Chandigarh, January 13
Making use of Information Technology to extend its services to the far-flung areas, the PGI here is planning to link Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Shimla, to it by March under the telemedicine project. The teams from the PGI have visited the IGMC to review the feasibility of the project.

Under telemedicine, the patients can be diagnosed and treated through the information transfer with the help of computer software. The IGMC can use the expertise of the PGI by sending in their reports and data through computer software for instantly treating the patients at their end.

“We are working at the project to establish the linkage between the IGMC through telemedicine. Our team visited the college recently. They need some more infrastructure for the project,” says Prof S.K. Jindal, head of the project and head of Department of Pulmonary Medicine at the PGI.

Apart from technical requirements, other modalities, including the services that should be shared and the schedule of doctors’ advice, would be worked out at later. Prof Jindal, in fact, says if the IGMC decides to avail itself of the services of the PGI through telemedicine on a regular basis, a memorandum of understanding between the two institutes has to be signed.

The tele-linking of the IGMC with the PGI is part of the project of the Department of Information Technology in which the premier institutes of northern India, AIIMS, New Delhi, SG PGI, Lucknow, and the PGI, Chandigarh, were to be linked to the smaller institutes in the districts for making quality medical services available to a large number of persons. The PGI, Rohtak, is to be linked with AIIMS and Medical College, Cuttack, with the SGPGI, Lucknow.

Chandigarh, January 13
The co-occurrence of Tuberculosis (TB) and HIV is going to the major concern for the developing countries like India, which are prone to a TB epidemic. Sharing his views at the recently organised Indo-US symposium on Advanced Research on the HIV\AIDS at the PGI, Dr Barry Kriestwirth from the USA said while India had controlled TB epidemic in the recent years, the problem would compound when young persons with HIV infections developed TB.

“Tuberculosis is the first infection that HIV person contracts. It means that it is a maker for the HIV ailment. That is why the diagnosis and the control of the TB in the earliest stages becomes extremely crucial,’’ he says.

According to Dr Kriestwirth, the biggest challenge before the world is to have the anti-retroviral drug therapy for the HIV\AIDS patients where the TB does not progress in a patient while the HIV virus is being controlled. Under the present circumstances if a TB patient is also HIV positive, he should not be given the drugs to treat both disease together as it could be harmful. In fact the patient should first be given TB medicines and then anti-retroviral drugs to control the HIV,’’ remarked the visiting doctor. The PGI, in fact would start the research on identifying the strains that cause TB in the northern parts of the country. 

Panchkula January 13
The Panchkula District Cricket Association will organise a knockout-cum league cricket tournament for the Amartex Cup from January 16. The matches will be played at the JR Institute of Cricket Technology Stadium, Barwala, here.

According to Mr Sandeep Moudgil, Secretary, Panchkula District Cricket Association, the objective of the tournament is to provide quality and competitive cricket to cricketers of the region at the grassroots level.

In all eight teams are taking part in the competition. The teams have been selected by invitation. The selected teams have been divided into two pools. While Pool A consists of the Bharat Cricket Club, Anoop Cricket Club, JR Sharma Cricket Institute and the High Court Employees XI, Pool B consists of the Chandigarh Cricket Association XI, Satluj Coaching Centre, Minerva Academy and the Bedi Cricket Club.

The teams will play a league round match against each other in their own pool. The top two teams from each pool will enter the semifinals which will be played on a knockout basis. The matches will be played on Saturdays and Sundays. These matches, which will commence at 9 am, will be played on the basis of 50 overs per side.

The opening match will be played between the Chandigarh Cricket Association and the Satluj Coaching Centre, Panchkula, on January 16. The final match of the tournament will be played on March 13.

Chandigarh, January 13
The UT Administrator, Gen S.F. Rodrigues (retd), has called for reorienting the policies and strategies to ensure their applicability with efficiency and commitment in the country.

Addressing a gathering after inaugurating an administrative block, an auditorium and a library of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Sector 27, here this evening, the Administrator said in this competitive world the need of the hour was to workout programmes that were compatible with local needs and brought social equality.

Restructuring the organisations in the social service sector was essential to care of the people who were still deprived of basic amenities like food, health and education, he said.

The administrator said, “We need to remind ourselves of the parameters and goals set by the founding fathers of our nation and it must be our endeavour to fulfil our obligations towards society.” The Indian history was full of the ideals of a social and intellectual life meant to establish equality and provide justice, abolish ignorance and poverty, he added.

About the concept of vidya bhavan institutions, he said those institutions played a significant role in the freedom movement and national reconstruction in the post-Independence era. He called upon the management of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan to carry forward the legacy of the pioneering efforts of its founding fathers to future generations.

He called upon the managements of educational institution to take a leadership role and evolve an appropriate arrangement for sharing their facilities, on an institutionalised basis.

Mr Dhiru Bhai Mehta, Director-General of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (Worldwide), gave an account of the network of the institutions working all over the world.

Mr R.K. Saboo, President of the Vidya Bhavan, said Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan was an international institution working for preservation, enhancement and promotion of the Indian culture with special emphasis to education throughout the world.