Leprosy Mailing List – August 20, 2014
Ref.: (LML) Is there no place for Deformity or Disability in POID?
From: Sathish Kumar Paul, Karigiri, Vellore, India
Dear Editor LML,
My response to Dr. Jerry's mail (LML August 3, 2014).
The concept of POID came into practice specially for focusing on the prevention of early impairments and also in the prevention of worsening of disabilities in leprosy. However, the prevention of early impairments has got its share as many of the programs focus only around early diagnosis. The programs focusing on ‘contact tracing’, ‘sample surveys’ have particularly attracted funders as they had the prevention component in it. The issue also has another dimension where the health workers in my experience being ignorant about the importance of preventing both early impairments and deformities. The health workers feel that SSO (soaking, scraping and oiling) is the only solution for the anaesthetic feet and hands to prevent worsening of the impairments and also that deformities can only be prevented by tendon transfer surgeries.
However there is a great need for special focus on the prevention of impairments (primary and secondary) by giving focused education for people who have developed impairments (primary and secondary) or who are newly diagnosed with impairments (Primary and secondary). The emphasis on the screening high pressure prone areas (hands and feet), development and the use of assistive devices, aids and appliances to offload these pressure prone areas is of great need. It is also of important at this post integration period that these are more effectively translated to the health workers so that they can carry out the work at the field in a very simple and less complicated way.
Regards,
Sathish Kumar Paul
Physiotherapist & Biomedical Engineer
S.I.H.R & L.C
Karigiri
Vellore
LML - S Deepak, B Naafs, S Noto and P Schreuder
LML blog link: http://leprosymailinglist.blogspot.it/
Contact: Dr Pieter Schreuder << editorlml@gmail.com
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