Kolkata: Doctors' organisation comes to aid of children suffering from spinal disorders

KOLKATA: Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a rare genetic disorder, robbed Rupali Das of her gait first and later her ability to sit up. Due to scoliosis, her spine became deformed. However, her father, with his meager income, was unable to continue her treatment.

That is when the Spine Research Foundation (SRF) came to her rescue with three complex surgeries, and now the girl from Keshtopur can sit up. Rupali, who scored 94% marks in her class X board, is busy preparing for her class XII boards.

From Rupali to Nusrat Parveen and Sneha Murmu, SRF has touched the lives of children with spinal deformities. As an NGO imparting education and training on spine disorders, it has also been providing financial aid to poor patients who require complex and expensive surgeries for their spinal disorders.

On Sunday, the organization held an awareness event on spinal deformities, where panelists, including pediatrician Apurba Ghosh, orthopedic surgeon Indrajit Sardar, pathologist Indranil Sanyal, physician Kamaleswar Mukherjee, nuclear scientist Jyoti Chatterjee, actor Biplab Dasgupta, and theatre personality Debshankar Haldar, deliberated on the need for early detection and medical attention.

The trustees of the foundation, Dr Saumyajit Basu and Dr Trinanjan Sarangi, along with Mr. Avijit Deb, stressed that patients with spinal disorders should receive proper treatment, irrespective of caste, creed, or financial condition.

“Spinal deformities, particularly scoliosis, should be focused upon because it is an area of neglect and misinformation. Evidence-based information should be available, and the need for early detection is imperative to improve the outcome of treatment,” said the trustees.