HEALTH

Canadian doc proves saviour for accident victim
Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, March 12
Dhanveer Singh, who worked in a guest house in Mussoorie, met with an accident and sustained a spine injury paralysing his legs, along with a fracture in his right thigh bone near the hip joint. He was referred to Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) here after he developed difficulty in breathing due to collection of fluid in his thorax.

Dhanveer (29), who is the sole bread-winner of his family and by no means could afford the cost of the surgery, needed money urgently to stabilise the fracture of his hip.

Hope came in the form of Dr E. Lyle Gross, adjunct professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation, from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada.

Dr Gross was in India to conduct a workshop in the “Symposium on Chronic Pelvic Pain” in New Delhi and was on a visit to the city from March 5 to 8 to deliver lectures at the CMCH. During his stay at the institution, he delivered four guest lectures on ‘Rehabilitation Medicine’, organised by head of the department of physiology Dr Sheena Singh.

To the good fortune of Dhanveer, the CMCH principal and head of cardiothoracic surgery Dr Mohan Varghese discussed his case with Dr Gross. Having discussed and explicitly laid down the line of treatment, the visiting doctor came to know about the financial inability of the patient to go for surgical correction, and he lost no time in offering to pay the entire cost of surgery.

The patient was operated upon the very next day on March 9 with the surgery being successfully performed by professor of orthopedics Dr Rajesh Paul and his team. “Dhanveer is now recovering well and will soon be discharged from the hospital,” said the doctors attending on him.

During his four-day visit to the CMCH, Dr Gross also discussed with director of the institution Dr John Pramod the possibilities of collaboration between the UBC and the CMC and the setting up of rehabilitation medicine units, starting with cardiac rehabilitation. The two institutions could also go for the exchange of faculty to impart training and student-exchange programmes in the near future, observed Dr John Pramod.

Ludhiana, March 12
Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) conducted its annual multi-speciality free health check up camp at Rauni village, near Khanna, today.

A total of 826 patients from Rauni and 15 other villages in the area availed of the free services provided by the specialists from various departments like general medicine, paediatrics, ophthalmology, ENT, dermatology, dental, gynaecology, surgery and orthopaedics. The required investigations were also carried out at the camp free of cost and medicines were distributed among the patients free of cost.

According to the doctors attending the camp, more than 50 patients were diagnosed with urgent need of surgery and further follow up treatment, which would be provided to them at the hospital on concessional charges.

This camp was in continuation of the efforts to reach out to the poor and needy patients who could not prioritise their health requirements over their daily bread and butter. This was also an effort to provide at least the basic medical care facility on their door steps, added the CMCH authorities