PM’s childhood friend in Pak no more

BY RASHMI TALWAR

AMRITSAR SEPT 23——–Raja Mohammed Ali (78) childhood friend of Prime Minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh from ancestral Gah village of PM died last night . Rashmi Talwar a writer was informed about the sad demise by the grand daughter of Raja Mohammed Ali Asifa Azkar and grandson Raja Asad Ali via phone from Pakistan .

They described the loss as “we feel empty without our grandfather”. Raja ji suffered a massive heart attack last night which took his life. His Janaza was offered in the evening today. The Prime Minister’s office has been informed about the demise of the friend of the PM who had studied till class 4th with the PM in the village school. Raja’s ardent wish was to meet his friend -the Indian PM and two years back in year 2008 , he came to India via Wagah Indo –Pak Border in Amritsar and was hosted

PM Dr Manmohan Singh's Pak friend no more

by DAV Public School headed by its Principal Mrs Neera Sharma . Thereafter he met the PM in Delhi and was covered by the world media as one of those unforgettable moments in history when the Indian PM met his Pakistani classmate. Rashmi Talwar along with Mr Joginder Kohli -who too had studied with Raja ji as well as with the PM expressed their deepest condolence to the aggrieved family of Raja ji on the sad demise . Raja ji had brought the soil and water of the PM ‘s house and of their school for the PM . He had also presented the PM with their village chakwali Jutti (footwear) besides had given the PM a 150-year old silk shawl (lachcha ) made by his own grandparents. The meeting in delhi was an emotional bonding between two long lost childhood friends– one a farmer (Raja Mohd Ali , Pakistan ) and the other a Prime Minister (Dr Manmohan Singh, India )

FOLLOW–UP ON STORY OF —“22 HEP-C AND “1” HIV AIDS IN BORDER VILLAGE NARLI”

Villagers panic over death of one by AIDS in border village Narli ….50 infected with HIV AIDS, 70 with Hep-C
Eye hospital’s random testing opens Pandora’s Box on fast spreading deadly diseases in village

Rashmi Talwar

AMRITSAR SEPT -23, 2010———Awareness Camp by health department headed by Dr Swarnjit Dhawan in village Narli on Indo Pak border on Wednesday found a alarming situation, with a dozen deaths due to HIV+ AIDS in recent years while ‘three’ had succumbed to deadly Hep-C virus.
It is pertinent to mention that a routine test of 74 patients found with cataract by ‘Dr Om Parkash Eye Hospital’ had found 22 of them infected with Hep-C and one –HIV +AIDS, in this village near Amritsar recently .
This revelation by Director of the Hospital Dr Rohit Om Parkash had opened a Pandora’s Box about fast spreading deadly diseases in this border village.

During the camp by health department, village sarpanch Mukhtar Singh expressed his annoyance to the health authorities who had never taken any steps for health care in their village.
He revealed to them that about 50 persons were afflicted with HIV AIDS while 70 were infected with deadly with Hep-C.
There was poor attendance at the camp even though the announcement was made through a public address in village gurdwara .
Shocking details were let out by some who attended the camp (all names changed).

Parampreet Kaur revealed that she was married to a truck driver who died with AIDS and later she was married to her younger brother-in-law and now both have HIV AIDS.
One Kabal Singh and Harjit Singh also died due to AIDS. Sham Singh said his wife died of AIDS and he too is infected.

A 35 year said he did not come to know how he got infected with HIV AIDS and then his wife too got infected. The couple lost their son to AIDS as also a 6-month old daughter Aman. Later his wife also died with the same disease.
Sarpanch Mukhtar Singh said in recent years about a dozen persons had died of AIDS. Jagdeep Kaur wife of school principal died of Hep-C as also wives of two other persons. The sarpanch revealed that these deadly diseases were fast spreading due to quacks, drug addicts and drug peddlers in the village.
The village has 850 houses and a population count of 12,000 out of which 3600 persons were adults and 50 % were dalits.
The Sarpanch appealed to the Health authorities to conduct tests in the village to identify those infected with HIV AIDS and HEP-C and take urgent measures to arrest the spread of the diseases. He also urged the law enforcing authorities to nab drug peddlers and provide de-addiction clinics for drug addicts.

PS : Plz conduct your own verification with health authorities

22- Persons found with deadly Hepatitis-C , One HIV+ in Indo-Pak border village Narli,

Women too among effected

BY RASHMI TALWAR

Amritsar September 18, 2010—————-

In what seems to be an eye –opener , mandatory blood tests of patients suffering from Cataract (Eye Problem) diagnosed in a camp organized by “Dr Om Parkash Eye Institute” in Village Narli on the Indo Pak border, led to an alarming disclosure of 22 patients found to be afflicted with Hepatitis-C while one person was found to be HIV+.
The hospital team headed by its director Dr Rohit Om Parkash , Mr Maqbool and others organized a follow up camp in this village recently, after the alarming results of Hep-C and HIV+infection were found in blood tests of these patients.
In the earlier camp, the eye specialist medical team had detected a total of 74 cases of ‘Cataract’ and when routine blood tests of these 74 patients for HIV+ and Hep-C were conducted prior to cataract surgery in the hospital at Amritsar, 22 of them were found to be afflicted with Hep-C virus while one man was found with HIV+ status.
The age group of affected patients found with Hep-C ranged from 35 to 70 years including many women. A woman aged 70 years too was found to be affected by the disease.
At the follow up camp organized in Government Senior Secondary School, Narli, the Principal of the school Mr Lakha Singh and village Sarpanch Mr Mukhtar Singh were informed of the detection of this disease that caused severe liver damage and proved fatal in cases, if left untreated.
The principal while talking to the doctors disclosed that approximately 30 to 35 percent of village population and around, especially males had taken to drugs and 20 percent of these were using injections. Being a border village, the drugs are smuggled from the neighboring country of Pakistan and are easily available in the village.
He also stated that mostly RMP (Registered medical Practitioners) were handling patients in the village and reportedly some of them were using fake medical documents and were taking little or no precautions in administering injections or using other sterilization techniques to safeguard patients as well as themselves.
The doctors explained to patients at Narli village that Hepatitis C virus is spread by blood-to-blood contact especially by sharp instruments or coming in contact with infected blood from sharing needles or other household items like nail clippers, toothbrushes, tattooing, even menstruation, saliva , and nose bleeds. Unprotected sex too caused this virus to spread. In the early stages of infection patients may show signs of fatigue, loss of appetite, muscle aches or fever, later yellowing of the skin or eyes (jaundice) are manifested as its symbols. The Principal of the school also revealed to the visiting doctors that a shrine “Sidh Baba Bodh Nath” widely believed to have divine powers in healing jaundice drew thousands of patients suffering from jaundice each Sunday in their village.
Dr Rohit urged the state authorities to take urgent notice of the fast spreading virus in this village and around to prevent it from taking epidemic proportions. “ It is a scary situation wherein we find that majority of these patients remain undetected. The risk factor thus for medical treating personnel has increased manifold and is alarming”.
Dr Rohit drew the attention of state wherein investigations for Hep –B, C and HIV prior to even minor surgery very a necessity for general well being of the public.