HEALTH

WORLD SIGHT DAY TODAY
Bringing light to dark lives
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 7
In the times when 'I, me and myself’' seems to be the reigning mantra, there are a few people who are left untouched by this wave of ‘individualism’. And it's because of them that one occasionally comes across success stories. One such story worth emulation revolves around the eye bank in Mansuran village in Ludhiana district. Director of the eye bank, Dr Ramesh, has been working as a medical officer at the Rural Hospital, Mansuran, since 1992. He is one of the torch-bearers of the campaign for eye donation in the region. The preference for eye transplant is given to those who are unable to see even with one eye. Otherwise, people are chosen on first-come-first-served basis.

Bhajan Kaur, a 60-year-old woman of Phullewal village, is one such fortunate person whose vision was restored last year after a gap of 20 years. Delighted over being able to see her grandchildren, she said, ‘‘After all other hospitals of the nearby area had given up my case, I went to the Mansuran hospital. No fee was charged from me for eye transplant. Medicines and other requirements were also provided free of cost. I feel highly indebted to doctor sahib. He is next only to God for people like us.''

Motivating people to donate eyes is nothing less than a ‘‘mission’’ for Dr Ramesh. He was honoured by the Punjab Government at the district-level function held here on the Independence Day this year, for launching a movement in this direction and developing a technique to correct cataract without surgery. However, Dr Ramesh says, ‘‘What I am doing is nothing great. It is my job, and I am supposed to do this. In fact, all doctors take oath to serve humanity. It is only because many of us have turned this noble profession into a money-making business that service rendered by a few like me comes into notice’’.

Dr Ramesh says he is acting only as a catalyst in the whole process. He adds that he is fortunate enough to have support of the Rural Hospital Welfare Society, which is headed by Mr Somnath, an assistant lineman in the PSEB. Public donations have helped the hospital improve upon its infrastructure.

‘‘All this has been possible because of the hospital's credibility among the people. Though building villagers’ trust was not easy, persistence seems to be paying dividends now. People have become co-operative because they know that whatever the doctors and the welfare society are doing, is for their benefit only. They don’t doubt the intentions of the motivators, and have full faith that once removed, the eyes would be given to needy persons, and would not be sold’’, says Mr Somnath. He adds that religious institutions, trade unions and mahila mandals have proved to be of great help in building the public opinion in favour of eye donation.

However, it is the contribution of donors that deserves maximum appreciation. But for them, the whole effort would have come a cropper. One family that deserves commendation from all belongs to Mullapur Mandi in Ludhiana district. It donated the eyes of its 12-year-old member Nitika Sood, who had died in an accident about two months ago. Her uncle, Mr Purshottam Lal Khalifa, tried to persuade her parents to donate her eyes. "Initially unwilling, they relented once I convinced the girl's grandmother with the argument that by donating her eyes, they would be able to see her alive. This decision has ultimately given sukoon to the family," he says. Nitika's family also keeps in touch with the families of both the children, who have received her eyes.

One of Nitika’s eyes was transplanted to a 10-year-old boy from Chandigarh, Upinder Singh. His mother Kamaljeet Kaur says, ‘‘He was registered for eye transplant with the Eye Bank, PGI, Chandigarh, for the past three years. But when his turn did not come during this period, we got his name registered with the Eye Bank, Mansuran, also.’’ She adds, ‘‘It was a mahadan on the part of Nitika’s family. We will always remain indebted to them.’’

Dr Ramesh says, ‘‘In a country where 25 lakh are awaiting eye transplant, this is just a small beginning. Only 9,000 persons donated their eyes last year. And less than five per cent of them were from Punjab.’’ So, let our eyes change others’ lives, after we are gone from this world. As Mr Somnath says, ‘‘Hamne Jo Jot Jagai Hai, Uski Roshani Charon Ore Faile.’’

A doctor on save sight mission
Asha Ahuja

Ludhiana, October 7
“Television; if you split the word, it is tele-vision. Vision is sight. Can anyone watch television (TV) without sight? Yet not a single channel on television thinks it important to educate viewers over matters of sight. One has to realise that every sixth person in India is blind. Since TV is an important medium, it can spread awareness on healthy vision.” says Dr Arin Chatterjee.

Eight million persons in India are blind due to cataract with an annual addition of 3 million such cases. Majority of the blind belong to poor socio-economic backgrounds and live in rural areas. Some dedicated doctors have done a yeoman’s service to such patients. One such doctor is Arin Chatterjee who has remained single so that he could devote his life to the care of his patients. An MS in Ophthalmology, Dr Arin joined the Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMC and H) as a professor. He remained Head of the Ophthalmology Department for 25 years.

At the CMCandH, Dr Arin received fellowships from University of Oregon, USA, and specialised in ophthalmology, pathology, cornea and retina disciplines. Later, he went to Israel and studied community ophthalmology, which later helped him in India. He has worked in Sudan and Ethiopia among the refugees, during the civil war.

During his stint at the CMC, the hospital, as many other hospitals all over India, was given money under PL-480 wheat scheme. The Indian government was to utilise the money on the treatment of blind people. In 1964, Dr E.M. Johnson, currently the Director of Vocational Rehabilitation Training Centre, was working in rehabilitating visually challenged at CMC hospital. Dr Arin and Dr Johnson worked together in the PL-480 scheme. Dr Arin worked in the field of curable blindness and Dr Johnson was helping incurable blind people.

In 1970, Dr Arin was made the head of the Ophthalmology Department, but he kept up his association with the VRTC and is now the chairman of the society. During his stint at the CMC he focused mainly on the mass problems of community as concerning vision. He said, “Handicapped persons are prisoners in their bodies and only with training, love and care can they be made free.”

