Pune: Several programs in Pune region itself were organized during the BJD Activity Week from 12 Oct – 20 Oct 2003.

1. An over 400 audience of doctors, medical students, nurses, paramedics, and personnel from the pharmaceutical industry and community attended a grand launch of BJD in Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) and an update session on ‘Arthritis and Osteoporosis’ on 14 October 03. After inaugurating the meet the chief guest Air Vice Marshal Soodan, Commandant, AFMC, called upon one and all to take up the cause of BJD in alleviating the sufferings of millions of patients afflicted with bone and joint disorders and stated emphatically that it is time to focus on quality of life issues inherent to the BJD program. Prof. T K Shanmugasundaram, Chairman, BJD-INDIA: NAN, and an eminent senior Orthopaedic Consultant, Chennai, spoke on ‘BJD and the Quantum of the problem’.
   The program was divided into two sessions. The first session on ‘Arthritis Management Update an overview’ was chaired by well known distinguished doctors – Dr. S Hardikar (Pune), Consulting Orthopedic Surgeon and Managing Trustee, Hardikar Hospital and Prof. L Bichile (Mumbai), Professor & Head, Dept. of Medicine, KE M Hospital. Dr. K M Mahendranath (Bangalore), President, Indian Rheumatology Association, described the treatment challenges of rheumatoid arthritis in his lecture on ‘Rheumatoid Arthritis’. Dr. U R K Rao (Hyderabad), senior Rheumatologist, described the powerful effect of biologic agents in his talk on ‘Biologics – the new fire power’. Dr. Arvind Chopra (Pune), eminent Rheumatologist, informed the audience through his lecture on ‘Osteoarthritis’ that this disease was no longer a simple wear and tear disease but complicated by several inflammatory mechanisms that slowly but surely destroyed the cartilage in many patients.
   The second session on ‘Osteoporosis’ was chaired by Padmabhushan Dr. K H Sancheti (Pune), Medical Director & Chief Orthopedic Surgeon, Sancheti Institute for Orthopedics & Rehabilitation and Brig. B M Nagpal (Pune), Professor and Head, Dept. of Surgery, AFMC. Prof. Lata Bichile (Mumbai), KEM, in her lecture ‘Bone in Health’ informed that women being the dominant sufferers of osteoporosis should look after their diet / and enrich it with calcium sources like milk. Dr. Ambrish Mithal (Delhi), a renowned Endocrinologist, during his talk on ‘Management Update’ described the progressive silent global epidemic of osteoporosis, a disease chiefly due to calcium and hormonal deficiency that leads to fragile and brittle bones with increase change of low impact fractures. Col. A Sharma (Pune), Professor and Head, Dept. of Orthopaedics, AFMC, spoke on ‘Fracture Neck Femur’ and illustrated his lecture by real case records to highlight the overall impact of these fractures and how best they can be dealt with.
   Dr. Sharma, the organising secretary of this update and the AFMC nominee to the BJD-INDIA: NAN also proposed the vote of thanks.
   Prior to conclusion of the meet, Mr. P C Nahar, Chairman, Mission Arthritis India (MAI), a patient support group, drew attention to the patient’s perspective amidst all the medical jargon and stressed the need for better care and concern of the arthritic patients.
   In conclusion, Dr. Arvind Chopra, National Secretary, BJD-INDIA:NAN and rheumatologist, Pune, described the BJD sponsored national community based research programs for 2003 – 2004, to the tune of almost 7 lac rupees, begun in Jammu, Chennai, Nagpur, Delhi and Pune. Conjoint with BJD, for the first time in India, Unichem Laboratories, Mumbai, instituted 5 research fellowships to be awarded annually to young graduates keen to pursue and explore the bone and joint disorders. Dr. P Mody, Chairman, Unichem, dedicated these fellowships to the memory of his renowned father late Shri Amrut Mody, and further awarded these fellowships to 5 doctors namely Dr. V Kunjir (Pune), Dr. S M Akerkar (Mumbai), Dr. P Agrawal (Mumbai), Dr. A Mahesh (Chennai) and Dr. J B Singh (Jammu) for the year 2003.
   The meet felicitated two arthritis patients, both ladies, who had courageously fought the ravages of arthritis to lead fairly normal and career oriented successful lives – Dr. Kalindi Phadke, Chairperson and chief editor of MAI , and Mrs. S Barve, editor and publisher of a quarterly MAI health magazine.
2. A free medical camp and public awareness program was organized in village Bhigwan (Pune District) on 11 October 2003 to observe World Arthritis day -12 Oct 2003. The response from the rural population was tremendous. Banners and posters were put up in the region. 300 patients with various forms of arthritis and spine disorders were provided free-of-cost clinical and laboratory examination by Center for Rheumatic Diseases (CRD), Pune, with a view to provide diagnosis and therapy guidance. A special health education issue prepared by Mission Arthritis India (MAI) -a patient support group, was distributed. An excellent coverage was provided by local journalists.
3. A free medical camp was also held in urban region at Medinova Diagnostic Center, Pune, on 12 October 2003 under the auspices of the Bone and Joint Decade for people suffering from knee pain. 200 patients were clinically examined and required blood tests were done free of cost while 50% discount was given on X-rays.
4. A meeting was held at Hotel Aurora Towers on 14 Oct 2003 to discuss Research agenda of BJD-INDIA: NAN. Eminent doctors from the city attended this meet. Various topics related to arthritis, spine, etc. were covered. A souvenir ‘Orthonews VIII’ edited by Dr. Satish Goyal, Orthopaedic surgeon, Jalna, was inaugurated by Prof. T K Shanmugasundaram during this meeting.
5. On 15 Oct 03, a large well attended public Health Education program, jointly organized by BJD India and MAI, was held in Nehru Memorial Hall between 5 pm to 7 pm. Over 200 patients suffering from various bone and joint disorders attended this function. Dr. K B Grant, Chairman, Ruby Hall Clinic & Hospital and senior most distinguished physician from the region, was the Chief Guest of the function. Dr. Grant released a special advisory health MAI magazine (enclosed) on bone and joint disorders. Delivering his guest lecture, Dr. Grant recommended the patients to look after diet, exercise and lifestyle to prevent osteoporosis a disease that weakens spines and bones. He congratulated MAI for their outstanding devotional services towards patients of chronic bone and joint problems that have been neglected so far. Mr. P C Nahar, Chairman, MAI shared his dream of MAI to extend all over India and bridge the gap between the doctors and patients. Dr. Vaijayanti Lagu-Joshi (Rheumatology associate) spoke on various types of arthritis, Dr Shrotriya (Physiotherapist) spoke on the exercise aspect for arthritis patients and Dr Ajit Damle an eminent orthopedic surgeon spoke on Osteoporosis its prevention and management. Patients who have fought arthritis bravely were felicitated. Number of people from Bhigwan attended this function. Some arthritis patients from Bhigwan were also felicitated during this function. Dr Arvind Chopra spoke on various activities related to BJD, and stressed the need of organisations like MAI in India. He further added that mental strength is required to overcome and fight arthritis besides drugs. The program was compered by Dr Jayashree Patil and Dr Vinaya Kunjeer from CRD. The Bombay Sappers (BEG) band played some of the popular national and military tunes to entertain the large number of patients who attended this program. The program ended with devotional songs sung by Mr Uday Waikar who is suffering from arthritis since many years.
   Audio-visual recording of Pune programs has been done for public education.
   The faculty of Dept of Orthopedics, AFMC, members of MAI and Dr. Arvind Chopra and his team from CRD, organized the Pune region programs.

