The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

HEALTH

Blood to be screened to avoid transfusion reactions
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 18
The Punjab Thalassaemics Welfare Society in collaboration with the Department of Transfusion Medicine of the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, organised a blood donation camp yesterday. As many as 162 volunteers came forward to donate blood. Secretary of the DMCH managing society Prem Gupta inaugurated the camp.

Dr Amarjit Kaur, professor and head of Transfusion Medicine at the DMCH, said the blood collected at the camp would be processed and screened for transmissible diseases before it was released to the patients. This would ensure safety of blood to the recipients.

According to her, the major concern of the department was to arrange adequate leuco-reduced blood for thalassaemic children to reduce transfusion reactions, where the life of the patients was dependent on blood.

She informed a new cell separator (Amicus, Baxter) had been recently installed in the department for single donor platelets and plasma apheresis.

With this equipment, it would now be possible to achieve platelet collection efficiencies up to 85 per cent, double and triple platelet dose collection from single donor, achieve high platelet yield with consistent leuco-depletion to reduce transfusion reaction, single or double needle procedures and adjustable saline reinfusion to keep donors relatively isovolemic.

The DMCH principal, Dr Daljit Singh, and medical superintendent Dr Sandeep Puri were also present at the camp. Dr Praveen C. Sobti, professor of pediatrics and in charge of the thalassaemic unit at the hospital, presented a token of appreciation to the donors.

350 poor patients examined
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 18
A medical, eye and ENT camp was organised by the Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) at Rauwal village yesterday in which more than 350 patients were examined free of cost.

CMCH director Dr John Pramod said, “It has been our endeavour to reach out to the masses and offer quality healthcare. We hope that the maximum number of people take benefit of such camps.”

Dr Gurpreet Singh from the Department of Medicine, Dr Navneet from the Department of ENT and Dr Sandeep S. Anand from the Department of Ophthalmology were among the specialists who conducted the medical check-up.

Orthopaedic conference opens tomorrow
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 18
The 26th annual conference of the north zone chapter of the Indian Orthopedic Association will be organised by the department of orthopaedics, Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMCH), here, from April 20 to 22.

The conference will be inaugurated by the CMCH director, Dr John Pramod.

As many as 400 orthopaedic surgeons from northern states, including Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh will participate in the meet. Some delegates from Maharashtra and other states are also expected to take part in the deliberations.

Giving this information here today, the organising secretary of the conference, Dr M.K. Mam, vice-principal and professor in the department of orthopaedics, said eminent surgeons like Dr Bruce Foster from Australia and Dr John Tricker from the UK will share their experiences with their younger colleagues at the conclave.

Pre-conference workshops on hip and knee replacement surgery will be held on April 20, where the delegates will have an opportunity to get hands-on training by renowned orthopaedic surgeons. The main session, to be held on April 21 and 22, will comprise CME and guest lectures on topics like joint replacement, spinal surgery, arthroscopic surgery, pediatric orthopaedics, infections, tumours and trauma.