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PCMS doctors to protest new PG admission policy
Div Commissioner for more de-addiction centres in Punjab
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An instrument to assess honey quality
2 test positive for swine flu in Ropar
3 booked in dowry case
Official denies Markfed’s role in wheat scam
Members honoured
Concessions in travel fare cost Railways dear
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PCMS doctors to protest new PG admission policy
Ludhiana, February 3 The association expressed concern over 26 per cent vacant posts of general duty doctor and 38 per cent of specialists in various health institutions. It also expressed concern over 252 newly appointed doctors refusing to join the PCMS. Dr Gagandeep Shergill, joint secretary, said: “To tackle this problem, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has directed the authorities concerned to lure young doctors to join the PCMS and stressed upon more incentives for doctors serving in rural areas. But the new PG admission policy for rural service and a faulty notification for PG increments to specialists have discouraged the doctors to join the PCMS rural service”. The new PG admission policy states a doctor has to serve for six years in rural areas instead of three years earlier. Besides, PG increment allowance of 15 per cent to specialist doctors has been denied to a majority of experienced specialists who have qualified their degree before 23 May 2001. The representative house demanded PG increments to all specialist doctors on the existing pay and scrapping of the PG admission policy. The association resolved to launch a stir for getting these demands accepted. The meeting, which was attended by all the newly elected district presidents and secretaries, was presided over by association’s state president Dr Hardeep Singh.
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Div Commissioner for more de-addiction centres in Punjab
Patiala, February 3 Expressing satisfaction over the project report prepared by the Divisional Commissioner, Awasthi said he would speak to the Chief Minister about setting up such centres in other districts of the state. He said drug-addiction had become a worldwide phenomenon and stressed the need to launch a campaign to eradicate the menace and to help rehabilitate addicts, especially youth. He said the PGI would extend all possible help to the state government in this regard. The approval to set up the centre in Patiala was given by the state authorities last month. The Badal government sanctioned a grant of Rs 60 lakh for the project. As per the project report, the 30-bed Saket Hospital in Patiala, which is being run as a drug de-addiction centre by the State Red Cross Society, would be upgraded to a 150-bed hospital. Pannu said the government had released the grant for the project. He said the Chief Minister had given the nod to appoint two psychiatrists in the de-addiction centre. He said a team of doctors had been imparted special training by Dr BS Sandhu, Head of Department of Psychiatry at Government Medical College in Patiala. The Divisional Commissioner said special arrangements would be made for yoga, meditation, games, vocational work, religious discourses and Art of Living classes at the centre. He said the families of patients would also be given counselling so that they could keep a watch on their activities and company. He said volunteers from various villages, doctors, NRIs, scholars and psychiatrists had been trained to influence youth of every village against social aberrations, especially drug-addiction. He said retired civil and Army officers, media and general public would be involved in the task of making the state drug-free. |
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An instrument to assess honey quality
Chandigarh, February 2 Based on the relationship between various physio-chemical properties of honey, an instrument has been developed to determine its purity. Most of the properties of honey can be determined by measuring electrical conductivity and viscosity, while some properties require spectroscopic examination. Honey is a natural sweetener and, given its medicinal and nutritional properties, has great demand worldwide but often various adulterants like sugar and jaggery are added to it. “In India, it has immense application in the field of ayurveda and is used as a home remedy for various disorders. Therefore, monitoring its quality assumes commercial as well as health significance,” a CSIO scientist said. Scientists involved in the project procured unprocessed honey collected directly from beehives and bought samples of various brands of honey from commercial establishments. They determined the flavanoid (flavor containing compounds), phenolic (related to natural biological compounds) and antioxidant values for the samples and correlated them on a scale. India ranks among the top 10 honey-producing countries in the world and produces over 65,000 metric tonnes of honey annually, out of which about 50 per cent is exported. India is becoming an increasingly important source of honey for the market in North America. Of late, the honey-laundering phenomenon has been afflicting the global market. Scientists said that a few years ago, US honey producers filed an unfair trade practise case against China, the world’s largest producer of honey, for dumping Chinese honey in the US. Import and anti-dumping duties on Chinese honey were raised significantly and in order to circumvent these, many Chinese producers and some US companies began to illegally transship Chinese honey through third-world countries. According to reports, India, along with some other countries, has been identified as a transit point for Chinese honey. “In such an environment, it becomes important to ensure and certify the quality of honey as it has an impact on India’s trade and export potential. Technology developed by us can play an important role,” a CSIO scientist said. |
