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| 2001
- 02 Progress Report |
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Launch of BJD-INDIA:
BJD-INDIA was launched officially on 28 November 2000 in Pune.
Prof. J. Dequekar, President, ILAR inaugurated the function.
About 200 people, including eminent doctors and medical faculty
attended the meet. Dr. Arvind Chopra, consulting Rheumatologist,
presented a slide talk on 'Prevalence Estimates of Rheumatological
diseases in India: Findings from the WHO-ILAR COPCORD PROJECT
in village Bhigwan (Pune District), INDIA'. Dr A Damle, an eminent orthopedic
surgeon spoke on 'Osteoporosis, its prevention and treatment'.
Prof. T K Shanmugasundaram, Emeritus Professor and Consultant
Orthopaedic Surgeon was nominated as the Chairman of BJD-INDIA:
NAN. Prof Dinesh Mohan, Professor for Biomechanics and Transportation
Safety, IIT, New Delhi was nominated as the Coordinator. Dr.
Arvind Chopra, Consultant Rheumatologist and Director of Center
for Rheumatic Diseases, Pune was nominated as the Secretary.
Support to BJD-India:
The Government of India officially endorsed NAN on 18 April
2001.
BJD NAN India
Activity Week 12 - 20 October, 2001
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Along with the CME program,
public function was organized in Pune to commemorate the
BJD Activity Week. BJD brochures and health education
materials, specially created for the occasion, were distributed
to nearly 800 people present. Colorful banners and posters
were displayed at various vantage points in this Metropolis
city. |
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A large-scale well-attended
program was held in village Bhigwan (Pune District) to cover
more than 30,000 villagers in the region. More than 190
patients with all types of chronic rheumatic musculoskeletal
pains were provided free-of-cost medical and laboratory
examination in Bhigwan (Pune District). Health education lectures were
delivered and literature in local language distributed
with the help of volunteers from Mission Arthritis India
(MAI), a patient support group. 90 rural patients volunteered
to join as members of MAI and help BJD-INDIA. A detailed
audio - visual recording of both Pune and Bhigwan (Pune District)
programs have been done for future public education use.
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The BJD Activity Week was
also celebrated in Mumbai, Jalna and Jammu. Health education
talks were delivered in Mumbai to about 100 patients while
in Jalna large numbers of school children were examined
free of cost by a team of doctors. |
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The specially designed logo
by Dr. Arvind Chopra for BJD-INDIA: NAN and posters were
distributed to over 3000 professionals / medical institutions
/ hospitals all over India. |
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The BJD-India: NAN received
widespread publicity in state and national news media.
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BJD NAN meetings:
Up till now numerous NAN meetings were held to discuss and finalize
various issues related to BJD. Some of the forthcoming plans
are as follows:
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To initiate BJD Research fellowships:
Through a generous grant obtained from Unichem Laboratories
Limited (a national pharmaceutics) 5 - 7 such awards
based on post-graduate Research / Dissertation work related
to the theme" Arthritis and Pain Management"
will be presented every year. The stress will be on epidemiological
studies and community work. And all such data collected
will be pooled into the BJD India database. The fellowship
awards will be announced during the BJD Activity Week
in Oct. 2002. |
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To begin a large-scale membership
drive is to begin. It was decided that the membership
form be sent along with the official journals of supporting
organizations. The NAN members also agreed upon nominating
regional and metropolis representatives from various disciplines
like Orthopedics, Rheumatology, Physiotherapy and Endocrinology
to increase the membership base. |
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To conduct Community awareness
and health education programs in all parts of India, with
a view to empower patients to participate in their management
strategies. Mission Arthritis India (MAI), a patient support
group and a founder member of BJD India is playing a lead
role, and has begun a regular newsmagazine for its members.
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To obtain recognition as a
research organization to avail maximum donation/ tax benefits
from Government of India: The BJD-INDIA: NAN has applied
to the DSIR, Government of India for the prestigious recognition
of BJD-INDIA as “Science and Industrial Research
Organization” (SIRO). This recognition will provide
the maximum “tax exemption” that can be availed
in India by “donors” to medical research.
Dr. A Chopra and Prof. D Mohan (Coordinator) held the
first meeting with Government of India on 22 July 2002
where significant progress has been made. |
Society Registration of BJD-INDIA:
NAN: The BJD-INDIA: NAN has been registered as a Research Society
by the Charity Commissioner, Mumbai-Pune region and it's domain
will extend all over India.
Corporate
Sponsors: Till now BJD-INDIA has been successful
to obtain sponsorships from 3 major Indian pharmaceutical companies
namely Zydus Cadila Healthcare Limited, Novartis India Limited
and Unichem Laboratories Limited. These companies have helped
BJD-INDIA: NAN in creating a research corpus fund for the period
2001 to 2003 through donations.
Others:
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BJD CME were held at various
places such as Pune, Delhi, Chennai, Nagpur and Hyderabad
by the BJD-INDIA: NAN members and other distinguished
faculty. |
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Free of cost medical camps
were held in a medical diagnostic center, Pune in the
month of February 2002 under the auspices of Bone and
Joint Decade. 190 patients attended 'diagnosis and
therapy guidance' arthritis camp and were further
evaluated for chronic rheumatoid arthritis. |
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A National Workshop on Pre
- Hospital Care and Injury Control was organized
in Delhi. This five - day course was organized in
collaboration with St. Stephen's Hospital, Delhi,
IIT Delhi and WHO and Bone and Joint Decade on 3 -
8 December 2001. The course was open to medical practitioners
from all over India. Dr. Mathew Varghese (Director St.
Stephen's Hospital) and Prof. Dinesh Mohan, Coordinator,
BJD-INDIA: NAN were the course coordinators. Faculty included
Prof. Dinesh Mohan and Dr. S S Babhulkar, an executive
member of BJD-INDIA: NAN. |
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Prof. T K Shanmugasundaram,
Chairman, BJD-INDIA: NAN delivered a paper to highlight
the message of BJD at the Asia-Pacific Musculo Skeletal
Tumour Society 4th Biennial Congress held in Chennai from
6 - 7 July 2002. About 50 delegates from foreign
countries and 150 surgeons from India attended this meeting. |
Future programs:
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The BJD Activity Week will
be celebrated again this year i.e. 2002 in numerous regions
of India. |
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A CME on "Osteoporosis" and
a public program on BJD will be held in Delhi during this
Activity week. This event is being organized by Dr. Ambrish
Mithal, Consulting Endocrinologist and executive committee
member of BJD-INDIA: NAN in Delhi during this Activity
week. |
Names of all Participating Organizations
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Indian Orthopaedic Association, |
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Indian Rheumatology Association |
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Indian Association of Physical Medicine
& Rehabilitation |
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Mission Arthritis India - a patients
support group |
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Indian Society for Bone and Mineral research |
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Armed Forces Medical Services of India. |
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