Hyderabad: As part of the events ahead of World Arthritis Day, observed on Wednesday, patients from the age of 15 to 79 years narrated their stories of recovery from arthritis at KIMS Hospital on Tuesday.
A common theme was the difficulty in diagnosing the disease due to the patients delaying in seeking help, as well as other medical conditions involved. Experts quoted studies that showed that Indian patients delay seeking help for arthritis by two years on average.
One of the participants, Mohan Rao Vangara, said his wife was suffering from rheumatoid arthritis for 25 years. Despite regular treatment, she only got partial relief. However, six months ago, she was able to get complete relief due to advances in medical sciences.
Doctors said that arthritis is treatable and advised patients to seek medical help as early as possible.
They said that arthritis could affect youngsters too. A case in point was a 15-year-old of Nizamabad, who was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus, which is among 100-odd diseases that can cause arthritis.
Dr Sarath Chandra Mouli, clinical director of the department of rheumatology at KIMS, said the country lacked rheumatology specialists, with the availability of around 1,000 against a need of 20,000.
