Baby clubfoot calls for intervention from day 1

Chennai: Around 2,200 children born in Tamil Nadu every year are affected by clubfoot, a condition where the foot appears to have been rotated internally at the ankle, but only 500 children get the right treatment, said head of the institute of orthopaedics and traumatology, RGGGH, Dr N. Deen Mohamed Ismail.

He said most people mistake clubfoot for polio disease or are not aware about the treatment, while some give wrong treatment.

Dr Ismail said most cases are treated either by surgery, where there are chances of the bones becoming stiff, or the kyte method of treatment, which involves a plaster cast (a bandage stiffened with plaster of Paris moulded to shape the broken part). In the second method, there are chances of foot deformation later, or the results are poor.

The proper method is ponseti, in which the plaster cast is done on the newborn from day one and is changed once a week for six weeks, with a mild surgery called ‘tenotomy’ done at the end. After this, the child should wear the special shoe up to three years at night and while sleeping. This will ensure the correct formation of the foot, he added.

About clubfoot, he said the exact cause for the problem was not known yet, but it is due to congenital issues, where the problem is with the bones or the muscle, right from birth.

A clubfoot clinic that will function round the clock was inaugurated at the Rajiv Gandhi government general hospital on Monday. Dr Ismail said, “The new clinic attached to the OP ward will benefit around 500 children. At present, the department is treating patients referred from the Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children, Egmore.”

The clinic is the sixth in the state with five such clinics already inaugurated at GHs in Coimbatore, Thanjavur, Vellore, Dharmapuri and Madurai.

Free treatment at 24x7 OP clinic at RGG General Hospital

One in 750 newborns is born with a clubfoot, said minister for health and family welfare Dr C. Vijayabaskar, who inaugurated the clubfoot clinic at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, on Monday. The out patient wing of the clinic will function round the clock every Tuesday at the hospital.

He said, “Though the problem cannot be prevented as the cause is not known, it can be made good once the problem is identified when the child grows in the mother’s womb.” And now, steps should be taken to direct people with this problem to the clinic for treatment, which is done free of cost. If surgery is done, the treatment costs between Rs 25,000 and Rs 1 lakh, he said.

Vijayabaskar also said that around 30,000 children were born with the problem in Tamil Nadu every year, while 1.5 to 2.5 lakh children were born across the globe.

As many as 659 children were cured at government hospitals in the year 2013-14 and a total of 1,924 persons were cured in the last five years, he said.

Director for CURE International, Dr Santhosh George, who has joined hands with the State government for the implementation of the programme, said, “Apart from the out patient wing at the RGGGH on Tuesdays, the Institute of Child Health in Egmore will function every day. The hospital will be the training centre for orthopaedics from south India and southern Asia.”

He said the programme was being implemented in 21 states in the country. Similar clinics would also be set up in Nagercoil and Thoothukudi soon, he added.