Healthcare top priority, says Dogra
Our Correspondent

Mohali, July 20
The Punjab Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Mr R.C. Dogra, said here today that providing good healthcare was among the top priorities of the Congress government in the state.

The minister, who was speaking at a meeting called by the Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC) to review the performance of government health institutions, directed civil surgeons and deputy medical commissioners to motivate members of the community to avail themselves of the facilities being provided by the PHSC-run institutions. He said the latest equipment and infrastructure were now available with these institutions and that too at affordable user charges.

Ms Razia Sultana, Parliamentary Secretary, told the meeting, which was attended by civil surgeons, medical superintendents its and deputy medical commissioners of the 17 districts of the state, that the work culture needed to be improved and asked the service providers to be more pro-active and public-spirited in their approach.

Col C.D.S. Kamboj, Chairman of the PHSC, said the corporation had been successful in changing the health scenario and more and more people were making use of the facilities provided by PHSC hospitals.

Mr D.S. Guru, Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, said out 18 divisional hospitals, 15 had been ranked A+ and the rest A. In the category of subdivisional hospitals, 15 had been ranked A+ and 21 A. Among the community health centres, 18 had been ranked A+ and 36 A. He stressed the need to curb absenteeism in health institutions and improve the quality of care.

Inter-coaching centre contests begin
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 20
Inter-coaching centre competitions organised by the Sports Department, Chandigarh Administration, began at the Sports Complex, Sector 7, Chandigarh, here today. Competitions are being held in athletics, volleyball, basketball and gymnastics at Sports Complex, Sector 7.

In athletics, competitions are being held for boys and girls (under 14 and under 17). In the events of 100m, 400m, long jump and shot put, trainees from two coaching centres, Sector 7 Sports Complex and Sector 46 Sports Complex, are taking part.

In basketball, teams of boys and girls (under 17 and under 19) from Sports Complex, Sector 7, Sports Complex, Sector 46, I.S. Dev Samaj School, Sector 21, SD School, Sector 32, and St Xavier School, Sector 4, are participating. The competitions will continue till July 22.

The results:

Gymnastics: Vaulting table: Amit, Sports Complex, Sector 7, Chandigarh, and Dhan Bahadur, DAV Coaching Centre, Sector 7, Chandigarh 1, Lalit Bhandari Sports Complex-7, Chandigarh, 2; Hargur, DAV College-10, Chandigarh 3.

Basketball: Dev Samaj Coaching Centre-21 bt St Xavier School, Sector 44 28-14. SD Coaching Centre-32 defeated Sports Complex 7, 32-12.

Volleyball: Senior Girls: Sports Complex-7 b Sports Complex -46 25-18, 23-25, 25-17, 25-23(3-1).

Athletics: Shotput (girls under 14): Jaspreet, Sports Complex-46, Sukhdeep, 2, Loveneet Saini, 3.

Shot Put (girls under 17): Jyoti Sharma, Sports Complex-46, 1, Talwinder Kaur 2, Ruchi Sharma 3.

Shot Put (boys): Sports Complex-46, 1, Kashish, Amrik Singh Sports Complex-7, 2, Anmol Cheema, Sports Complex-46,3.

1500m (girls): Amandeep Kaur, Sports Complex-7, 1, Jyoti Singh, Sports Complex-46, 2, Loveneet Saini, Sports Complex-46, 3.

1500m (boys under 17): Surinder Singh, SC-46, 1, Maninder Singh SC-46,2, Sudhir SC-7, 3.

Four judokas selected for jr national camp
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 20
Four judo players of the Amateur Judo Association of Chandigarh have been selected to participate in the junior national coaching camp to be held from July 26 to September 14 in preparation for the Junior Asian Judo Championship, 2004, to be held in Qatar.

The players are Ranjana Rana, Komal Saini, Ganesh Chaudhary and Meharban Singh.

The national camp for boys will be held at the SAI Centre, Bangalore, from July 26 till the departure of the team for the Asian championship.

The national coaching camp for girls will be held at the SAI Centre, Kandivali, Mumbai, from July 26.

Mandeep Singh has been selected for the senior national coaching camp to be held from July 23 to August 14 at SAI HATC, Shilaroo (Himachal Pradesh) in preparation for the Commonwealth Judo Championship, 2004.

Selection trials

The Amateur Throwball Association of Chandigarh is going to conduct trials to select the senior men and women team on July 5 at 5 p.m. in Manav Mangal High School, Sector 21, Chandigarh.

The selected teams will take part in the North Zone throwball championship to be held in Chandigarh on August 21 and 22.

Team announced

The Chandigarh Indoor Cricket Association (CICA), affiliated to the Indian Indoor Cricket Federation has announced the Chandigarh under-19 team for the fifth Junior National Indoor Cricket Championship which is going to held at Nasik (Maharashtra) from July 23. 

The following is the team: Vikram (Captain), Aksh Rai Raju (Vice-Captain), Neeraj Rana, Jatinder, Amarjot, Sandeep Kumar, Jashanjit Singh, Nitish, Akaitab, Aman Attrey, Jasmeet Singh, Mukesh, Gurpal, Ashish Singh, Saransh and Harpreet Singh.

Sports Dept clerk booked for embezzling funds
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 20
A UT Sports Department clerk, Ravinder Puri, was today arrested for allegedly embezzling around Rs 16,000 from the funds of the Lake Club.

The arrest followed a complaint of the Joint Director Sports, Mr J.P.S. Sandhu, that Puri had taken Rs 17,400 from Ramanjeet Singh of Industrial Area for making Ramanjeet Singh a member.

Later, Ramanjeet Singh was given a receipt of only Rs 1260 for the annual fee amount. The industrial area resident neither got the money back nor a receipt for the rest of the amount.