The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

HEALTH

Have a heart for your poor heart
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 29
“At least 33 per cent of the people who complain of chest discomfort, breathlessness and sweating are actually suffering from a myocardial infarction, in other words, a heart attack”, said Dr M. Chandrashekhar, consultant pathologist with the Fortis Heart Institute, here today.

Talking to mediapersons at the Institute, Dr Chandrashekhar said most traditional tests ascertained whether a person had suffered a heart attack had not proved effective enough to gauge the extent of the damage to heart muscles after a heart attack.

“It is here where the utility of the Stratus CS comes in. This machine, now available here, is one of its kind in the country.”

Blood samples of the patient are collected and tested for the presence of certain enzymes in blood. These enzymes are present in enhanced quantities in the body after any damage to the heart muscles takes place.

“The enzyme myoglobin is present in the blood within an hour after the attack and remains for almost 24 hours. The enzyme mass stratus CK MB can be tested for within 4 to 6 hours after the heart attack and remains in the body for 2 to 3 days. The third enzyme troponin I is also tested after 4 to 6 hours of the attack and remains present for almost 10 days,” he said.

SPORTS

St John’s win under-12 cricket final
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, December 29
Devjyot Singh of St John’s High School, Sector 26, was the star of today’s under-12 cricket final played between St John’s School team and Edmund Rice XI, when former outclassed latter by 124 runs to bag the title.

Devjyot hit unbeaten 65 runs while he was supported by Vikram Talwar, who made-48 runs, while Aayush Raj Soni was another batsman who scored 30 runs. This helped the St John’s team reach a total of 187 runs for the loss of three wickets. In reply Edmund Rice were bundled out for just 63 runs. Test star Dinesh Mongia was the chief guest. Brother C’ Abreu, former principal of the school, was also present.

Brief scores: St John’s: 187 runs for three in 25 overs (Devjyot Singh 65 n.o., Vikram Talwar 48, Aatush Raj Soni 30) Edmund Rice: 63 runs all out in 17.2 overs (Manan Gupta 10, Mayank Kaura 3 for eight, Abhay K. Singh 2 for six, Akshit Banerjee 2 for 11.

The under-14 finals will take place between YPS, SAS Nagar, and St John’s 26 tomorrow.

Local lad in squash semifinal

Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu, a student of YPS, SAS Nagar, today made it to the semifinal of the Scottish Juniors Squash International Tournament being played at Edinburgh (Scotland). According to information, Harinder pipped his quarter-final opponent Rudi Willnesse of South Africa by 9-2, 10-8, 9-0. He will now face Karim Tarek Osman of Egypt in boys under-13 section. Karim had upset top seed Petr Martin of Czech Republic in three straight games.

Paragon lift cricket trophy

The Paragon clinched the S. Manohar Singh Majithia memorial Mohali Inter-school cricket tournament organised by the Mohali Cricket Association here today. In the final, they outclassed Yadavindra Public School, SAS Nagar, by 65 runs. Brig G.S. Sandhu, former national decathlon champion, gave away the prizes.

Meanwhile, MCA also honoured its four players who had represented in the under-14 and under-16 section. They were Mandeep and Gagandeep in under-16 and Sunni Sohal and Simranjeet Singh in the under-14 section.

Cricket tourney

Satluj Public School, Sector 4, Panchkula, got the better of New Public School, Sector 18, Chandigarh, by eight wickets and sailed into the final of the second Satluj Cricket tournament played here today at the Satluj Cricket ground, Panchkula.

Tomorrow, the final tie will be between Satluj Public School and Mohali Cricket Association at Satluj School grounds from 9.30 am onward.

ADMINISTRATION

YEAR-END REVIEW
Employees continue to wait for ESI Hospital
Chitleen K. Sethi
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 29
No outbreak of any major disease was reported in the city this year. Although the city had its days of anthrax scare, no anthrax positive case was reported.

The pulse polio campaign faced a temporary setback with a case of polio reported in one of the city slums, but was renewed with added energy by the end of the year. With more than a lakh city children between 0-5 years getting immunised in the last campaign of the year.

Some major positive changes were brought in by the new Director, Health Services (DHS), UT, Dr Rameshwar Chander, who replaced Dr Joginder Singh in March.

Working in close collaboration with the Administration the DHS came down heavily upon the city’s Ultrasound centres involved in sex determination tests. A five-member special team was constituted to conduct surprise raids on such centres. Many of the city’s ultrasound centres were registered and asked to put up a public notice that no sex-determination tests would be carried out.

By the end of the year, the DHS, who is also the Food and Drug Authority of the city, issued public warnings to traders against selling loose spices, meat, fish and fruit. They were asked to follow the PFA rules strictly. The year ended with the DHS team conducting a surprise check in the market and seizing sacks of loose spices.

The City’s 500-bed General Hospital, Sector 16, with its 2 polyclinics and 38 dispensaries providing primary and secondary healthcare to city residents also saw major changes.

From the infrastructure point of view, it was decided that the Sector 22 polyclinic along with the Primary Health Centre at Mani Majra be upgraded up to 50-bed hospitals.

The emergency complex of GH-16 was overhauled. The number of beds in the emergency were increased. The ICU/CCU was shifted from the suffocated basement to another rooms adjacent to the emergency. The first-floor emergency was converted into a trauma ward with 30 beds.

The minor OT was also upgraded. The ECG and injection rooms were made functional round the clock. An x-ray is under trial in the hospital, a dialysis unit is being made available soon and the process has just started for a CT scanner to be installed. The number of beds will also be increased by another 100.

The Hospital decided to follow its rules of charging nominal amounts from the patients as fee. This increased its generation of resources from Rs 64 lakhs last year to Rs 1crore 15 lakh by the end of this year.

The long wait for the city’s own full-fledged ESI hospital continues as the year ends. The construction of the building was completed and a Medical Superintendent appointed but services are likely to start only in the coming year.

The TB Hospital proposed to be constructed at Sector 24 met with substantial resistance from sector residents, alleging that it might be dangerous for the surrounding population.

The problem of shortage of staff in dispensaries continued and became almost acute with the hospital deciding to charge increased fee from interns, whose number dropped substantially. AIDS awareness camps, a special leprosy clinic, workshops and training programmes for nurses were some of the other projects which continued.

In September an employee of GH-16 was dismissed following charges of sexual harassment of a patient in the hospital. Three employees of the ESI Dispensary, Sector 29, were reportedly caught red-handed by a local TV channel accepting bribe.

In August, a doctor was caught by the CBI for allegedly issuing fake medical certificates. Another two doctors on deputation were repatriated to their home-states after it was found that they were practicing privately from their homes.

The Telephone Exchange at the hospital remained non-functional throughout the year and the hospital functioning carried on with a public dial number and a telephone in the emergency. No interaction through phones with various wards and departments with nurses and doctors was possible.