Panchkula, November 28
The Haryana Health Department will identify 14,000 accredited social health activists (ASHA) by 2008 to act as crucial agents in the implementation of its health programmes. “While we have already identified 4,078 ASHAs, our next step is to familiarise them with the village health status and build their capacity to undertake the crucial role of community mobiliser and the change agent.”

This was stated by Ms Urvashi Gulati, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Health, on the concluding day of the orientation workshop for Master Trainers of ASHA at Red Bishop here today.

The two-day workshop was being organised to build capacities of the master trainers on roles and responsibilities of ASHA under the NRHM, who will, in turn train, ASHAs at district, block and village level.

Ms Gulati informed that though the Government of India, under the flagship programme of the NRHM, had made the ASHA scheme compulsory for the 18 focus states (of which Haryana is not a part), Haryana still initiated the ASHA scheme as the state realises that at the village level, the ANM is too over-worked and is not being able to meet the community expectations.

Dr Dinesh Baswal, Assistant Commissioner-Training, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, elaborated on the role of ASHA as envisaged under the NRHM. He explained various technical aspects of working of ASHAs in national health programme and in the inter-sectoral programmes affecting health.

Discussing the progress made by the districts, Dr Avinash Sharma, Director, Health Services, pointed out crucial concern areas for the effective working of the ASHAs. She stressed on proper training and active involvement of ASHAs in all health programmes.

Dr Vidhu Mohan, Professor in psychology, Panjab University, stressed on the crucial communication skills required by ASHAs to be effective community mobilisers. She emphasised that participatory tools should be used in the training of ASHA to enhance learning.

The role of ASHA in promoting and mainstreaming AYUSH and building linkage with the national health programmes was discussed by Dr Paramjit Singh, director, AYUSH Haryana.

AIDS expert Dr Umesh Lamba said ASHA could play a role in raising awareness about causes, transmission and prevention of HIV/AIDS. He added that ASHA should be able to guide and provide the community with right information.

Chandigarh, November 28
With a view to ensuring comprehensive health cover for rural people and improving their quality of life, the Punjab Governor and the UT Administrator, Gen S.F. Rodrigues (retd), today launched the Chandigarh Rural Health Mission by opening a rural polyclinic at Attawa village.

The clinic is a joint initiative of the Healthcare India, an NGO, and the UT Administration.

This first healthcare project, one of the five to cover the entire rural belt of Chandigarh under the mission, has an excellent support structure equipped with modern medical techniques and will cover the population of Attawa, Kajheri, Baterala, Badheri, Colony number-5 and Nehru Colony.

Accompanied by Home-cum-Health Secretary, Mr Krishna Mohan, the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Mr P.S. Aujla, and other senior officers of the administration, the Administrator went round the polyclinic complex and took stock of the various facilities and services.

He inspected OPDs, x-ray room, laboratory, ECG, ultra-sound, dental wing etc and suggested innovative measures for ensuring quality preventive and diagnostic services to the needy patients.

Dr (Brig) M.L. Kataria, Chairman of Healthcare India, in his welcome address said his organisation had associated eminent doctors, philanthropists and social activists in this rural healthcare programme and all services would be given free 
of cost.

Mohali, November 28
Surgeons at the Grecian Superspeciality Hospital here claimed to have performed a complex surgery on a 40 -year -old woman .

According to a press note, Charanjit Kaur from Fatehgarh Sahib was successfully operated upon for cancer of oesophagus, commonly termed as cancer of feeding tube or food pipe after a three-hour surgery constituting three complex and highly delicate stages. Suffering for the past two months from the problem of swallowing, Charanjit Kaur was brought to Grecian a few days ago.

Under the supervision of consultant GI surgeon, Dr Mudit Kumar, consultant surgical oncologist, Dr Rudra Prasad Aachaarya, and consultant cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr Shivpreet Singh Samra, a successful surgery was carried out. The large tumour in the middle part of the oesophagus, which was invading the left atrium (a chamber of the heart) and the aorta, was removed without disturbing the continuity of aorta and preserving the heart.

This typical food pipe cancer or the cancer of the oesophagus runs from neck through chest with close proximity to the heart, the aorta (main blood vessel of the chest), lungs and spine till abdomen. This complexity jeopardises many vital organs making surgery difficult.

