Pills may increase your medical bills
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 7
If you have developed an obsession for a muscular body and want to join a gymnasium, beware! You may be asked to take a pill before coming to the gym everyday. If you are already taking a pill suggested by your instructor, consult your doctor before it becomes too late.

A survey of some local health clubs by Ludhiana Tribune revealed that instructors were asking their clients to swallow pills of paracetamol, ibuprofen, etc. and in some cases even stronger ones before workouts.

Not only painkillers but anabolic steroids, called muscle-building drugs, are also being suggested by instructors.

According to Dr Babbu Bassi, an instructor at a gymnasium “Anabolic steroids are no doubt known as muscle-building drugs but these are actually a supplement of male hormones that are used to cure certain diseases. Their use as muscle-building agents is a misuse and this is known as doping. Anabolic steroids are known to produce an abnormal muscle mass.”

“Muscle mania has affected youngsters so much that they are ready to pay any price for it. Their obsession is being cashed by various gymnasiums. They are suggesting all kinds of drugs to give the results, no matter what adverse effects these can have on the body,” a local doctor said.

He quoted an incident where he received a patient with anal bleeding. “The bleeding was so severe that the patient went into a state of shock. He was given two bottles of blood before he could recover from the blood loss. Later after inquiring from him he told me that he was given ibuprofen tablet by the gymnasium instructor and after having it he suffered gastric irritation leading to anus bleeding,” the doctor added.

“It is not that everybody will suffer in the same way after having this medicine. The patient was allergic to the drug,” he added.

Dr G.K. Nakra, a city-based physician, said, “Painkillers are no solutions. Rather the workouts should be increased gradually and not rapidly. This type of drug dependence is drug abuse.”

Another doctor said exercising after taking a pain killer makes a muscle to overwork leading to its damage. Moreover, joints also get affected. He also said steroids even affected body resistance.

Cleft clinic opened
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 7
“Cleft lip and palate are the most common birth defects and one in every 700 children in India is born with a cleft lip. In India alone nearly 35,000 children are born with cleft deformities each year. Out of these, only 10,000 receive medical treatment”, said Dr Vijay Obed, Head, Department of Plastic Surgery, CMCH, while speaking on the inauguration of Smile Train Cleft Clinic of the CMCH recently. It was inaugurated by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anurag Verma.

Explaining the clinical aspects of the cleft lip, he said: “A cleft is a separation of the two sides of the lip. The separation often includes the bone of the upper jaw or gum or palate. Besides having a visible deformity, these children are not able to eat or speak properly, have hearing, learning and psychological problems.

Regarding the treatment, he said cleft deformities could be corrected by surgery.

Smile Train International is a US-based NGO dedicated to the cause of cleft management. It is operational in 50 countries. In India it has got over 20 partners and the Plastic Surgery Department of the CMCH is the only centre in the North where the Smile Train project is operational.

Regarding the financial cost of the surgery, Smile Train and the CMCH are providing treatment free of cost. The cost of each surgery is between Rs 16,000 and Rs 20,000. So far 300 surgeries have been performed in the CMCH since January 2001.

Dr Satish Kalra, Regional Director, South Asia, Smile Train International, was also present. He said the main cause of deformity is hereditary.

Mr Verma said the District Health Department would actively participate in the project and would carry out several seminars to educate the medical officers and multipurpose workers.