Pain relief in many South
Indian households usually meant a dab of pain balm massaged lovingly by a
doting family member, in the painful areabe it a headache, a knee pain or a
sprain, until recently. With advances in Pain Medicine, the Amrutanjan brand
has now forayed into a comprehensive pain management service that offers
diagnosis and treatment of pain using state of the art equipments and expert
doctors, thereby lifting pain therapy to a whole new level of accuracy and
efficiency.
Mr. P. Ananth Krishnan, Business Head, CARE, Specialized Centre for Pain
Management, a division of Amrutanjan Healthcare Ltd., spoke to Medindia on
the transition from products to services
.
Dr. S. Sree Ranjani, MBBS, DA, DNB, FIPM, Consultant, Interventional Pain
Management joined the discussion.
Q. From Amrutanjan pain balm to Pain Care Center
.tell us about the
transition?
A. Amrutanjan was the first ever indigenous pain balm in India and
it continues to be a trusted balm for pain relief in every household. Following
Amrutanjan's 118 years of experience in pain relief we wanted to take it
forward as a complete healthcare companythrough products and services. Pain is
a new vertical and there isn't enough awareness on efficient pain treatment. People
suffering from different kinds of pain are still not sure of finding the right
doctor to heal the pain. Pain management is not as simple as getting a
quick fix from a GP, with due respect to the GP. An interdisciplinary approach
is now required to ease the suffering and improve the quality of life of those
suffering from pain.
If left untreated for long, pain
can move from acute to chronic and can even lead to psychological problems for
the person living with pain. It tends to affect the quality of life for the
sufferer as well as the family. With the kind of advances in Western medicine
it is important for people to know that efficient pain management can reduce
suffering. Apart from the expert pain management offered at our Center, we are
spearheading an awareness campaign among the public on this specialty of Pain
Medicine that is new to many in India. We have our experts visiting corporate
offices in IT or manufacturing industry and educational institutions, to help
people identify different types of pain and the kind of therapy available for
pain relief. We have initiated CMEs (continued medical education) to help
doctors understand the recent medical advances and nuances in pain management
and we are soon launching a Fellowship in Interventional Pain Management to
better equip doctors in the treatment of pain.
Q. In a country where people usually seek alternative medicine for pain
relief, how good is the response at your Center? What is the most common type
of pain that you are seeing at your Center?
A. We adopt a multi-modality approach to pain and use state of the
art facilities to diagnose and treat pain in a day care procedure. Yes, we do
have patients who initially sought alternative medicine for pain and have now
come to us with serious complications. Western medicine is backed by extensive
research and medical treatments go through phased trials before they are put
into practice.
We have patients seeking pain
relief from head to toe, but the most common complaint we've seen at our
Center till now is backache. From 20-year-olds to those in their 70s
and 80, both men and women, have sought treatment at our Center for back
pain with various levels of intensity on the pain scale.
Arthritis patientsmainly
arthritis of the knees, is the next highest number seeking pain
management. We have computer engineers who come to us with excruciating wrist
pain - a pain that wouldn't have become so severe had it been properly
diagnosed and treated before. Computer related injuries such as carpal
tunnel syndrome can lead to severe impairment if left untreated for
long.
Q. Can you tell us the types of
treatment CARE provides?
A. At CARE, we provide a wide range of modern tools such as
Precision nerve injections, radio frequency, IDET, Spinal cord stimulation,
implantable morphine pumps, physical therapy, medication and psychological
support.
'You don't have to suffer pain and don't neglect
painful symptoms. Pain is treatable.'
With these encouraging words, medical experts at the our Pain Management Center
assure us they are committed to provide the best possible pain treatment to
every patient who walks in or is wheeled into the Center. With more Pain
Management Centers gearing up for launch in different parts of the country, it
appears that the house of Amrutanjan has embarked on a crusade against pain, to make India a 'pain-free' country very soon.
Source-Medindia