Age no bar for heart surgery: docs
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, February 3
Age is no bar for heart surgery. According to cardiac surgeons at Sigma Hospital here, the success rate of heart surgeries among persons above 75 years is more as compared to the young. Their recovery rate is equally good, the doctors said.

Arguing his case, Dr K.C. Mukherjee, senior consultant cardiac surgeon, Sigma Hospital, Tara Singh, a 74-year-old diabetic patient was admitted with unstable angina.

The angiography revealed osteal left main disease which is also known as widow maker disease as this carries very high mortality if not operated upon.

He disclosed that when the patient underwent an emergency bypass surgery arterial graft (LIMA) was used despite emergency nature of surgery and old age of the patient, as arterial grafts were definitely better than veins. He said, the patient recovered and was shifted to the ward within 48 hours. He said, “this case strengthened my belief that age is really not a bar for doing bypass surgery”. The bypass surgery was more comfortable among young. Citing another example, he said, Harbans Singh Bedi, a 47-year-old, was also admitted to emergency. The arterial bypass was done by using beating heart technique and the patient had a fast recovery.

In another case, a 30-year-old Shobha Rani was diagnosed, by Dr Raman Chawla, another senior cardiologist at Sigma Hospital, of deep vein thrombosis. On investigation it was found that she had blockage in both lower limb veins which carried blood from limbs to heart. I

t could block blood to lungs and cause instant death. Dr Chawla puts a filter in a main vessel carrying blood from lower limbs to heart. After putting filter patient is mobile with almost negligible chances of travelling dislodged clot from lower limbs to lungs.

In another case, Ms Sunita had discoloration of left hand because of blockage in left subclavian artery which supplies blood to the left arm. Clot had travelled from the artery to finger tips.

In this case angioplasty of subclavian artery was done and the stent was put in with a 1 mm prick. Dr Chawla said further chances of blockage would be less and if it had not been done then this condition could have led to her arm getting dysfunctional. 

Confusion among PCMS docs over salary
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, February 3
Confusion prevails among the Punjab Civil Medical Services Association (PCMSA) members over salary and continuation of service in the tenure of higher education after selection in 60 per cent service quota of post-graduation (MD/MS).

This has been caused by a letter issued by the Finance Department to all departments, that proposed to abolish Study Leave Rules, 1963, refusing salary to doctors in the tenure of higher qualification and other benefits to in-service Punjab Government employees.

Dr Hardeep Singh, president and Dr Balwinder Kumar, district general secretary, in a press statement today said on the other hand the Principal Secretary Health and Family Welfare, Ms Rupan Deol Bajaj, had assured the deputation of the PCMS doctors of their full salary, with continuity of service in the tenure of higher education after selection in 60 per cent service quota of post graduation (MS/MD).

Dr Balwinder Kumar said the deputation had stated that higher education courses were not merely an academic exercise but also a higher clinical training period for doctors in the state medical colleges, in the tenure of which they continued to serve the patients. The in-service 60 per cent PCMS quota was for the doctors serving in the remote rural areas and after these courses they were bound to serve there.

Government’s implementation of the new proposal would discourage the doctors to opt for rural service and, as a consequence the rural masses would be deprived of specialised professional skill of doctors.

Dental camp on Feb 5
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, February 3
The first phase of dental awareness drive for schools and college students, initiated by the Baba Jaswant Singh Super-Specialty Dental Hospital will begin with a dental awareness and check-up camp at BCM Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh Road, on February 5.

According to a press note, the students will undergo dental check-up under the supervision of an expert team by a mobile dental clinic. Talk on dental hygiene and precaution will also be delivered. A poster exhibition on dental awareness will also be held.

According to a study conducted by WHO, at present more than 80 per cent of school going children and 90 per cent of the people in other age-groups suffer from various dental diseases and 35 to 40 per cent of cancer patients have malignancy of the oral cavity. Therefore there was need to reach out to the people in urban and rural areas through dental awareness and check-up camps.

50 take part in ‘veteran walk’
Our Correspondent

Khanna, February 3
The Department of Sports at A.S. College, Khanna, had organised ‘Veteran Walk’ at Madan Gopal Chopra Memorial Stadium on Sunday morning. Mr Tarsem Bahia, Principal, said in a press note here on Monday that more than 50 men and women took part in the competition. He said there were six different groups of men and three of women. The walk was inaugurated by the college secretary, Mr J.S. Lotey.

In a 5-km walk in the age group of 40 and above, Rakesh Aggarwal, bagged the first position while Jagminder Singh Mangat got second position and Subash Arora third.

In the age group of 45 and above Lachhman Singh bagged first position, Dharmpal second and Daljit Singh third.

In the 50 and above group Manjeet Singh stood first, Amarjit Singh (second) and Nirmal Singh (third). In 55 and above group Baldev Singh, Amar Singh and Ram Nath Malhotra bagged first, second and third position, respectively. In 60 and above group Atma Singh got first position, Mukhtiar Singh second and Mewa Singh bagged third position. In 65 and above group Gurdev Singh stood first and Manmohan Singh bagged second position.

In women walk of 2 km Ms Manjeet Lota stood first, Ms Pinki Vision (second) and Ms Ravinder (third) in the age group of 40 and above.

In age group 50 Ms Darshan Singh bagged first position while Ms Ram Murti stood second and in the age group of 55 and above Shashi Bhandari got first position and Sharda Bahia bagged second position.

Cheer-up campaign for Indian team
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 3
As the countdown to the Cricket World Cup begins, the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC) has kick started “I cheer for India” campaign for the Indian cricket team. The campaign was launched simultaneously in 16 cities across the country. It was flagged off by the Municipal Commissioner, Ludhiana, Mr SK Sharma here today.

The campaign is primarily a marketing activity for HSBC customers. A wide range of existing prizes ranging from a holiday trip to Egypt to the mobile hand sets can be won.