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January 2021

THE SILENT FORCE BEHIND THE SCENE

By Hyderabad No Comments

GUEST SPEAKER:-   Doctor Sunil  T Pandya (MBBS,MD,PDCC)

An Anaesthesiologist is a doctor who gives a patient medication so they do not feel pain when they are undergoing surgery. They are specialised in anaesthesia care, pain management and critical care medicine.

They are the ‘’ THE SILENT FORCE BEHIND THE SCENE

On 31st January 2021 MSSI HYDERAD CHAPTER has invited guest speaker of the month Doctor SUNIL T PANDYA (Anaesthetist) who spoke on MS AND ANAESTHESIA —— MYTHS AND FACTS.

With the help of slides, the doctor has beautifully and briefly discussed the types of anaesthesia and how safe is anaesthesia for MS patients. According to the doctor, Modern Practice of Anaesthesia is very safe for MS patients which include safer drugs, newer techniques, better training.

According to the doctor ANAESTHESIA given to reduce awareness and sensation during surgery, is safe for people with MS. The risk of relapse is not increased because of surgery or exposure to ANAESTHESIA. Generally, in the absence of complications, people with MS who undergo surgery do not find that it impacts their neurologic status. Infection or fever however may tend to aggravate symptoms of MS.

Risks Among Women with MS during Labor and Delivery:-

All forms (general, regional, local anaesthesia and conscious sedation) of anaesthesia are considered safe for women with MS; anaesthesia management does not need to be altered.

Few Myths and Facts revealed by the Doctor:-

Myth 1: If there is a dosage miscalculation, anaesthesia can wear off before surgery is over.

Fact:- There is no method to calculate the dose of anaesthesia. It can be increased as required. Hence it is not possible for the anaesthesia to wear off before surgery is over.

Myth 2:- The risk of anaesthesia is less if it is a minor surgery.

Truth:- Surgery is only one factor determining the outcome of anaesthesia. Other important factor is a patient’s co-morbidity.

Myth 3:- Spinal / Epidural anaesthesia causes back pain.

Truth: – Many studies have concluded that there is no evidence to support this.

Myth 4:- It’s not safe for women with MS to get pregnant.

Fact: – Studies show the disease has no effect on your chances of getting pregnant or having problems during pregnancy and there won’t be any impact on your baby’s health.

Myth: – If I have kids, they’ll get MS too.

Fact: – Genes play some role in MS, the condition doesn’t pass directly from parent to child.

Many more queries were answered by the doctor. The session with Dr. Sunil Pandya was very interactive and I conclude by saying that an anesthesiologist is a highly skilled professional and the most important member of the medical team for patient’s safety and care.

COVID 19 – Finding Opportunity In Adversity

By General No Comments

COVID pandemic has changed our lives, the way we think and the way we work. A lot of things will not be the same for a long time to come. At MSSI we can confidently say that in spite of this unprecedented global health adversity that impacted people world over we were able to find opportunities which helped us to stay connected with a lot of members meaningfully by leveraging technology and digital medium.

With the onset of COVID and mobility restriction followed by complete lockdown all our plans to do in-person activities not only had to be suspended but we had to recalibrate those activities in order to be compliant with various central and state advisory of India COVID-19 guidelines and protocols.

We have been working very hard to stay in touch with our members as well as reaching out to the larger MS community in India both at the National and regional levels. Our chapters are constantly making efforts

  • To ensure ration and medical supplies reach the needy
  • Conducting Teleconsultations for MS persons
  • Online Physiotherapy sessions
  • Counselling
  • Recreational programs
  • 1 on 1 Q&A sessions with Neurologists and specialists

At the National level, we are conducting Webinars addressing concerns of Persons with MS cutting across geographical boundaries. Some of the most popular webinars and videos included:

  • Interactive session with Neurologists and specialists
  • Interactive sessions with government agencies and officials
  • Meditation of Self Care
  • Pranayam – Yogic Breathing for Multiple Sclerosis
  • Joy of Mandalas
  • Musical evening
  • MS and Low Self Esteem (in multiple languages English, Hindi, Punjab, Bengali, Kannada)

We have also been able to work closely with our Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee members comprising leading neurologist working in the area of MS particularly. In spite of their extremely busy schedule and handling COVID related health crisis, they have been able to put together a recommendation for Assessing  MS while issuing disability certificates

On 30th August 2020, MSSI  launched its first Advocacy Campaign called Reassess MS. The campaign focus was on the gaps in the current assessment guideline under Rights of a person with Disability Act, 2016. It was designed to reach our stakeholders and included  Ministries, Government Departments, Disability sector organisations, Health professionals, MS persons and general community

We have been conducting a series of Capacity building workshops in the areas of Leveraging  Social media platform, Understanding international and National Disability Laws and Rights by domain experts.

We were able to sensitize government officials engage with Disability Commissioner of most of the states we work in.

Since then we have been consistently engaging and have sent representation to Ministry of Health & Family Welfare Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to review the current assessment guidelines, we have sent our inputs for the union budget to Ministry of Finance.