Nagpur: 12th October is going to be observed as World Arthritis Day and Alexis hospital in Nagpur has thought of a special scheme to help the many Arthritis patients of the city lead a pain free and active life by consulting their team at 50% consultation fees every Wednesday.
At a novel function organized in the hospital premises on Sunday 8th October, many patients who have benefited from Knee Replacement Surgery and other non surgical treatment too, gathered to to ‘go on a walk’ to celebrate their new active and pain free life style.
Present on the occasion along with the patients, were Chief Guest : Shri Babanrao Wankhede , President East Vidarbha Regional Department (FESCOM).
Guest of Honor : Dr Smriti Ramteke, MBBS, MD (Rheumatology) : Consultant , Rheumatology, Jasleen Hospital, Nagpur, Dr Alankar Ramteke, Consultant, Joint Replacement surgery, Alexis Multispeciality Hospital, Dr Annirudha Sonegaonkar, Associate Consultant, Orthopedics, also of Alexis and Dr Jatinder Arora, Director Administration, Alexis.
Dr. Smriti Ramteke spoke about arthritis, specifically among many women patients and how it could be avoided with some precautions. She mentioned three main causes why so many women above the age of 45 to 50 suffer from debilitating knee and joint problems. She said this condition was caused by obesity, lack of exercise and faulty diets mainly.
“Many of my patients claim that they have been doing regular exercise; when I ask what, they reply ‘I do Yoga’, or ‘I go for a walk’ or ‘I go swimming’ etc. None of these is a complete exercise routine as required by the body. Ideal exercise should consist of Cardio ( walking, swimming, jogging etc.), Stretching (Yoga) and Strengthening ( weight training). The three done in equal measure will give you a supple and energetic body at any age” she emphasized.
She also stressed on the importance of right diet and taking health supplements like Vitamin D, Calcium etc. regularly.
Giving the key note address, Dr. Alankar Ramteke enumerated that the population of elderly people is growing rapidly in India. The number of people of 65 years of age is over 7.1 crores according to 2015 figures.
According to the data published in the Indian journal of Community medicine in 2007 more than half of all people in the age group of 67 – 74 years suffer from arthritis. Almost 100% people over the age of 85 suffer from some form of arthritis.
But sadly this ‘disease’ can affect the young too – even teenagers! It debilitates their lives even more. They cannot go to school/college, play sports and lead a normal life.
But such patients should not get despondent.
At any age they can opt to go in for knee replacement surgery which he called the miracle cure of modern medicine.
Many Indian patients choose to suffer the pain and not go in for surgery because it is not arthritis is not considered a ‘life threatening condition’ like heart problems, or kidney problems for instance.
“But if the condition affects your quality of life and keeps you imprisoned at home, a prisoner of pain killing medications, what good is that life? What joy does it bring anyone?” He asked.
He explained that now with government’s intervention and special offers of hospitals like Alexis, getting a knee replacement surgery costs as little as Rs. 1.6 lakhs which is inclusive of artificial implants, cost of surgery, hospitalization and medicines as well.
Patients who have had this surgery report a miraculous turn around in their lives and some get more active than they were in their younger days!
Dr. Jatinder Arora, disclosed that Alexis had some schemes through which a fixed number of patients could avail of the surgery at 50% cost, the rest being borne by the Founder of Alexis Dr. Zulekha Daud as charity for her home town Nagpur.
Babanrao Wankhede, who has been a patient of KRS outlined how the surgery had changed his life around.
“In my 70s, I can lead an active and social life and devote time to all the activities I have undertaken for benefit of people. I feel thankful to Dr. Ramteke who has given me this new lease of life.”
Among the audience who consisted mostly of ‘cured patients’ were some youngsters too; who are now going to college, doing jobs and can look forward to a normal future because of the surgery.
To encourage awareness about the many ways treatment can help suffering people, Alexis hospital has offered a ‘Get a second opinion’ scheme.
Since most arthritis patients are old, and finance is often an issue, many patients do not go in for a second opinion from another Doctor/ hospital if they are not satisfied with the first prognosis.
Specifically for such patients Alexis has an OPD day every Wednesday where Consultants like Dr. Ramteke will see them at 50% of their normal OPD fees.
Dr. Ramteke and Dr. Arora urged Nagpurians and every suffering individual from Central India to go in for this offer and give themselves a chance of getting cured.
Of pain, inactive life style and being imprisoned at home.
