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Dear Friends,
I thank the members of Indian Rheumatology Association for providing me an opportunity to serve the IRA. The Indian Rheumatology Association is a vibrant association meant to improve rheumatology work force, delivery of health care services to patients and research into rheumatic diseases.
Towards this goal of improving rheumatology work force, we propose to conduct continuing medical education programs in medical colleges across all parts of the country (at least 2 in each year in North, South, East and West India) so that the disparity across India can be bridged. For fellows-in-training in subspecialties, a 3-day fellows retreat is planned every year to teach them nuances of research, paper writing, medical ethics, communication skills, etc to make them better teachers. For our members, we plan to conduct an IRA midterm meeting on a single theme to update ourselves with the latest in the field. The first one is scheduled on December 19, 2015 on Spondyloarthropathies at SGPGI, Lucknow.
As majority of patients are still cared for by general physicians, I urge all of you to adopt one young physician who is keen to learn and mentor him in “each one, teach one” program. That will help us improve the quality of care of patients with rheumatic disease. In addition, we propose to focus on patient education resource both on web and in print. I understand that a lot of you have made material in different languages, I urge you to share it with IRA and work with IRA to make it available to more patients across the country.
IRA also needs to develop a patient advocacy group so that we can move forward with the government to include rheumatic diseases into the diseases listed for treatment under government schemes like railway concession and BPL schemes. Patient support groups can be resourceful and help us in achieving the goals faster.
Research in rheumatic diseases in India is still in its infancy and we need to focus on the local problems like cost-effective treatment protocols, use of IT services to improve patient follow-up, scientific evaluation of traditional methods to treat rheumatic diseases and the disease burden in different parts of our country. The IRA hopes to funds grant in these key areas.
Lastly, the organization has to be inclusive, transparent and answerable to its members. To this effect, I urge all of you to send in your suggestions and criticism to us (preferably by email). In addition, I need volunteers to help us with patient education material, advocacy with government and other areas that you can contribute. I want all of you to feel part of IRA and contribute to its growth.
I would keep in constant touch with you and apprise you of the progress over the next 2 years.
Regards,
Amita Aggarwal
president.indian.rheumatology@gmail.com |
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