Many women who have incontinence keep silent about it and restrict themselves from leading a normal lifestyle. In an attempt to devise planned intervention or a clinical pathway to help such women who suffer in silence, Apollo Hospitals has launched continence clinics in a couple of places in the city.
The clinics, which were launched by the Apollo Hospitals on Tuesday, will be opened at the OMR and Karapakkam branches of the hospital, said Preetha Reddy, executive vice-chairperson, Apollo Hospitals.
Meera Raghavan, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, said that despite incontinence being a common disorder, there was a lack of awareness with regard to its treatment. “While women who are above the age of 30 are predisposed to the condition, men who have undergone some surgical procedures too are susceptible to it. There is a stigma attached to it which prevents many people from speaking about it and seeking treatment, which we hope will change,” she said.
Apollo ran a campaign over the last month to create awareness about urinary incontinence and had set up kiosks at their hospitals where 90 of the 310 patients they screened were found to be suffering from incontinence. “The incidence of incontinence increases with age and we’ve named our facilities ‘continence clinics’ to show that we have a positive approach towards achieving wellness and wellbeing,” Dr. Meera added.
