Asthma is increasing at an alarming rate in Raigarh region, said Dr RK Panda from TB and Chest Department of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Raipur while addressing a Press conference here on Thursday. Dr Panda attributed pollution as one of the main causes for asthma. He said that high number of Asthma patients are coming from Raigarh for treatment. ‘However, there is no official data on the number of Asthma patients from Raigarh.’ There are serious misconceptions and lack of awareness among people about Asthma which in some cases has turned fatal, he said.
“One can live a healthy life with Asthma. Personalities like Amitabh Bacchan and David Beckham are examples of people living perfect life with Asthma,” Dr Panda told reporters. According to him, Asthma requires long-term treatment and inhalers are best form of medications as compared to oral medicines. Inhaler has direct effect on lungs, which in case of oral medicines takes long time to reach lungs. Baseless concerns like side effects, myths about inhaler device and social stigma also provoke people against using it, he said.
“Patients are often skeptical about inhaler becoming a habit, however for Asthmatic patient, inhalers are a need just like food,” Dr Panda mentioned. He also talked about different symptoms of Asthma and informed that it could happen to any person irrespective of gender, age difference or living standard. Asthma has been observed in infants of 4-5 months. However the good thing is that with proper and full treatment it can be treated in children, he said. There is need for generating awareness among people towards Asthma; as today also a large section of people are ignorant about this chronic disease, he said.