The KRA (Karnataka Rheumatology Association) decided to organize an annual rheumatology patients conference.The meeting took place at the API Bhavana, Vasantha Nagar, Bengaluru on 16th November 2018 from 9:30 am to 1:30pm. The meeting was attended by around 100 patients along with their relatives and well wishers. Patients had come not only from Bengaluru but other far off cities in Karnataka such as Tumkur, Belgaum, Mysore, and Hubli. The chief guest was Dr Debashish Danda who is the president of the indian rheumatology association. The event was commenced by short introductions to rheumatological diseases by rheumatologists. Information regarding SLE, Rheumatoid arthritis and Ankylosing Spondylitis was presented in simple lay language.
This was followed by interactive sessions with allied health specialists. Mrs. Shubha Madhusudhan, a clinical psychologist spoke on “Copying with rheumatological diseases: the mind-body connection”. The talk was well received with several patients airing the emotional and psychological problems they face on a day to day basis. Next it was Dr. Kiran S Murthy, consultant physiotherapist, who literally had us all up on our feet. After a very brief presentation, titled “Role of Physiotherapy in arthritis and Importance of daily exercises”, he asked an audience member to volunteer and started demonstrating the exercises and encouraged the audience to follow suite. The patients with arthritis happily participated in the exercises and gave stiff competition to the doctors who also joined in with many of the exercises. The highlight of the meeting was arguably the presentation by Mrs. B. Usha’s, consultant dietitian who presented on “Diet in rheumatological diseases: is there a role?”. The patients had several doubts which Ms Usha patiently clarified. Patients had to be reminded that if they continued asking so many questions regarding food, we would be denied a timely lunch! The chief guests and senior rheumatologists were then invited onto the dias and the meeting was formally inaugurated by all of them. After the same the patient friendly web portal www.irakarnataka.org was inaugurated by Dr Danda
Subsequently 10 patients who had volunteered came up onto the stage and shared their experiences. How they were diagnosed with the disease, and how they recovered and what are the problems they are facing now were discussed. It was a very emotional session with many a tear eye being spotted during the session both among patients and doctors. The sessions ended with closing remarks, vote of thanks as well as presentation of tokens of gratitude to many who had volunteered their time and effort to help organize the meeting.
