Ludhiana, May 14
The Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) will start a menopausal clinic in the Gynaecology ward OPD tomorrow. This weekly clinic will have trained and experienced physicians who would render consultation and follow-up advice every Wednesday.

Giving this information here today, Dr Seema Grover said all women above the age of 40 were advised to attend the clinic. They can discuss their menopausal problems and seek information on various options available for their management and treatment.

Bone densitometry tests would be conducted free of cost on the opening day.

According to Dr Mary Abraham, head of the Department of Gynaecology at the CMCH, every woman should be aware of the changes that occur with menopause and drugs available for its treatment. In the long run, the benefits of the treatment would mean healthier post- menopausal years.

She said, “The cessation of the menstrual cycles signals the end of the reproduction phase of a woman. The actual stoppage of periods is accompanied by many symptoms like hot flushes, night sweats, tiredness, pains, vaginal dryness, urinary incontinence etc. Many women also go through a range of mood swings during this time. Post-menopause, women are also at a high risk of cardio-vascular diseases and osteoporosis.”

Dr Mary further said the average age for menopause was 47 years for the Indian women, but the symptoms and related health problems could start in their early forties. Because of the increasing life expectancy, the number of years a woman lived after menopause was increasing. — OC

Ludhiana, May 14
Claiming it to be first surgical procedure of its kind in Punjab, a team of doctors at RG Stone and Super Speciality Hospital here, said a highly advance needloscopy operation was successfully performed on three-and-a-half-year-old Anisha for removal of gall stones.

The surgery known as "micro-invasive laparoscopic cholecystectomy or needloscopy” was performed Dr H.S. Jolly, chief laparoscopic surgeon at the centre, who was assisted by Dr Anand Sehgal, urologist, and Dr Bhupinder Pal Singh, consultant anesthesiologist.

Addressing a news conference here today, Dr Jolly informed that Anisha had been complaining of pain in the abdomen for close to a year but all medications had failed to help her. With time, she also developed recurrent nausea and vomiting along with generalised weakness. As her symptoms worsened, her parents brought her to city hospital.

"Thorough examination and investigations revealed that Anisha had a stone in her gall bladder, which was the reason for her agony. She was admitted to the hospital on May 8 where the child underwent needloscopy on May 9. In this procedure, state-of-the-art miniature laparoscope (4 mm), also known as needloscope, was used and only three very small holes of 5 mm were made through the abdomen. After 72 hours of observation, the patient was found to have fully recovered.”

Dr Jolly said gall stones were earlier treated conventionally by open cholecystectomy, but with the development of laparoscopy and minimal invasive surgical techniques, laparoscopic cholecystectomy was the treatment of choice even in children. Dr Jolly claimed that the advantages of needloscopy over the routine laparoscopic surgery were invisible scar, lesser hospital stay, lesser pain and lesser requirement of medication.

Moreover, the minimal invasive surgery, or for that matter a procedure like needloscopy, was not that expensive and cost almost the same like traditional surgery, if shorter stay in the hospital and fast recovery were taken in consideration.

Ludhiana, May 14
Keen contests were seen in the inter-house chess competition and a large number of children took part in a race at Ryan International School, Urban Estate, Chandigarh road, here today.

In the A category, Pranav Dhawan, Sarthak Gupta, Priyanshu Mahajan, Tushar Mallik, Chaitanya Sharma, Simran Singh and Karanvir Singh, representing Aryabhatt house, registered victories, while in the category B- Newton house consisting of Akhil Chawla, Shivam Monga, Gundeep, Sidak Bansal, Navdeep Bansal, Guneet Singh, Kanav, Sahil Gupta and Anshul emerged winners.

In the girls' section, Twinkle, Prachi, Chahat and Supriya got the better of their opponents. Besides, a race was also organised for the primary section students. In the boys’ section, Vikram Gill finished ahead of others to bag the first prize. Govind Sharma and Gurpreet Singh secured second and third positions, respectively.

In the girls’ section, Nivedita, Nitya Mehra and Swati Sabharwal secured the first three positions. Jaishree Gupta, principal of the school, gave away certificates to the position holders.

Ludhiana, May 14
Mitter Sen Goel took charge as district attorney prosecution, Ludhiana, today in place of Amar Ashok Pathak, who has been transferred to Patiala.

A few days back, the Directorate of the Prosecution Department, Punjab, had appointed him special public prosecutor to handle the high-profile City Centre Scam case. Earlier, he has worked here as deputy district attorney.

R.S. Gill will be the new district attorney legal. Three district attorneys have been transfered.