The after stroke care, the cost of which is over Rs 6 lakh per annum in the West, will be brought down to about Rs 60,000 in India according to Prof. Richard Lindley, Professorial Fellow, The Georgia Institute for Global Health, Australia.
He is the principal investigator of the $1.5 million project funded by the Australian government to run clinical trials of after stroke care in India.
A stroke or ‘brain attack’ occurs when a blood clot blocks or breaks a blood vessel, interrupting blood flow to an area of the brain. Such an event damages that part of the brain and abilities controlled by that area are partially or completely lost. The attack makes the patient extremely helpless in seeking immediate medical assistance.
Collaboration
“We are collaborating with 11 research hospitals in India which include NIMS, Hyderabad, AIIMS, Delhi, CMCs in different cities etc. We will be running clinical trials on 1,200 patients across the country for four years from now and submit the research findings at World Stroke Conference – 2016 in Hyderabad,” Prof. Richard said. The objective is to reduce death rate and improve patients’ independence and quality of life, he added. The research results will be disseminated to all medical establishments in India, he said. Awareness on stroke and after stroke care is minimal in India.
According to a survey, the Indian youth are increasingly becoming vulnerable to strokes due to unorganised lifestyle and poor food habits. After stroke care significantly reduces risk of death and ensures independence of the patient by arresting communication, physiological and psychological disorders, besides improving motor skills.
Absence of the care results in paralysis, difficulty in understanding language, disability in thinking, serious emotional disturbances and the net result could be death at times.
Over 1.5 million Indians suffer stroke every year and about 30 per cent of them die and another 30 per cent are left with a disability according to a study.
Over 20 million people across the world are hit by stroke every year and 25 per cent of them die.
More than 86 per cent of strokes take place in middle and low-income countries. And, 48 per cent of people do not even know what a stroke is.
While the project is funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, the collaborative institutes in the project are George Institute for Global Health, Hyderabad, Christian Medical College, Ludhiana , Indian Institute of Public Health, George Institute for Global Health, Australia and Universities of Nottingham, Glasgow and Leeds, UK.
