The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

HEALTH

Canadian doc brings hope for HIV+
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 30
More medications are available for patients infected with HIV positive than ever before and two new classes of drugs have been added to the armamentarium. Now, patients who have failed the first three lines of drugs can be offered newer therapies as a result which patients in Canada have benefited immensely.

This was stated by Dr Chris Tsoukas, a professor of medicine, McGill University who is also the associate director of the university AIDS centre and the director of Immune Deficiency Treatment Centre of Montreal General Hospital.

Professor Tsoukas is on a visit to the department of internal medicine, PGI, here.

The PGI with data centres at Mumbai and Chennai is sharing data with McGill University AIDS Centre where the data collected from other regions of the world, including Europe and North America, is analysed to help in research for the cure of AIDS.

There are more than 1,500 HIV positive patients on the follow-up list of the PGI.

Describing the profile of patients with common variable immune deficiency a disorder that was congenital in origin and characterised by defects in the immune system, Dr Tsoukas said it rendered an individual more susceptible to infections. The lack of awareness of the disorder had resulted in infrequent diagnosis of the disorder.

Individuals with this disorder were prone to a host of chest and sinus infections that occurred repeatedly. The cost of treatment of this disorder was high as it required the use of intravenous immunoglobulin for its management.

Delivery
Cash assistance for SC/ST women
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 30
In order to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality rate in the UT, a scheme for the poor and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe families has been launched by the administration.

Under the scheme, cash assistance will be provided to women under updated features of the Janani Suraksha Yojna (JSY).

UT home secretary Krishna Mohan said cash assistance of Rs 700 would be given to women from rural areas and Rs 600 to women from urban areas to promote institutional delivery among the poor and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe women.

All below poverty line (BPL) women and all women from SC and ST families aged 19 years and above delivering at hospitals, including Government Multi Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, and the PGI would be eligible under the scheme.

While the cash assistance for institutional delivery would be limited to two live births, the benefit would not be given after seven days of delivery.

The department of health has given instructions that the below poverty line card and certificate issued by the Chandigarh administration under the public distribution system or any other scheme would be taken as instrument of identification of the beneficiaries.

All families living in urban slums, colonies and families working as ragpickers, pavement dwellers and vendors in villages of the UT would be eligible for benefit under the JSY.

To save the poor from harassment, all medical officers attending maternity patients in dispensaries, poly clinics and hospitals have been authorised to certify patients as below poverty line for seeking the benefit under the JSY.

Talwar felicitated

Chandigarh, May 30
Prof K.K. Talwar, director, PGI, was awarded an oration by the Kuwait Medical Association and Indian Doctors Forum, Farwaniya on May 27. Professor Talwar was felicitated by M. Ganapathi, ambassador of India to Kuwait, and Dr Abdul Aziz Al-Anezi, president, Kuwait Medical Association.

“The prevalence of heart failure is steadily rising all over the globe, particularly in the ageing population. More than 20 million patients worldwide suffer from heart failure. Significant progress has been made in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of these patients. We need to discover some novel therapies to help these patients,” said the professor.

Besides the main oration, professor Talwar delivered a lecture on “Electrophysiology Intervention - Journey So Far” on the following day. — TNS

SPORTS

Sunil, Tushar in tennis quarter-finals
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 30
Local CLTA trainees Sunil Kumar Sipaeya and wild card Tushar Liberhan moved into the quarterfinals in the ongoing SAIL $10,000+Hospitality ITF Men's Futures Tennis Tournament at the CLTA Stadium, Sector 10, here today.

Sanam Singh, the other product of the association, was shown the door by top seed Karan Rastogi 6-1, 6-7, 6-1.

Continuing his winning spree, Sunil ended the challenge of Tajikistan player Sharifi Dilshod in straight sets 6-1, 6-1. Sharifi had no answers to the volleys and fast serves of the former junior national hard court champion and surrendered meekly in just 55 minutes.

1245th ranked Tushar Liberhan made Briton Robert Searle pack up in the second round, thrashing him 6-1, 6-4 in 67 minutes. The win enabled Tushar to move into the quarterfinals of the tournament.

The other foreign players, Robert and Dilshod, also faced defeats.

It was not a good day for Sanam. Though the local favourite put up a brvae front, but top seed Karan Rastogi did not give him a chance to move ahead and thrashed him 6-1, 6-7, 6-1.

After losing the first set, Sanam raised some hopes by coming back into the game by winning the next set in a tie-breaker 7-6. But the next set was not an easy game for Sanam as he gave up easily to Rastogi, who clinched it 6-1.