Mumbai: An essay competition on ‘Osteoporosis – A Silent Epidemic – Strategies for Treatment and Prevention’ was held on the eve of World Osteoporosis day i.e. on 20 October 2003 at Department of Medicine, Seth G S Medical College & KEM Hospital, Mumbai. Medical practitioners and students were asked to send in their essays to the afore-mentioned department. Cash prizes were awarded to the winners on the d-day. The Mumbai program was organized by Prof. Lata Bichile, Rheumatologist, HOD, KEM Hospital, and the liaison officer for BJD-INDIA: NAN from Maharashtra state.

Jalna: World Arthritis Day was celebrated by organizing a free diagnostic and informative talk on Arthritis by Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Satish Goyal at IMA Hall, Jalna, on 12 Oct 2003. The function was inaugurated by Prof. Manoj Jain, Chairman, Rajureshwar Co-op. Bank.
Dr. Goyal delivered a detail informative lecture on Arthritis in local language. 440 patients suffering mainly from osteoarthritis of knees were examined free of cost. A medical informative souvenir ‘Orthonews VIII’ was distributed to 400 local teachers as part of medical education. An article on arthritis was published alongwith the details about BJD aims and objectives in local newspapers.
The Jalna program was organized by Dr. Satish Goyal.

Jammu: Public functions to talk on arthritis & osteoporosis marked the occasion. CME for medical faculty was held in medical college. The program was organized by Dr. Annil Mahajan, Rheumatologist and Liaison officer for BJD-INDIA: NAN from Jammu.