HEALTH

Efforts to check TB intensified
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, December 2
A meeting of the officials from district administration, Health Department, NGOs and medical practitioners on the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) was held at Circuit House today. It was chaired by Mr Deepak Gupta, Adviser, RNTCP, Chandigarh.

Mr Gupta said the revised programme had brought three major changes. He said now the diagnosis of TB would be based on sputum microscopy in place of chest X-Ray, which was the main diagnostic tool in the previous programme. Under the Directly Observed Treatment (DOT), the health workers and NGOs would now give the medicines to the patients under their supervision. The main focus of the programme would be extended up to sub-district level by forming Tuberculosis Units (TUs) at the sub-district with the population of five lakh and a microscopy centre with population of one lakh.

Mr Gupta said, “On March 24, the 2001, programme was started in Patiala district. Now Ludhiana has been covered under it along with seven more districts of Punjab”.

The primary purpose of the programme was to plan, implement, monitor and supervise all activities to control TB in the district in coordination with the district TB centre (DTC) under the overall guidance of the state and Central governments. Ludhiana district, with a population of 30,30,352, has been divided into seven parts for the purpose of TB Control Programme. They are District TB Centre-cum-TB unit, Ludhiana, TB unit ESI Hospital, Ludhiana, TB unit, Jagraon, TB unit, Sudhar, TB unit, Sahnewal, TB unit, Khanna and TB unit, Samrala, he added.

Mr Gupta stressed that follow-up treatment of a TB patient was very necessary. Among others present on the occasion were Mr Anurag Verma, Deputy Commisioner, Dr S.N. Tiwari, Civil Surgeon, Dr Iqbal Singh, Dr Gursharan Singh, Dr Shruti Sehgal, Dr Hardayal Singh, Dr Jagdeep Vig and Dr R.Maheshwari.

Journal endorses Dr Bedi’s technique
Shivani Bhakoo

Ludhiana, December 2
The Indian Heart Journal, Asia’s premium heart journal, has endorsed and published the new technique of valve replacement on open beating heart of 16-year-old Aarti of Jhansi by Dr H. S. Bedi, in its latest edition.

Aarti’s heart valve was seriously damaged from early childhood, leading to a major damage to the heart and lungs. Blood was leaking into her lungs which were flooded with fluid. Aarti had difficulty in breathing and, at times, she could not sleep at night.

The standard procedure of heart valve replacement entailed stopping the heart by the use of a potent medicine called Cardioplegia. The heart is then opened and the valve is replaced. However in the case of Aarti it was feared that if the heart was stopped, it might not restart as it was so badly damaged.

Talking to this correspondent, Dr H.S. Bedi, Executive Director and Chairman of Cardiac Sciences Sigma NewLife Heart Institute said new technique of keeping the heart beating by providing with warm oxygenated blood while the valve was being replaced, was adopted. Aarti’s heart continued to beat and it recovered fast after the valve replacement surgery.

This valve replacement on an open beating heart performed by Dr.Bedi got recognition and was endorsed and published in the latest issue of the Indian Heart Journal. Dr Bedi’s name features in the Limca Book of World Records in performing the world’s first multi-vessel beating heart surgery.

Dr Bedi said, “This technique is so good that it has been tried on 10 other patients successfully”.

After undergoing a successful operation, Aarti was chatting with her parents four hours after the surgery. In India, heart valve disease is the commonest heart ailment especially in rural areas because of lack of education, awareness and poor health facilities.

109 children examined
Our Correspondent

Machhiwara, December 2
A medical check up camp for children was organised by CS Monu Memorial Welfare Society Machhiwara, in the memory of Chander Shekhar Monu.

Dr Mahesh Gupta MD (medicine) and Dr Ashwani Sareen MD (medicine), both child specialists, examined 109 children and made the parents aware about the health of their wards. Mr J.P. Singh Makkar inaugurated the camp.

A healthy child competition was also organised by the society. Amongst the tiny-tots (age group 1-3) who won this contest include master Nishant Grover (first prize), Simran (second prize) and Jyoti (third prize).