35% heart patients needing surgery are from the villages

Dr Bedi  at the camp with 2 patient 

Rural Punjab reports a very high incidence of diabetes, high blood cholesterol level and obesity. These, in turn, manifest as cardiac problems. This was stated by Dr Harinder Singh Bedi – Head of Cardio Vascular & Thoracic Surgery at the Christian Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana. He made this observation at the free cardio vascular counseling, detection and prevention camp organized jointly by the Christian Medical College & Hospital and the Mata Kaushalya Devi Pahwa Charitable Hospital in Village Hambran in Ludhiana.

A very high incidence of heart and vascular disease was noted in this rural area. This was no surprise - Dr Bedi said - as about 35% of his heart patients needing surgery are from the villages. The camp was held to try and look at the reasons for this apparent discrepancy. While it is true that villages have a clean non polluted atmosphere and the pace of life is generally relaxed – but at the same time there has been a gradual change in lifestyle. The hard manual labour is now being done mostly by migrant workers while the cholesterol rich diet remains as before. Consequently the body is unable to metabolise all the calories consumed leading to deposits in the arteries. Also urbanization of rural areas is taking place, and so the urban-rural difference is decreasing and more and more rural people are getting this disease. India in 2010 accounts for nearly 60 per cent of the global heart ailments as per WHO statistics.  It is also seen that Indians had more common involvement at younger age with smaller coronary arteries; diffuse distal disease, multi-vessel disease and higher incidence in women. This could be due to the rising incidence of drug addiction in rural youth.

Also focusing on poor medical care in rural and remote areas, the camp study recognised that people with heart disease in rural Punjab received slower care than people in the cities and were more likely to die before reaching a hospital. Heart attack rural patients head to hospitals in buses or tractors rather than ambulances, and pay for the treatments out of their own pockets because of ignorance regarding health insurance.

Dr Bedi stressed on the benefits of addressing the root cause of heart disease in Punjab. Punjabi diet is very rich compared to that of the population living in southern part of the country. It is for this reason that we are witnessing people at young age getting heart attacks.

One can easily do three things for preventing heart diseases Dr Bedi told the gathering in the village. Eat less fried food, less butter and ghee. Second, exercise daily for around 45 minutes. And third, reduce stress in life. Because of the nature of the work, we have become over stressed. So things like yoga, meditation & entertainment help a person to relax. A special dietary counseling and individualized yoga therapy was an intergral part of the camp.

The team included Dr A Gupta, Dr Prashant, Dr Meenu, Dietitians Dt D Dhillon and Dt Nitya, Yoga Acharya Nirmal Singh, Staff nurses headed by Sister Balwinder Kaur, Mr Emmanuel and Mr William. Dr Abraham G Thomas – Director of CMC & H – said that the outreach programmes were an integral and important part of the basic philosophy of CMC so that medical care could reach one and all in this region. Onkar Singh Pahwa – MD of Avon Cycles and Pahwa Hospital said that they were ready to bring the latest technology to the rural masses so that they can avail of the best medical facilities.  , MLA Darshan Singh Shivalik and Sarpanch Sukhdev Singh Toor also activel participated in the camp.

Dr Bedi may be contacted at 98140-60480 for any clarification....: Rector Kathuria 

Pakistan is most dangerous Country for Journalists- CPJ

Forty-two journalists were killed around the world this year and Pakistan was the deadliest country of all, a study by the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Wednesday.

Pakistan led the list of fatalities with eight, followed by Iraq with four and three each in Honduras and Mexico, the New York-based CPJ said.

The total number of reporters killed in connection with their profession was much lower than in 2009, when the record figure of 72 worldwide was skewed by a one-off massacre in the Philippines.

In addition to the 42 known to have been killed this year, another 28 journalists died in still unclear circumstances, the CPJ said.

"The killing of 42 journalists in 2010, while a decline over previous years, is still unacceptably high and reflective of the pervasive violence journalists confront around the world," said CPJ executive director Joel Simon.

"From Afghanistan to Mexico, Thailand to Russia, the failure of governments to investigate crimes against the press contributes to a climate of impunity that ultimately fuels further violence."

Most of the 42 deaths were murders, while 40 percent took place in combat and other dangerous circumstances.

"Suicide bombings and crossfire in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Thailand, and Somalia accounted for the unusually high proportion," the CPJ said.
Nearly all the victims were local reporters. Six of them were Internet-based journalists.

"CPJ research shows that about 90 percent of journalist murders go unsolved despite the fact that many victims -- 60 percent in 2010 -- reported receiving threats in the weeks before they were killed," the rights group said in a statement.
Iftikhar Chaudri 
President
Journalists for International Peace.

Amnesty International Calls on Chinese Authorities to Reveal Whereabouts of Mongolian Human Rights Activist

Posted on:Wed, Dec 15, 2010 at 9:17 PM

Washington, D.C.: Amnesty International has called on the Chinese authorities to immediately reveal the whereabouts of  Hada, a missing Inner Mongolian human rights activist, who was due to be released last Friday, and two of his family members. 

“China is using enforced disappearance to keep activists and their family members out of the spotlight while the world’s attention is focused on China’s first Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo” said Catherine Baber, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific deputy director.

Hada’s wife Xinna and son Uiles have reportedly been detained in an unknown location for at least ten days by the Inner Mongolian Public Security Bureau.  Hada appears to have joined them since at least last Friday.
Hada, who like many ethnic Mongolians goes by a single name, was scheduled for release on December 10, 2010 after serving 15 years for “splittism” and “espionage” due to his involvement in the Southern Mongolian Democratic Alliance.  Amnesty International considered him a prisoner of conscience.

His wife Xinna and son Uiles were detained by authorities on December 4, and their family bookstore raided. The Public Security Bureau told relatives that Xinna was held on suspicion of running an illegal business, and Uiles was accused of drug-dealing.

The authorities urged Uiles to “clearly draw a line” between himself and his parents and not to engage in separatist activities. He was released later that day, only to be detained again on December 5.

According to the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center, Hada’s sister-in-law Naraa received an anonymous CD of photographs of the three missing family members eating together, date stamped December 10.

On December 14 she was reportedly summoned to the Public Security Bureau and  informed that the three missing relatives were being held in a five star hotel. She was not told which hotel or for how long they would be held.

“The Chinese authorities must immediately clarify Hada and his wife and son’s current status and whereabouts," said Baber. "They cannot simply hide people they find embarrassing or inconvenient."
Hada served his sentence in Chifeng Prison in Ulaanhad, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. In 2004, an inmate who was released from Chifeng Prison reported that Hada was routinely abused there, subjected to disciplinary punishments ranging from solitary confinement to being chained onto a metal “shackle board”.

In November, authorities placed writer and activist Huuchinhuu under illegal house arrest. She had been planning a party for Hada upon his release.

Before he was arrested in 1995, Hada was the general manager of the Mongolian Academic Bookshop in Hohhot, and involved in the Southern Mongolian Democratic Alliance, which aimed to promote human rights, Mongolian culture and “a high degree of autonomy for China’s minority nationalities, as guaranteed in [China’s] Constitution”.

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 2.8 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied. 

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