Chandigarh, November 28
Dhruv Bhardwaj of class 8 won the drawing competition in the junior category while Ankur of class 11 won the essay writing contest (English).

The contest was organised on conservation day at Sharda Sarvhitkari Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 40, here yesterday.

Drawing: Junior : Dhruv Bhardwaj (8 th class).

Middle : Vipasha, Shelly and Hardeep (8 th class)

Senior : Jeavan Singh and Satinder Singh of class (10 th class)

Essay writing :- English : Ankur (XI Science, J.C Basu home) , Nishika (X-A - Ramanujan House)

Hindi :- Manisha (8 th -A), Deepika (7 th A) , Rupam (9 th A)- Kanad Home

Punjabi :- Charu Shikha (8 th - Arya Bhatt Home).

Chandigarh, November 28
AG, Punjab, became the first team to reach semifinals after beating AG Bihar by 3-2 in a well fought league match of the All India Inter Zonal league cum knock out Indian Audit and Accounts Department (IA&AD) Hockey Tournament, held at Sector 42 Hockey Stadium, here today.

AG Bihar opened their account in the ninth minute through Om Parkash by piercing the defence line of AG Punjab, only to put the ball into goal post. AG Punjab scored the equaliser in the 17th minute when Inderjit Singh netted the ball through a penalty corner. In 21st minute, Vikram Saini of AG Punjab pushed the ball to his team-mate, Harpreet Singh Gill, who made no mistake to convert it into a goal and provided his team the vital lead. At half time, AG Punjab was leading by 2-1.

After interval, Yakub Nag of AG Bihar equalised the score in the 40th minute when he scored a goal through a penalty corner. In 53rd minute Inderjit Singh of AG Punjab rose to the occasion when he beat the goal keeper of AG Bihar with a powerful hit on a penalty corner and helped his team to win the match by 3-2.

Earlier in the morning, AG Rajasthan registered an easy win over AG Orissa by 4-2. AG Orissa took the initial lead when Rajeshwar Ekka scored a field goal in third minute. Biswaranjan Sarangi of AG Orissa further improved his team’s tally when he converted a penalty corner into a goal in the 17th minute.

Abhiraj Singh of AG Rajasthan lessened the lead in 18th minute when he netted the ball through a field goal. Mohit Rozario of AG Rajasthan levelled the score in 28th minute through a penalty corner. At half time, both the teams were 2-2.

After the break, Sandeep of AG Rajasthan helped his team to gain the lead in 33rd minute when he dodged the defenders of AG Orissa to put the ball into the goalpost. Deshraj of AG Rajasthan did not miss the opportunity to convert a penalty stroke into a goal in the 38th minute and helped his team to win the match 4-2.

In the other match of the day, AG Karnataka outclassed AG Nagpur by 3-2. Raju Joseph of AG Nagpur scored the first goal for his team in 18th minute while AG Karnataka bounced back with two successive goals scored by Pursha and Cladius in 33rd and 44th minutes. Ram Mohan of AG Nagpur equalised the score in 45th minute. Korrgapa of AG Karnataka helped his team to win the match by scoring a field goal in 52nd minute.

In the last league match of the day, AG AP played a draw against Delhi Audit at 2-2. AG AP’s Vijay Kumar moves the scoreboard in the 16th minute when he beat the defenders of Delhi Audit to put the ball into goalpost. Habeeb Mohamaad of AG AP enhanced his team’s lead by scoring a field goal in 21st minute.

Delhi Audit cut short the lead in 40th minute when Jagminder Singh converted a penalty corner into a goal. Sanjiv Sharma of Delhi Audit sounded the board in 51st minute through a penalty corner and match ended at the score of 2-2.

Chandigarh, November 28
The final match of the Himmat Memorial Cricket Tournament was held between VCC XI and 26 XI here on Sunday at the Mauli Jagran complex ground.

VCC XI won the match. Ganesh was declared the man of the match. He scored 30 runs and was not out. Rajesh was declared the man of the series. In final, he scored 35 runs. Team 26 XI won the toss and elected to bat first. The team 26 XI scored 147 runs all out. VCC XI won the match in 23.5 overs for the loss of five wickets.