In another major upset, Vishal Punna stunned Davis Cupper Vivek Shokeen in the singles second-round match. With his powerful serve and strokes, Vishal managed to beat Vivek 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

In the doubles quarterfinals, top seeded pair of Sunil Sipaeya and Stephen Amritraj got the better of Kiran Nandkumar and Yannick Nelord 7-6, 6-3 to set up clash with the fourth-seeded duo of Vivek Shokeen and Sanam Singh.

The quarterfinal line-up is: Karan Rastogi vs Purav Raja; Vijay Kannan vs Tushar Liberhan; Prakash Amritraj vs Sunil Kumar Sipaeya; Vishal Punna vs Aditya Madkekar.

Other results:

Singles (2nd round): 1-Karan Rastogi (Ind) bt Sanam Singh (Ind) 6-1, 6-7 (6), 6-1; Purav Raja (Ind) bt 6-Navdeep Singh (Ind) 7-5, 4-6, 7-5; 4-Vijay Kannan (Ind) bt Stephen Amritraj (Ind) 6-4, 6-4; WC-Tushar Liberhan (Ind) bt Robert Searle (GBR) 6-1, 6-4; Prakash Amritraj (Ind) bt Vishnu Vardhan (Ind) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4; 3-Sunil Kumar Sipaeya (Ind) bt Q-Dilshod Sharifi ( (Tjk)6-1, 6-1; Vishal Punna (Ind) bt 2-Vivek Shokeen (Ind) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4; 7-Aditya Madkekar (Ind) bt Vinod Sridhar (Ind) 6-4, 6-3.

Doubles (QF): 1-Sunil Kumar Sipaeya and Stephen Amritraj (Ind) bt Kiran Nandkumar and Yannick Nelord 1-6, 6-3, 6-2; Vivek Shoken and Sanam Singh (Ind) bt Robert Searle and Smith Matthew (GBR) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3; Tushar Liberhan and Navdeep Singh (Ind) bt Guilherme Ochiai (Bra) and Satoshi Yoshino (Jpn) 6-4, 6-3; 2-Sandep Kirtane and Purav Raja (Inida) bt Rohan Gajjar (Ind) and Jonathan Kinsella (GBR) 6-2, 6-3.

Golf Club opens greens to non-members
Our Golf Correspondent

Chandigarh, May 30
For the first time, 14 non-members - eight boys and six girls - from Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula converged on the greens of the Chandigarh Golf Club for a six-day coaching camp organised to tap talent in the 7-14 age group.

Eleven astroturf hitting bays had been set up for the camp which began yesterday.

The European Golf Teachers Federation-trained coach Ajay Gujral had a trying time convincing the parents that he could not enroll any new trainees.

But course captain Sukhjit Singh Lehal had a way out. He allowed another such six-day camp from Tuesday next. "And if need be we will have more such camps to promote golf among non-members,” he added.

Grip, stance and swing: These basics were eagerly lapped up by the young trainees. Caring parents could be seen watching their wards swing the club.

Rajkumar Droch, who works with the CSIO, had come with his seven-year-old daughter Pearl. "It is a rare opportunity to get golf training at the club,” he said.

Seven-year-old Tarenie had come with her parents. Her father Narbir says they come from a family of golfers.

Two boys had come all the way from Patiala. The course captain suggested that the time should be advanced from 9 am to 8 am due to warm weather. This new time may be implemented from the next camp starting on Tuesday.

Seminar
Tips on hard pitches
Tribune News Service

Mohali, May 30
On the second day of Curators’ Conclave, Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) curator Daljeet Singh gave tips to participants on preparing and maintaining top-class pitches.

The conclave is under way at PCA Stadium, Phase X here.

Daljeet Singh said, “ The BCCI has been concentrating on pitch conditions during domestic tournaments. This conclave is the first step in that direction.”

During the two-day meeting held on May 12 and 13 last month at Mumbai, cricket officials, including skippers and coaches of Ranji teams, criticised the condition of pitches, except those in Mohali and Mumbai.

It was then decided to provide the state associations with necessary equipment for hard and bouncy pitches.

“Today, we showed the curators and ‘malis’how to use the advanced equipment for laying and maintaining such pitches,” said Daljeet Singh.

As many as 22 technical hands from Delhi, Haryana, Services, Himachal and Punjab have been learning the technical aspects of the trade.

MP Pandove, honorary joint secretary, BCCI, said: “We are identifying grounds all over the country, which are used for international matches. To improve the standards of domestic tournaments, these grounds will now be supervised by boards and pitches committee of the BCCI. For the purpose, we have begun training for local curators.”

The conclave will be concluded tomorrow.