Rotarians gift life to farmer’s son from Uttrakhand

Today, the club gave a warm send off to Mahinder (17), who was successfully operated on 1st July under the deft hands of Dr. T.S. Mahant, Executive Director CTVS, Fortis Hospital. 

This was the 559th heart surgery that the Club completed since 1999 when the project to save the lives of children suffering from congenital cardiac disease was initiated, informed Club President D.P. Singh, and till date 560 children have begun new life under the project. 

Mahinder came to the city with his elder brother and uncle for further check up about six months back.  Son of a farmer, Prem Lal, from village Lundra of tehsil Chamoli in Uttrakhand, the family was in for a shock when they learnt about his critical heart condition at PGI. 

The estimated expenditure was Rs.2.75 lakh, which his family could not support.  Stranded and suffering in serai in PGI, they were looking for help when a journalist from Dainik Bhaskar learnt about his plight and published a story. 

Past Rotary International President Rajendra K. Saboo noticed it and informed the club functionaries.  Rtn. Mona Khattar, club secretary, got in touch with the child, had his tests done and on 1st July, the deft hands of Dr. T.S. Mahant, Executive Director and cardiovascular surgeon, at Fortis Hospital, successfully operated and replaced his two defective heart valves, giving a new lease of life to Mahinder. 

At the Rotary House, Mahinder and his brother Om Parkash were all smiles.  Mahinder wanted to go back home and resume his class 10th studies. 

PP Baldev Agarwal, co-chair of Rotary Heartline Project said that club is grateful to all Rotarians, their family members and philanthropists who continue to support the Club's efforts to save the lives of these children. He reiterated that the club had committed way back in 1999 not to let any child die for want of money. 

Club Secretary Rtn Mona Khattar who had been looking after Mahinder and personally taking care of his needs, felt satisfied and joyous to see Mahinder hale and hearty from his earlier pale and sick condition when she saw him for the first time. 

Vocational Awards for Do Gooders

Two teachers honoured for Rotary International Literacy Mission Certificate of Honour

Rotary Club of Chandigarh honoured five citizens for going beyond the call of their duty to serve the people.

Mayor of Chandigarh Smt Poonam Sharma gave away the awards to the five citizens and commended Rotary for recognizing the contribution of ordinary citizens to the society.

She said that she would not only would seek Rotary’s help in honouring the mothers of baby girls, promoting literacy, and participate in ‘swachh bharat abhiyaan’, but would also join hands with them in the humanitarian work that the Rotary is doing.

Mayor Poonam Sharma presented the Certificate of Honour from Rotary International Literacy Mission to Varinder Kumar and Gurmeet Kaur, teachers of the Government Model Senior Secondary School for their contribution to promotion of literacy.

Vocational Awards were given to Alka Bhalla, Teacher of St. Stephen’s School, Togan; Jyoti Parkash, the office clerk at PGIMER; and Mehar Singh, dresser in the Institute of Health,Panjab University, Chandigarh.

Rotary Club Chandigarh gifts life to 7 children from Rwanda

Seven children from Rwanda returned to their home with new lease of life thanks to you, the Rotarian friends in our Rotary Club of Chandigarh, who have always been like angels standing by them to take care of them.




This was the last of the promised 30 surgeries that Past Rotary International President Rajendra K. Saboo had made to the Government of Rwanda on one of his earlier intercontinental medicare missions to the country.

 

District Governor of Rotary District 9150 from Rwanda Jean Runuya, Past RI President Rajendra K. Saboo and Usha Saboo, alongwith other members of the Club gave a touching farewell to these seven children at the Rotary House here today.

Jean Runuya profusely expressed his country’s gratitude to the Rotary Club of Chandigarh and team of doctors under Dr. T.S. Mahant, for saving the lives of these children. It is heartening to see how parents handover their little children to the Rotarians with great hope and expectation, to travel to distant land and await their safe return.

Prof. Paramjit Singh, President of the Club informed that one boy and six girls aged between 11 and 16t years, accompanied with Dr. Rutare Samuel and male nurse Heshima Christophe, reached the city on 30th January this year, suffering from various congenital cardiac disorders, and were operated at the Fortis Hospital Mohali.

