Jalandhar, February 8
The decision of the Punjab Technical University to start 13 Punjab Institutes of Technology (PITs) and one Punjab Institute of Management (PIM) of the IIT standards in the polytechnics and multi-disciplinary academies of the state has evoked widespread criticism from various sections.

The academicians, faculty of the polytechnics and even PTU’s own staff has reacted strongly saying that university authorities were actually building a fool’s paradise with the Rs 1,000 crore budget. They reason out, “It is actually impossible for the university to rope in top-level professors in Punjab’s rural areas. Why would these people leave metro cities and settle in Sultanpur Lodhi, Bhikhiwind or other such places?”

They raise the second objection, “How is it possible that the university will be able to make such institutes self-financing keeping the fee at par with government colleges? Without any aid from Centre or the state, it is practically not possible to carry on with low fee structure”.

The next concern is, “It takes at least Rs 500 crore to set up one IIT-level institute. How can 14 institutes of IIT level be set up for just Rs 1,000 crore? After all, the advanced scientific gadgets have to be bought”.

Another major issue that haunts many minds, “How can it be assured that the Punjab Technical University will be able to handle all these polytechnic and ITIs where even Punjab government has failed?”

There is yet another doubt, “The VC plans to uplift the standards of the rural students or government school passouts through this proposal. Will it be possible for him to take them to the level of IIT passouts? The intake at IITs is the cream of the students.”

The academicians, PTU officials and polytechnic staff are of the view that the university should first experiment with one institute, which could be at its own campus, rather than implementing the decision in all polytechnics and academies. “After all, it affects the career of hundreds of students taking admission in these institutes this year”, they have demanded. They have said that the university already has over 300 affiliated colleges for which it needs to pay more attention.

There also is another immediate concern. The various unions of the government polytechnics have already launched a major stir against the PTU VC. Protests have been held at various venues including in front of the office of the Director Technical Education Chandigarh.

Dr Mattewal, Vice President of Punjab Polytechnic Staff Association, has said, “There is no point in roping in polytechnics where 95 per cent seats remain already filled. The perception which is being made that we are sick is incorrect”.

Contradicting all challenges, Vice Chancellor PTU Dr Rajneesh Arora, claimed that he would ensure a good academic environment in the institutes so that best faculty and students get attracted. He said that he would ensure the starting of at least 12 institutes in the coming session. “Two of them might come next year. The first session might not prove to be economically viable but it will be so from the subsequent years as the students and teachers would start offering technical consultancies to private firms”, he added. 

Amritsar, February 8
Even as the central and state government has embarked upon upgrading the Government Medical College and its allied hospitals to the level of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), four dispensaries of these government hospitals are perfect example of their hollow claims.

The poor patients visiting these hospitals are at a receiving end, as they had to procure medicines at very higher rates from shops situated in the premises or located just outside these hospitals.

In the absence of any policy to provide drugs, these stores had been lying closed for quite some time now, while the pharmacists posted in these dispensaries were forced to do other jobs in the hospital. The authorities too find it difficult to provide medicines, as they had the purchasing power not more than a meager Rs 500.

The four dispensaries are located in Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, ENT hospital and TB hospital.

“Absence of requisite and emergency medicines meant for the poor patients visiting (these hospitals) speaks volume about the seriousness of the state government in improving the health facilities for the poor, who sometimes could not even afford hospital expenses,” said a doctor on the condition of anonymity. At least the government should make such an arrangement that the medicines are provided in these hospital’s dispensaries on no profit no loss basis, he added.

The ENT hospital is one major eye hospital having a good number of OPD and surgeries. “The government should provide painkillers, anti-biotic, anti-allergic and eye, nasal and ear drops in the dispensary so that the poor patients do not suffer at the hands of chemist shops outsides hospital having high retail prices,” another doctor in the hospital pointed out.

Dr S.S. Shergill, Officiating Principal, GMC, who recently took over as Medical Superintendent of its allied hospitals, said, “I don’t know the reason behind closure of dispensaries. However, soon after taking over the reign of the hospitals I took up the issue on the priority basis and started the process of reopening these medical stores. Common drugs have been procured and hopefully, these would start functioning within a week.”

“We have very limited resources to run these dispensaries. We would definitely press the government for allotting some kind of budget for providing medicines in these stores, after prepare average budget of medicines, so that these continue to run without any financial crunch,” he added.

Jalandhar, February 8
A Jalandhar-based lady is waiting for a reputed health institute to initiate clinical trails to check the efficacy of a herbal formulation developed by her which, she claims, can improve the physical profile of patients suffering from muscular wasting disorders, including polio and muscular dystrophy, by regenerating the blood supply to dead muscles.

Raj Katyal Shukla(70) a retired schoolteacher, claims having improved the muscular profile of hundreds of such patients during the past over 15 years with a medicine developed from indigenous herbs. The patent for the formulation, granted approval for marketing by the Ayurveda Drug Licensing Authority, has been filed by her.

Her earlier contributions in the field of medical science strengthen her claims, at least more than those made by a roadside quack. She remained in the news about a year ago when an anti-asthmatic formulation

developed by her was evaluated by the National Institute of Pharmacological Education and Research (NIPER), Mohali, and the PGI,Chandigarh. Moreover, a research paper on her anti-asthmatic formulation also appeared in the Canadian Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences in 2010.

With a view to getting her desi formulation converted into standardized medicine for such diseases, she had compiled pre and post-treatment case histories of patients successfully treated over the years, and submitted the entire record to the National Institute of Pharmacological Education and Research (NIPER), Mohali, for further research.

Since the data wasn’t arranged in the requisite scientific manner, Katyal was advised by the NIPER to compile the information in a specific format.

“There were three registers full of the case histories of over 300 patients who had reportedly shown improvement after getting treatment from Katyal. Unfortunately, the record was not enough to arrive at any final conclusion about the efficacy of the formulation,” said Dr Parikshit Bansal, who heads the Intellectual Property Right Cell at NIPER, Mohali.

On the NIPER’s advice to cure only one medically documented case of muscular dystrophy to lend credence to her claims, she took up such a case and treated a boy, Genius Turka, suffering from muscular dystrophy, diagnosed at the PGIMER, Chandigarh. It is pertinent to mention here that there is no curative therapy for muscular dystrophy in allopathy.

After one year of intake of her herbal formulation, the boy has shown a remarkable improvement, said Dr Bansal. This example is enough for the institutes and experts to come forward to clinically evaluate and develop the innovation further, he added.