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2 test positive for swine flu in Ropar
Ropar, February 3 While one of the patients, Hukam Singh, is a resident of Suncity locality in Ropar, the other patient, Dharamvir, is a resident of Nangal. With these cases, the number of such patients from the district this season has reached three. A woman from Ropar was discharged from a local hospital after being treated for the disease last month, said civil surgeon Rajnish Sood. Sood said Dharamvir was admitted to the PGI after he complained of high fever. |
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3 booked in dowry case
Tarn Taran, February 3 The victim Amandeep Kaur in her complaint to the police alleged that she had been tortured by her husband and other members of his family. The accused have been identified as Chanan Singh (her husband), Dharam Singh (father-in-law) and Resham Kaur (mother-in-law) . The SSP office has confirmed to receive the letter from the Markfed DM. He said a proper inquiry would be conducted into the matter. |
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Official denies Markfed’s role in wheat scam
Tarn Taran, February 3 The Goindwal Sahib police has claimed to have unearthed such scam and registered a case under Sections 420, 120 B of the IPC against five persons, including an inspector of markfed and another of Punsup agency. The letter stated that the Markfed has no its storage at Chutala village from where the police had recovered wheat two days ago. The DM has requested to the police to delete the name of the official of the Markfed from the FIR as the wheat stored at Chutala complex was related to the Punjab Agro.
Fatehgarh Sahib, February 3 |
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Green cabs flagged off
Patiala, February 3 Patiala ADC (D) Anindita Mitra flagged off this batch of 'green cabs' from the Zila Parishad Complex in Patiala. The project has been financed by Punjab National Bank under the DRI scheme. The Patiala Green Cabs Project has been pioneered by NGO Patiala Foundation in association with the district administration. The project aims at empowering unorganised rickshaw-pullers. The NGO has extended the benefits of subsidy and insurance to 78 such people till date. The chief functionary of the Patiala Foundation, Ravee S Aahluwalia, thanked the American India Foundation and Punjab National Bank for their active involvement in the project and financing the new batch. “We will do our best to cover others in the district to ensure that they get financial help and proper training to cover tourist spots in the city.” |
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Concessions in travel fare cost Railways dear
Bathinda, February 3 Last year, the Bathinda railway station recorded Rs 15,73,96,996 as passenger earnings and Rs 28,74,73,358 as earnings from transporting goods. The figures show that the Railways is earning profit from freight transportation. The Railways offer travel concessions to various categories of travellers like differently abled, cancer patients, students, senior citizens, sportsperson, freedom fighters, etc. In most of the cases, the travel concessions are being misused by passengers. “While checking tickets, I once found a girl travelling on a ticket with concession for cancer patients, which is 50 per cent in the first AC and the second AC and 100 per cent in the third AC and the sleeper class. When I called the railway team of doctors, she immediately admitted that she was
not a cancer patient," a TTE said. Mahesh Thakur, commercial inspector of the Railways, said, "There are people who misuse the concessions provided to them. We have come across many cases but we cannot challenge them as they support their claims with medical certificates.” He added, “Once I came across a person with a severed thumb. He and his co-passenger were travelling at a concession of 75 per cent each. He had a medical certificate due to which I could not take action against him.” There are a total of 50 types of concessions for passengers from different
sections of society. The concessions vary from 25 per cent to 100 per cent, depending upon the category that a passenger falls in. About 15 kinds of concessions are only for
patients and those accompanying them. Orthopaedically-handicapped/paraplegic persons, differently abled and visually impaired persons and those accompanying them are given 50 per cent concession in the first AC and the second AC travel. Thalassemia patients, heart patients, kidney patients, TB/Lupus Vulgaris patients, non-infectious leprosy patients and haemophilia patients are given 75 per cent concession while AIDS, sickle cell anaemia patients are given 50 per cent concession for travelling in sleeper class. As many as 250 persons were fined in January for travelling without tickets.
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by Dr Ajit Awasthi - a professor in the Department of Psychiatry, PGI, Chandigarh - and accompanied by Patiala Divisional Commissioner Ajeet Singh Pannu today visited Saket Hospital, where a 150-bed de-addiction centre is being set up.