Dr. T.S. Mahant, Executive Director, CTVS, Fortis Hospital Mohali. who led the team of surgeons, said that the children suffered from serious condition called rheumatic heart disease which often requires repair or replacement of heart valves.  Such children can’t play, walk or do normal activities due to breathlessness, chest pain, heart palpitations, etc. The valve-replacement surgeries were long and complicated yet successful and we are happy that these children would be able to lead happy and healthy lives.







Heartline Project chairs Sukhjit Singh Gill and Mona Khattar added that children have recovered well and Rotaractors of the club had also taken to the city for an outing last week and entertained them.

Rajendra K. Saboo informed that the Club had been able to save 546 lives of the children, which included several children from abroad, since India is at a stage when it can give back to the world its knowledge and expertise.

All this had been made possible from the donations by individuals and organizations to support the cost of the surgery which is shared by the Club’s partner hospitals, PGIMER and the Fortis Hospital Mohali.

Out of the 546 children saved under the project, there had been 30 children from Rwanda, 15 each from Malawi and Nepal, 34 from Pakistan, 7 from Uganda, 5 from Nigeria, two from Afghanistan, and one from Iraq.

New Designated Months

The Board modified Rotary's calendar of special observances to designate specific months highlighting the Areas of Focus. The new special observance months are:
•    September: Basic Education and Literacy
•    October: Economic and Community Development
•    December: Disease Prevention and Treatment
•    January: Vocational Service
•    February: Peace and Conflict Prevention/Resolution
•    March: Water and Sanitation
•    April: Maternal and Child Health
•    May: Youth Services


The R.I Board approved a change in the "additional per capita dues," as provided for in the RI Bylaws, to pay for the projected expenses of the Council on Legislation from $1.00 to $1.50, effective 1 July 2015.

Women are no less than Men

The Power of a WomanPast President Rtn. Arvind Mehan
Rotary Club of Chandigarh

In our last meeting we enjoyed a very elucidating talk by Ms. Gul Panag on Women Empowerment. The main emphasis was put on Gender inequality and bias. Be that as it may, an important aspect to know  for the woman is to unleash her inherent strength and power. The more confidently she projects it in society the more it will be recognized by man and she will earn her rightful respect and honour. The woman should not consider herself as the weaker sex, not even the fairer.

On watching the hindi movie “Mardani” recently, in my naiveté, I did not know but then realized that this attribute was not the private domain of men. It belongs to them as well. It is all about valour and courage and women only need to pledge to have it.

Let an inner voice resound in them that they are great just the way they are in the way they look but to change the way they become in their physical and mental strength.

Let a day come when the Miss India contest is held not for beauty or poise but for a track record of bravery or courage, sports or martial arts and for their leadership skills.

Our daughters, sisters or even the mothers of young children should be encouraged to go to gyms for physical fitness or to learn martial arts rather than beauty parlours which may be patronized only by senior ladies and men who may want to cheat their own age. Not that looking good in life is not important but only after one is physically fit and strong.

Basically the mindset has to be changed right from the age of toddlers so that they learn about gender equality right from the start. Boys should be sensitized right in kindergarten about gender respect. Girls should be made to realize from a very young age that they may very well be but are not supposed to look just pretty but grow up to be as important bread winners as men. They should not think of marriage as a position of shelter or support of a man in life but as being an equal if not stronger partner. It seems like an easy way out but girls have to be hard working and capable as well. They should pursue professional education seriously to make good careers and become financially independent if they have to fight the age-old scourge of dowry and other social evils.

On the same token, men of course should know that women have an equal right to go out and work and the responsibility of looking after children and the household as well as cooking is not the private domain of women. It belongs to them as well. All this conditioning for the children has to be done seriously as parents and teachers.

On hearing Gul Panag speak, one could make out that she is a ‘Mardani’ in many ways and was truly great leadership material and not just pushed into politics because of her celebrity image. Same is the case with Smriti Irani, whom one thought of similarly, once you get a chance to listen to her and realize how strong and able she is.

We have umpteen cases of such strong women leaders, past and present, who could take on the strongest of men leaders in any arena. But we need a lot more in society – much, much more. Let every young girl and woman of our country carry a conviction that she is no less in any field involving physical or mental dexterity than a man.

Let her carry a halo around her exuding strength, courage and power. Then let us see how men misbehave in any way with her. Once they know that women are not an ‘underdog’ in any field, they will cease to behave like ‘dogs’ like some of them are known to do when you hear of cases of rape and sexual harassment. Let there not be any modesty in women about their raging power lest the men attempt to outrage it!