The Arthritis Foundation of India (AFI) has launched a mobile app, My Bones, which is designed to educate people about osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. It can be downloaded on the Google play store on android phones.
The app was launched on the occasion of National Bone and Joint Day on Tuesday. Prof. Shishir Rastogi from the Orthopaedic department at AIIMS said: “My Bones is a unique application introduced to achieve the goal of attaining total bone heath. This application contains a range of information, starting from a questionnaire to the results declaring how severe or mild the disease is to the user. It also provides worthy information regarding precautions, exercises and diets to be followed, and an advice on medication and surgeries.
Dr. Sushil Sharma, consultant at Kailash hospital, Noida add that India has 400 million people above the age of 45 who are at risk of osteoarthritis and osteoporosis, and the estimated budget for the management of the twin ailments can be a whopping 1,000 crore, which will be back-breaking for the country.
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“Therefore, it is extremely important to reduce surgical overload with prevention, lifestyle correction, early detection, non-surgical treatments through nutraceuticals,” he added.
On this occasion, AFI also released the ‘Pain Expert Forum’ analysis-Indian Consensus on NSAIDs. AFI stressed that NSAIDs and painkillers have too many side-effects and their use should be minimised especially in elderly.
AFI has demanded that the Department of Pharmaceuticals should at least rationalise the prices of medical devices if they cannot control it. “This will help to reduce the additional price load of artificial joints on patients which differ from one hospital to another in absence of an MRP,” noted doctors.
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India has 400 million people who are at risk of osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. An estimated budget for the management of the twin ailments can be a whopping Rs. 1,000 cr