Dream come true for the old
By Rupesh Kumar

CHANDIGARH, July 11 — Since the transfer of the management of the Home for Old and Destitute at Sector 15 here to the Lions Club, Chandigarh Central, its inmates have seen an improvement in their health, diet, medical facilities, upkeep and cleanliness.

All 19 inmates, including nine women, living in the 20 rooms made for them are enjoying the facilities of a home rather than a hostel. They are none other than the infirm aged persons who are left uncared for by their relatives.

The inhabitants maintain that after the acquisition of its management on April 1, 1999, by the Lions Club, their dream has come true. Besides improvements in their basic requirements, they had an excursion tour to Hardwar and Paonta Sahib organised by the club authorities, they add. An inmate said since the inception of the home, they were never taken to any tourist spot.

While commending the efforts of the club, they disclose that prior to its acquisition, they were provided non-nutritious, monotonous as well as tasteless food. They add that government officials were providing them one vegetable and bread in their lunch and their dinner comprised a dal and bread and rice was occasionally served.

The inmates complain that earlier the Social Welfare Department had not provided them adequate diet, medical facilities and proper clothing. Officials had been behaving rudely and nobody bothered about them, alleges an inmate on the condition of anonymity.

Stating that during the government regime, everything had gone haywire, she says, "The home had virtually become a rehabilitation centre for the unsuitable staff of the department concerned."

Likewise, the House Warden of the home, Mr J.D. Chawla, says, "Now every inmate is served with one vegetable and one pulse in his/her lunch as well as dinner. In addition, paneer, curry, fruits and new items are provided to them," he says. "Our main motto is to give them sufficient diet, better medical treatment and upkeep," says Mr Chawla.

According to a caretaker, Mr P.S. Sahi, a physio-therapist, a dentist and a physician have been retained to look after the inmates.

The Chairman of the Lions Club, Chandigarh Central, Dr B.S.Aggarwal, who is an M.S.(Orthopedics) by profession, has a different tale to tell. At the time of its acquisition, the men's wing was full of people with contagious diseases , he says. Though the women's wing hardly has any communicable disease-infected inmate, the men's wing has become a combination of tuberculosis, psychiatry, neurological as well as mental patients, he discloses.

While clarifying that after its acquisition, hardly any person new has been admitted, he demands a hospital for "geriatrics" (sickness for old people). As the home is for healthy persons, the infected patients should be shifted to hospital for their treatment, Dr Aggarwal opines.

He cautions that the city is fast converting into a place for retired and old people. If geriatric wings are not opened in several government hospitals, the future would be fearsome for them.

When asked about the annual grant-in-aid to the home, Dr Aggarwal says that in contrast to the administration's annual expenditure of Rs 7 lakh on 19 inmates, the UT Administration shall pay annual grant of Rs 4.5 lakh for the upkeep of 19 inmates. "The size of the grant is so small that we have to gear up our resources to collect more fund," he says.

Dr Aggarwal further adds that an eating joint vendor and the rickshaw pullers,who have encroached on the vacant space in front of the home, have been creating nuisance and menace.

It may be recalled that the World Health Organisation (WHO) is celebrating 1999 as a year for the old people and it has coined "Active ageing makes the difference" as the slogan of the year. It is to be seen how the public differentiate between healthy and unhealthy ageing.

‘Need to improve dental services’
By U.K. Bhanot
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 11 — With just one surgeon available for a population of 3 lakh, dental health services are almost non-existent in rural areas in the country. The concentration of dental surgeons being in urban areas, the average comes to one dental surgeon for every 43,000 people all over the country.

Stating this, Dr R.K. Bali, President, Dental Council of India, a Padmashri and Dr B.C. Roy national awardee, besides being a fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences said while oral health had been improving in the highly affluent and industrialised countries, it continues to deteriorate in India and other developing countries.

Dr Bali, who was here in connection with a three-day workshop on dental diseases, said from mere three dental colleges at the time of partition of the country, India now had 113 approved/ recognised dental colleges with more than 5000 seats for students.

With more colleges awaiting recognition, India would soon have 150 dental colleges in the next couple of years with a provision of at least 10,000 admissions every year. This will probably be the highest number in the world both for dental colleges and annual admissions.

As a remedial step, the Dental Council of India has made efforts for introducing postgraduate dental courses in almost all specialities in a phased manner with the approval of the National Board of Examinations.

On its part, he says, the Dental Council of India, which looks after the maintenance of uniform standards of dental education in the country, is trying to improve the situation by laying stress on the prevention of dental diseases through oral health promotion both at community and individual level based on the concept of primary health care approach. This would improve oral health efficiently and reduce cost.

Also, he says major changes are being brought about in the dental education in the country, hopefully from the beginning of the next academic session, by modernising syllabi and inspection of teaching institutions and making state dental councils responsible for the maintenance of registration of dentists and dental auxiliaries in a proper manner.