Dr Arin said the eye department of the CMC and the building of the VRTC were the gifts by Christopher Blinden Mission. He is a volunteer of this mission and is in charge of north India, Nepal and Bangladesh region of the organisation. Dr Arin has visited 20 countries for reading his papers that have also appeared in journals of international repute.

Dr Arin’s main concern is to save the vision of the people and he feels that television can play a major role in educating people about good vision. Dr Arin says eye damage can be prevented to a large extent among the youth if the television constantly advises the parents not to let the children play with sharp edged toys, bows and arrows, ‘gulli danda’, scissors, and such like things as these can cause serious corneal damage. The masses should be advised to have nutritious and balanced diet. Those who are working in the jobs of welding and the like need special protection. Dr Arin says cataract is curable. The television has to inform the people that they should not go for cataract operations in camps as they lack facilities for micro-surgery. Moreover, in the camps, old fashioned surgery is being done in which the patients have to wear thick glasses. Patients should go for surgeries with new techniques which use intra-ocular lens for better results, he said.

SPORTS

City TT teams announced
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, October 7
The following boys and girls of different age groups will represent Ludhiana in the Punjab State Schools Table Tennis Tournament scheduled to be held at Amritsar from October 8 to 11.

Those selected are:

Boys (under-14): Simarpreet Singh and Jaideep Singh (Sacred Heart Convent School, Sarabha Nagar, Ludhiana); Vaibhav Chopra and Satnam Singh (DAV Model School, Khanna) ; Amarinder Singh (AS Senior Secondary School, Khanna).

Girls (under-14): Neha Jindal, Deepika and Neha Rani (Hindi Putri Pathshala, Khanna); Priyanka (DAV Model School, Khanna) and Nirdosh (Bharatiya Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Ludhiana)

Boys (under-17): Atul Sharma and Sahil Sharma (Green Land Public Senior Secondary School, Ludhiana); Sum Ming Chiu (Sacred Heart Convent School, Sarabha Nagar, Ludhiana); Piyush Mehra (Kundan Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Ludhiana); Gursimran (Government Model Senior Secondary School, Miller Ganj, Ludhiana)

Girls (under-17): Jagjeet, Disha and Dimple (Hindi Putri Pathshala, Khanna); Gurpreet Kaur (DAV Senior Secondary School, Khanna); Jeevan Jyoti (Government Model High School, Cemetery Road, Ludhiana).

Boys (under- 19): Disney Ryait, Rubal Arora, Karan Sood and Raghav Khanna (Sacred Heart Convent School, Sarabha Nagar, Ludhiana); Rakesh (DAV Senior Secondary School, Khanna).

Girls (under-19): Ashu, Poonam and Deepika (Hindi Putri Pathshala, Khanna); Neha Goyal (Alpine International Public School, Ludhiana) and Richa (Kundan Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Ludhiana).

Cricket tourney

Angad Singh, a student of Class VII of Sacred Heart Convent Senior Secondary School, Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar, and Rajat Pruthi of Sacred Heart Convent School, Sarabha Nagar, have been named captain and vice-captain, respectively, of the Ludhiana (under-14) team for the Punjab Schools Cricket Tournament to be held at Dasmesh Public School, Faridkot, from October 8 to 11, according to Mr O.S. Nagi, in charge, sports, Sacred Heart Convent School, Sarabha Nagar.

The names of the players who will represent Ludhiana in this tournament are as follows: Angad Singh, Sahil Aneja, Keshav Gupta, Vivek, Lalit Malhotra, Bhanoo Sharma and Gaurav Kataria (all from Sacred Heart Convent Senior Secondary School, Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar, Ludhiana); Shivinder Dhir, Rajat Pruthi and Andrew Mattu ( all from Sacred Heart Convent School, Sarabha Nagar, Ludhiana); Chetanya, Arvind Kapoor and Arjun Kalia (all from Kundan Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Ludhiana); and Gurpeet Singh, Sunny Thapar and Amarjot Singh (all from Anand Ishar Public School, Ahmedgarh).

6 wicket win for Sacred Heart team
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, October 7
Hosts, Sacred Heart Convent Senior Secondary School, Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar, began their campaign with a win today. They defeated favourites, Sargodha National Public School, by six wickets in the third match of the Parle-G PCA Inter-School Cricket Tournament (under-16) being organised by the Ludhiana District Cricket Association here today.

Sargodha National Public School had scored an easy victory over Government Model Senior Secondary School, PAU, in the first match of the tournament on Friday.

Asked to bat first, Sargodha National Public School made a sedate start. They were restricted to a total of 167 for eight in the stipulated 40 overs because of some disciplined bowling by Sacred Heart Convent School's bowlers, particularly Danish, Pranayvir and Rakesh Batta. Dushyant Kohli played an innings of 48 runs while Pankaj made 29.

Sacred Heart Convent School batsmen began on a rousing note, making runs quite fluently. Pranayvir was in his true colours. He gave a hard time to Sargodha School's bowlers and remained unbeaten on 92. Hosts overhauled Sargodha National School's total in 33.4 overs at the loss of just four wickets.

Today's match was inaugurated by a local industrialist, Mr Rajesh Bhatia. The next match will be played on October 9 between SAN Jain Senior Secondary School and Sargodha National Public School.

Brief Scores: Sargodha National Public School 167 for 8 in 40 overs (Dushyant Kohli 48, Amarpal Singh 16, Pankaj 29, Danish 2 for 32, Pranayvir 2 for 17 and Rakesh Batta 2 for 38).

Sacred Heart Convent Senior Secondary School: 168 for 4 in 33.4 overs (Pranayvir 92 n.o, Nikhil 24 n.o, Sushyant Kohli 2 for 16 and Charandeep 2 for 40).