World Asthma Day: Kolkata's CMRI launches 'Severe Asthma Clinic'

The privately-run hospital, which is a unit of CK Birla Hospital, said the severe asthma clinic is equipped with latest global technology to detect early stages of asthma, lung disorders, and severe asthma cases.

Besides providing consultation and treatment at par with global standards, the clinic also offers stepwise asthma management plans as per the Global Initiative of Asthma (GINA) guidelines, including personalised care plans offering advanced therapies like biologics with close supervision during administration by respiratory nurse and ongoing support to manage their asthma more efficiently.

The asthma clinic will also provide training on proper inhaler techniques, identification of co-morbidities such as Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA) through advanced sleep lab, Bronchiectasis and ABPA through HRCT scans and serologic markers, identifying atopic status by skin prick test, reconfirmation of degree of severity of asthma through advanced lung function lab, dietary advice, psychological counselling and checking compliance to therapies with each visit.

CMRI's Consultant - Pulmonology Beauty Biswas said, "Asthma is a chronic respiratory condition that affects millions of individuals worldwide, and severe asthma is that form of the disease that is difficult to control and often requires emergency care and hospitalization."

"Patients suffering from severe asthma face daily struggles with their breathing, leading to a decreased quality of life and significant health care costs," the doctor said.

"The establishment of a severe asthma clinic will serve as a centralized hub for these patients to receive comprehensive care from a team of dedicated health care professionals," she added.

Speaking on the occasion, Director and HOD of CMRI's pulmonology department, Raja Dhar, said, "We chose World Asthma Day for the launch of Severe Asthma Clinic as it is the day when we try to spread awareness about the disease."

The launch of the severe asthma clinic was followed by a panel discussion where eminent panelists spoke about the effect of air pollution on lungs and how asthma occurs.

India reports one of the highest cases of asthma in the world.

According to the findings of Global Burden of Disease Report 2021 published by Lancet, India, the country of 1.44 billion, has about 38 million asthmatics.

The total number of asthmatics throughout the world is 340 million, and India accounts for about 10 percent of the global burden of asthma, according to reports.