Bengaluru: The Dementia India Report, 2010 came up showing stark figures of the economic impact of dementia in India.
According to this report, which came up in 2010, there were as many as 3.7 million Indians with dementia and the total costs were a whopping 147 billion Indian rupees (INR)…while the numbers are expected to double by 2030, costs would increase three times.
Despite the magnitude of the numbers involved, there is gross ignorance, neglect and services are scarce for people with dementia and their families.
To address the need of understanding the disease, the two-day TS Srinivasan- NIMHANS knowledge Conclave 2016; an interdisciplinary workshop for clinicians and scientists covered various areas of the disease.
“A little bit of forgetfulness is not normal if you are in your fifties and sixties and one should be concerned enough to get oneself formally evaluated.
There are many international and national data showing that changes set in early and luckily we have the technology to identify different biomarkers,” says Dr Ennapadam S Krishnamoorthy, President of the International Neuropsychiatric Association, who is also the founder and CEO of Neurokrish.
The workshop was organised jointly by Nimhans and Neurokrish aimed at bringing about awareness of the disease.
“There is a lot of eagerness and apprehension among patients to get themselves evaluated by a psychiatrist. They would willingly go and get a blood test done on time, but a simple memory test fails to get the needed attention,” says Dr Krishnamoorthy who adds, “Timely diagnosis goes a long way in controlling the spread of the disease or slow down the changes which are occurring.”
Highlighting some of the key warning signs, Dr Krishnamoorthy said, “Forgetfulness at the critical stages of life, struggling with names and places, forgetting bits of information which do not come back to you might be signs of dementia.”
The day witnessed active participation from clinicians and experts spoke about the disease through poster sessions, academic discussions and brainstorming.