Due to shortage of dental surgeons in the country, dental colleges are now attracting an increasing number of aspirants for dental courses like Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) compared to previous year.

There are cases of many students having declined admission to medical colleges by preferring dental courses. This undoubtedly reflects a better understanding of the role of this profession and its commitment to humanity. A dental surgeon’s career is being given more weight also because it involves fewer arduous hours and ensures a better life style and at the same time handsome earnings. While the government doctors are not covered under the Consumers Protection Act, all private doctors are.

Dr Bali says massive numerical increases in dental manpower or facilities and the traditional, curative restorative rehabilitative approach has had only a marginal impact on the oral health in these countries. But significant improvements have occurred due to simple public health measures such as widespread use of fluoridated tooth-pastes, reduced sugar intake and frequency, reduced tobacco smoking and improved oral cleanliness.

Latest technology equipment and materials should be made available in the country in order to utilise whatever knowledge is available to prevent and reduce dental diseases. While more awareness has to be brought about among people, there is already an increased demand for dental services in the country. Steps are needed in the direction of prevention and curative aspects on a big scale, he adds.

Book full of poetic wisdom
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 11 — Justice (retd) Surinder Singh's new book 'Towards the Starlit Dome' was released by Lieut-Gen (retd) B.K.N. Chhibber, Governor of Punjab and Administrator of the UT, at a function held today at the banquet hall of Punjab Raj Bhavan.

The book, which has been written in a format of dialogues includes chapters penned by various eminent authors, including M.S. Chandla, Dr Sampooran Singh, Swami Navneet, Dr Suman Kathuria and D.S. Maini, and an after-word by Mr S.D. Bhambri, IAS (retd) and General Manager of The Tribune.

The evening's programme began with bhajan sung by Somana Sanyal, followed by a talk by Mrs K. Atma Ram, an academician. While commenting on "boisterous wit and humour" of Justice Surinder Singh, Mrs Ram said that the reader of this book would find poetic wisdom in it. She added that Justice Singh's writings in this book pointed towards the seed within a tree which aroused the curiosity of his readers. According to her, the distinctive feature of the book is the dominance of quotations and that too from Justice Surinder Singh's previous book, 'Playing with the Pebbles'.

Mr S.D. Bhambri, while reminiscing about his long association with the author, said that the book talked about a wide range of serious subjects. He said that Justice Surinder Singh, like all modern intellectuals, was a skeptic but at the same time was also searching for truth. According to Mr Bhambri, the essence of this book is that "the bell that tolls for you also tolls for me". He said that a great merit of the book was that it made the reader think.

On the occasion, a recorded message of D.S. Maini was also played for the audience, which said that the dialogue-format of the book would create a platform for future colloquies.

Maj-Gen (retd) Jaswant Singh said that the book was a bouquet of colourful discourses. His talk on the book was followed by a round of Urdu 'nazams' read out by R.D. Sharma 'Taseer'.

The Governor on releasing Justice Surinder Singh's 'Towards the Starlit Dome', said this was not a book but a 'shastra', since on reading this book he had thought of holy scriptures. He said that it was difficult to believe that this work could of a writer of today's age.

The Governor added that the essay on 'Man, The Image of God' impressed him greatly. He said the book seemed to be about human experiences as a result of human research in the matters of life.

Not enough classrooms, no drinking water
From Our Correspondent

MANAULI (SAS Nagar), July 11 — Students of three classes of the senior secondary school here have to return to their home without taking lessons due to insufficient number of classrooms.

The school, 6 km from the Industrial Area, SAS Nagar, has a strength of about 700 students in classes VI to XII. The school has only nine rooms.

The deteriorating condition of the school building has become a cause of worry for the teaching staff and the parents of students. The roofs of two rooms have been damaged and ceilings and walls of two other rooms have developed cracks.

As the number of rooms at the school is less, students have to sit in the open. Students of classes VI, VII and VIII say a holiday is declared if it rains.Teachers say they have to do this due to non-availability of enough rooms.

Another problems being faced at the school is of drinking water. Teachers say they have to carry water from their houses as the two hand pumps on the campus have not been functioning for past several days. There are no water taps on the premises. Staff members say women are inconvenienced due to non-availability of toilets.

Mrs Surinder Kaur, sarpanch, says a grant of Rs 3 lakh has been sanctioned for the school. The panchayat, in consultation with the school staff, has decided to construct new rooms, keeping in mind the safety of the students, she adds.

Sources say one administrative and two teaching posts are vacant. Students desirous to opt for history and physical education are unable to study these subjects as there are no teachers. The schools has no facility for the students keen to carry on studies in the science stream at the senior secondary level.

Students are also unable to make use of library facilities as the post of librarian is vacant. The library is well-stocked with books but nobody takes the responsibility to maintain the records.