Walk, loss of weight can help check arthritis

LAHORE: Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafiq has said that the Punjab government is focusing on strengthening primary and secondary healthcare to minimise burden of patients on tertiary care hospitals in the province.
He was addressing a seminar on “Joints’ Diseases and Latest Treatment” organised by Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman Memorial Society (Jang Group of Newspapers) in collaboration with Ortho Clinic here at a local hotel on Monday.
Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafiq said that the Punjab government was trying to improve the facilities at Basic Health Units, Rural Health Centres, Tehsil Headquarters Hospitals and District Headquarters Hospitals in order to provide quality healthcare services to the patients at primary and secondary level. He informed that the Punjab government had doubled the incentives for specialist doctors for serving in primary and secondary health institutions so as to lessen the burden of patients in tertiary care hospitals in cities.
He further said that the Punjab government was also focusing on completing faculty in medical colleges in the province. He also claimed that Punjab had successfully controlled the dengue disease, adding that there was zero prevalence of polio in the province of Punjab but frequent anti-polio campaigns were being conducted due to migrant population from other provinces.
Prof Dr M.A. Wajid, Head of Orthopaedic Department, Shalimar Medical College, Lahore, said that there were several reasons of rheumatic pains, including swollen joints in old age, twisted joints, etc., which affected the joints and muscles. He said that rheumatic pains usually started in old age or due to excessive body weight. However, he said that treatment of arthritis could be done without any surgical procedure as there were very few cases of arthritis, which needed an operation. Besides, he said that physiotherapy was also a helpful intervention to treat arthritis pain. “Walk and loss of weight can help control the arthritis pain,” he added.
MKRMS Chairman Wasif Nagi said that the people should refrain from going to quacks for treatment of rheumatic pains, which further aggravated their condition. He called for spreading awareness among public regarding scourge of quackery, while urging the government to take strict action against quacks.