Cake ka Langar organised on the occasion of Republic Day for Corona warriors at PGIMER
Chandigarh got another “Cake Ka Langar” organised by CAKEUNCLE on the occasion of Republic Day. The unique of its kind event was dedicated to Corona Warriors this time and had been organised collaboratively by CAKEUNCLE and SUKH Foundation at PGIMER Chandigarh.
The novel idea had been conceived by Niharika Rajput, Co-founder of CAKEUNCLE and this Sector 35 Chandigarh based Complete Bakery Institute has been organising such events within and around the city distributing free of cost cakes to its people in place of the customary food of langars. SUKH Foundation has been serving multiple social causes and has worked invariably to support the healthcare services during COVID pandemic.
More than 500 cakes were distributed amongst the staff of PGIMER Chandigarh after the flag hoisting ceremony at the institute and the occasion was graced by Prof.Jagat Ram, Director PGI and Prof.VipinKoushal, Additional Medical Superintendent besides other senior doctors and dignitaries.
Niharika Rajput said “We have always strived to serve our society. This idea came to my mind as I am already running a bakery institute and it was also a unique concept, as if besides feeding, we are also spreading sweetness and love amongst our people through our cakes”. Her sibling and Co-founder, Chaitanya Rajput said that “we have plans of conducting such events more frequently and on much larger scales and especially for the needy sections of the society”. He expressed his gratitude to the immense support received from Dr.Pranay Mahajan, General Secretary of SUKH Foundation. Mr. Amit Dewan, President of SUKH Foundation said “We were fascinated by this unique way of paying gratitude to our frontline corona warriors and extended all support to CAKEUNCLE for materializing their concept at PGI Chandigarh.”
Prof.Jagat Ram appreciated the gesture of the two organisations and emphasised the importance of such activities in boosting the morale of healthcare workers. Prof.Koushal applauded the efforts SUKH Foundation has been putting in for the welfare of the society and also congratulated CAKEUNCLE for this distinctive event.
PGIMER celebrates 72nd Republic Day
Director PGIMER commends the ‘Frontline Warriors’
for their ‘Commitment’, ‘Courage’ & ‘Compassion’ in COVID-19 Carnage
Chandigarh: 26 January: “As we celebrate the 72nd Republic Day today, we would like to cherish our healthcare workers for bravely donning the mantle of being our frontline warriors in this grave health emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
This was stated by Prof Jagat Ram, Director PGIMER, while addressing the PGIMER team after unfurling the national flag on the occasion of 72nd Republic Day of India here at PGIMER today. Other dignitaries present during the celebrations included Prof. G D Puri, Dean (Academics) & Head, Deptt. of Anaesthesia & Intensive Care, Mr. Kumar Gaurav Dhawan, DDA, Kumar Abhay, FA, Prof. A.K. Gupta, Medical Superintendent, Prof. Vipin Koushal, Addl. Medical Superintendent, Mr. P.C.Sharma, Chief Security Officer PGIMER and many senior members from faculty and administration.
Throwing light at how the institute rose to the occasion during the COVID 19 pandemic, Prof. Jagat Ram shared, “The Institute has been steadfast in serving the COVID 19 patients across the region from day one and till date, PGIMER has taken care of about 2700 seriously ill COVID-positive patients, 7700 suspected COVID patients in various isolation wards and clinically screened more than 75,000 patients in special screening OPDs across the institute. The crucial decision of dedicating the newly built 250-bedded Nehru Hospital Extension building to the care of COVID-positive patients was a remarkable step towards quality patient care.
Prof. Jagat Ram further added, “More than 4500 healthcare workers have been posted to the COVID hospital, and only 30 of them were detected to be COVID positive, many of whom acquired it from the community rather than the hospital. This is one of the lowest rates of COVID positivity amongst healthcare workers directly in contact with COVID patients anywhere in the world.”
Acknowledging the hardships faced by doctors, nursing & technical officers, technicians, hospital & sanitary attendants and other categories of staff who worked amongst COVID patients, the Director PGIMER lauded his team as he said, “They spent hours cloaked in inhospitable PPEs, wearing fogged goggles, and accomplished their duties with great patience and fortitude, avoiding meal breaks and washroom breaks, stayed away from family and friends in self isolation and quarantine. They put service before self and risked their own lives to save the lives of patients under their care.”
Alongside, PGIMER also contributed substantially to contain the spread by creating round the clock testing facilities and establishing labs across the northern region under its mentorship. Also, PGIMER was selected as one of the trial sites for various drugs for COVID -19 including second and third phases of human clinical trials of Covishield which have been successfully completed. So far, we have given vaccines to 583 healthcare workers of our institute under COVID Vaccination Drive that started on January 16. The matter of satisfaction is that so far no serious side effects have been found in anyone.”, the Director added.
The Director further stated, “Though it was very challenging but we tried our best to provide patient care services to non-COVID emergency patients as well reporting from all the adjoining states of Northern India. Besides this, the institute has been providing OPD services to patients through Tele-consultation and on an average, 3000 patients are being provided consultation and treatment daily since its inception in May 2020. Many departments such as Radiotherapy, Obst. & Gynae, Ophthalmology, Paediatrics and several others have continued seeing patients physically, after enforcing all due precautions, but nevertheless at great risk to themselves, added Prof. Jagat Ram
While enumerating the other innumerable achievements of the Institute, Prof Jagat Ram said, “It is a matter of pride PGIMER has been progressing day by day. The faculty members and resident doctors busy with both the clinical and research activities are able to generate approximately 54 crore rupees as extramural grants from various research agencies. Annually about 1700 research papers are published in reputed journals.
Some of the recent accomplishments of the Institute listed by Prof Jagat Ram included PGIMER being conferred with ‘Cleanest Public Sector Hospital’ twice under Kayakalp Scheme, ranking second in National Institutional Ranking Framework for three years consecutively under Health Sector Category and winning Best Hospital award for its contribution in cadaver organ donation by Director General of Health Services, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare for four times in a row.
Throwing light on the steps taken regarding the human resource, the Director shared that in the past one year, 88 employees have been appointed, 45 promoted, 27 confirmed and 107 employees confirmed and 66 have been financially upgraded under MACP/ACP. The process of filling up about 81 other vacancies is in progress. The Technical Staff working in the institute is working to provide the benefit of 6 tier promotion, while they have been given the benefits of Backlog promotions.
It was also shared that under the Digital India Campaign, PGIMER is striving hard to establish a Patient Friendly Information System. With an intent to ensure more efficiency and transparency, on-line examination for the courses have been successfully conducted.
Prof Jagat Ram urged all the employees to follow the Institute’s discipline, be empathetic and polite with the patients and work wholeheartedly for the Institute.Faculty, nursing, administrative and other staff were present on the occasion while maintaining social distancing and other preventive measures like wearing masks etc. The celebrations culminated with distribution of sweets amongst employees and rejuvenated spirits.
