel. “These are durable and cost-effective. More and more professional clubs and tournaments are now using synthetic shuttles,” Jayasimha wrote to Gupta, referring to the reasons behind the assertion: “Life for chickens and egg-laying hens is miserable. Millions of hens spend their entire life confined to tony battery cages in huge factory warehouses, which contain as many as 2,000 cages. Each cage holds about seven birds, packed together so tightly that they can’t even stretch a wing. In the process, birds suffer untold misery, their bodies getting bruised with abrasions and boils.”
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RTI Fee
Chandigarh, February 16 Meanwhile, civil rights activists today challenged the legality of the hike saying it can’t be effected without Centre’s permission; as per central rules per RTI application fee is Rs 10. Whereas UT administration is justifying the raise saying it aims to weed out frivolous complaints, activists say it’s an excuse to discourage information seekers. Section 7 (5) of the RTI Act, however, states that the fee prescribed under sub-section (1) of Section 6 and sub-sections (1) and (5) of Section 7 of the Act shall be reasonable and no such fee will be charged from the persons who are below poverty line. UT hiked fee per application under the RTI Act from Rs 10 to 50; cost per page of information has been raised from Rs 2 to Rs 10. RTI activists, however, said today that they would keep the RTI movement alive and not even pay Rs 10 for information. They are ready to use Section 76 of the Indian Evidence Act 1872 which provides for procurement of official documents for just 65 paise per certified copy. Hemant Goswami of the Burning Brains Society said, “If the public document is not furnished under this Act, legal action can be taken against the public authority which denies information.”Goswami has already filed two applications under Indian Evidence Act - in one he has sought from UT home secretary orders notifying Chandigarh, Right to Information (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules, 2005 and a complete copy of amended rules. In the other, he has sought a copy of the press note whereby UT administration said it had set up no office for UT administrator and there was no reason to appoint a public information officer. NGO activists are objecting to UT’s hike saying UT is not a legislative assembly and it can’t hike RTI fee without Centre’s permission. “The fee can’t be arbitrarily fixed; there has to be a reason and rationale behind it. Hiking fee on grounds that frivolous applications are being filed is not justified. Also, it goes against the spirit of the Act which seeks to encourage information,” said Hitender Jain of Resurgence India.
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Patient with missing kidneys dead
Chandigarh, February 16 The death came a couple of days before a major operation for kidney transplantation was planned for the patient at the PGI. Her husband had agreed to donate his kidney to her. The shocking incident had hit the headlines when the woman’s family alleged that the doctors at the Ambala hospital had removed her kidneys following an operation to remove some obstruction from her kidney. The incident had come to light when the hospital referred the patient to the PGI here after her condition deteriorated on October 23. At the PGI, doctors found that both kidneys were missing from the patient’s body and reported the matter to the police. The local police, in turn, forwarded the matter to the Ambala police for further action. An inquiry was also conducted by the Haryana health department into the case. Subsequently, the family moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court which awarded a compensation of Rs 2.5 lakh to the patient.
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Kidney patient needs help
Chandigarh, February 16
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Protest over ‘Jodhaa Akbar’
Chandigarh, February 16 The police reached the spot to tackle any untoward incident. Raj Kishore of the Bajrang Dal and Vijay Bhardwaj of Shiv Sena said a fax message had been sent to the Censor Board of India which assured them on telephone to look into the matter on Monday.
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Preity, Ness to visit PCA Stadium today
Mohali, February 16 Today, a three-member team being headed by Amar Bindra of the franchisee visited the stadium to supervise the features. This will be the first visit of Preity and Ness to the stadium, who were said to be upset over the fire incident, which gutted the top floor of the main building of the stadium on February 10. Meanwhile, the meeting of the executive committee of PCA was held at the stadium here today.
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Kennel opened in Nayagaon
Mohali, February 16 The kennel, run by PETS (People for Environmental Treasures), has in-house medical facilities, including an operation theatre. Dr Ravinder Singh and Dr A.P.S. Toor said the kennel had prime breed puppies, kittens and imported studs like labradors. Alternate indoor pets like hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits and exotic birds were also available.
