M V Hospital for Diabetes & Diabetes Research Centre, one of India's premier centres for diabetic foot research and treatment recently launched India's first online Diabetic Foot Care forum as a part of a multi-level awareness campaign, titled "Foot care for people with diabetes".
Foot complication is said to be the maximum for all diabetic patients though eyes and kidney also get affected.
Dr. Vijay Viswanathan, a specialist on foot care connected with diabetes and Managing Director of M.V. Diabetic Centre started the website eight years ago to pass on all information on diabetes and diabetic foot, to the needy patients. He encouraged patients to send in their queries.
Over the years, he has built a team of podiatrist, vascular surgeon, orthopaedic surgeon, plastic surgeon, educationists, orthotist and footwear technicians so that there is a multi- disciplinary team approach to the problem.
As Dr. Viswanathan is one of the few specialists in India in foot care, he gets patients from all over India with foot complications due to diabetes. After the treatment, and before they go back to their respective places, he tells his patients to take pictures of the healing process of the feet on a digital camera every week and send the pictures to him by email.
"Not only my Indian patients but those from outside India also send me photographs. That way, I monitor their condition regularly. And this, they have been doing for the last 2-3 years," he said.
He has decided to go one step further now. "I thought, instead of asking them to mail pictures, why not consult them also online? More than an email, if the patient can chat regularly with the specialist, it will help him more.
It is like this. "I thought instead of just giving information, we can make it a one to one interaction with the specialist. Once a patient sends in his query, the co-ordinator passes the question to the concerned specialist, and he gives the reply. For example, if a patient asks, why do I have heel pain early in the morning? It is the orthopaedic surgeon who can answer the question. If the specialist feels the necessity to interact with the patient, there will be a one to one chat with him at an appointed time," Dr. Viswanathan said.
Once the service went online on the July 25, the first question the hospital received was, "I have irritation in both my feet for three months. I have pain also. What should I do? I am willing to come to the hospital and meet you."
Dr Vijay Viswanathan says that almost every day, the hospital has been getting at least 2-3 queries, and questions have come from all over India including rural India, and also from outside India. All the questions pertain to diabetic foot.
Though the service will remain free for the next six months, after that, the hospital plans to charge nominally for the medical advice given by the specialists. "When I discussed with the specialists, they have no problem giving free advice now. Later, when it becomes a paid service, we have to think of the payment modalities," Dr. Viswanathan said.
"There are not many podiatrists (specialists in the treatment of the foot, ankle and lower leg) in the country and when we have a podiatrist in the panel, people can make use of his expertise. Podiatrists are there in the developed countries like the US, Australia, the UK, Germany and Singapore. It is not difficult to give advice on the kind of footwear to use to protect your diabetic foot," Dr. Viswanathan is sure that as time passes, more people will come online and make use of this facility.