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Provide basic amenities
Being a satellite town of Chandigarh and with advent of world class infrastructures like PCA, Fortis, IT joints and many educational hubs and so on, Mohali has marked its place on the world map. Hence, it is most sought after destination in North India for the entrepreneurs. But, the civic and public utility services have not kept desired pace with the growth. Unscheduled long power cuts, shortage of water, poor sanitation, traffic congestions and badly maintained roads are of public concern. These problems are causing a lot of problems for the residents. It is of paramount importance that government pays attention to essential civic amenities not only to make Mohali a people friendly place but also to attract big business houses to boost the economy. S. S. Arora
Readers are invited to write to us. Send your mail, in not more than 200 words, at
news@tribuneindia.com or, write in, at: Letters, Chandigarh Tribune, Sector 29, Chandigarh – 160 030
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PU asks students to pay for setting up centre
Chandigarh, February 16 The university registrar has sent a letter to all 172 affiliated colleges in Chandigarh and Punjab. The letter states that every student will pay Rs 5, along with the examination fee, for setting up the centre’s building and to cater to the needs of the department of Guru Nanak Sikh Studies and another Guru Granth Sahib Studies Chair proposed to be part of the centre. Also, the students who would get undergraduate degrees (other than professionals) will pay Rs 100, Masters degree (other than professionals) would give Rs 200, for professional degree of BE, BTech, MBBS, BDS, LLB, etc, Rs 300 and for postgraduate professional degree, students will pay Rs 500. Besides this, the respective college managements will be paying Rs 5,000 each for the purpose. The letter further states that the college(s) are required to make a contribution as referred to under the head S0011 “Centre for Study of Punjabi Culture, History and Development of State of Punjab” from the current session (2007-08). Dr AC Vaid, principal of GGDSD College, Sector 32, and a member of the senate, said he expected a very strong reaction from the students, who could even boycott the convocation. “The letter should be immediately withdrawn. Otherwise, problems will arise for the university as well as the colleges,” he said. This move was approved by the senate at its meeting held on December 8, 2007. Commenting on the matter, the vice-chancellor, Prof RC Sobti, said, “The decision was taken by the senate and it is being reviewed. Most likely, it will be withdrawn. As of now, it has been kept in abeyance”. Ironically, the centre aims to promote Punjabi language and culture but the Punjab government has not given any funds for the purpose.
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Avantika crowned Miss
Hansraj
Panchkula, February 16 FAREWELL: Doon Public School, Sector 21, organised a farewell for Class X students. Each student of the class performed a pooja. WORKSHOP: A two-day workshop on developing ‘skill-based curriculum’ kick-started at Bhavan Vidyalaya here today. The workshop is basically aimed at helping a teacher design a curriculum to develop skills and understanding. ORIENTATION: An orientation programme was held at The British School for the foundation year. As many as 200 parents and guardians attended the first orientation programme of the school. Bassi Pathana Mohali PARTY: Fun and frolic marked the ‘Good Luck’ party at DAV Public Senior Secondary School, Mohali, as students of Class IX organised a gala show for their seniors. PICNIC: Students of Anees School went for a picnic to Rose Garden, Sector 16. Children of junior classes were told about the variety of roses in the garden. PRATIBHA 2008: Pratibha 2008, a panorama of cultural and cultural activities, was held at Gian Jyoti Institute of Management and Technology here today. Chairman of Punjab State Cooperative Bank Jasjit Singh inaugurated the festival. Chairman of the college J.S. Bedi welcomed the guests. Renowned TV artiste and theatre personality Savita Bhatti gave away prizes to the winners. A host of colleges from the region participated in various competitive
events.
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From Schools & Colleges
Chandigarh, February 16 Honoured: Prerna, Vasudhaiv Kutumb, and Gyan Uday of the social service clubs of the DAV Public School, Sector 8, and Sector 39 were honoured on the prize distribution function at TTTI Auditorium, Sector 26, Chandigarh here today. Justice A.L. Bahri, vice-president, D.A.V. College Managing Committee, New Delhi, awarded students who excelled in various academic, sports and co-curricular activities on this occasion. Antariksh Tyagi of Class X and Sachin Gupta were among the other students who were honoured. Farewell: Shishu Niketan Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 22, organised a farewell party for the students of Class X. A cultural programme was presented by the students of Class IX. Amandeep and Ankita were adjudged Mr and Miss Shishu Niketan. Kendriya Vidyalaya: Kendriya Vidyalaya organised a farewell party for the students of Class XII at the school premises. The students were accorded with a warm welcome with tilak and flowers. GNPS: Best of luck party was organised by Class IX students of Guru Nanak Public School, Sector 36-D, Chandigarh. A cultural programme was presented on the occasion. Exhibition: An art and craft exhibition was organised by Mount Carmel School, Sector 47, today. Best out of waste made by the students of Class I to VIII were displayed on the occasion. annual function: PM LSD Public School, Sector 19, Chandigarh, celebrated its annual day with great fervour. S.K. Setia, DPI schools, Chandigarh, was the chief guest on the occasion. K.K. Sharma, PCS (retd), chairman-cum-manager of the school welcomed the guests. A colourful cultural programme was presented by the school choir. The programme started with Sarswati Vandana. Giddha and Dril were also performed. The school principal, Santosh Oberoi, read out the annual report, highlighting the achievements of the school during the session. The programme concluded with the annual prize distribution by the chief guest. DISCUSSION: Dev Samaj College of Education in collaboration with Arya Mahila Sangathan today held a panel discussion in the college on the theme of ‘The Role of Women in the Changing Cultural Scenario’.
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Student injured in roof collapse
Chandigarh, February 16 Later, the officials of engineering wing of UT visited the school and declared the portion of the building unsafe as it was built in 1950’s. The building would be demolished. S.K. Setia, director of public instruction (school), said our education department officials visited the school and we have locked four classrooms, which we felt were not in proper condition. Principal of the school said, “Poonam, a science mistress was teaching the class of 22 students. We have requested the UT education department to allow us to run the school in double shifts.”
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