Balance disorder cases double at PGI

Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 15

Cases related to balance disorder have almost doubled in the last five years at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh.

Doctors said the cases have shot up mainly due to awareness and the PGIMER being the referral centre.

Dr Rajveer Singh, Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology, PGI said, “We get about 20 new cases of balance disorder every month. Such cases have doubled in the last five years. We get a lot of referral cases from other states, including from Bihar.”

There are two types of cases “Genetic” and “Non-genetic.” “Genetic cases are less and incurable. Non-genetic cases can occur due to tumour, injury, lack of nutrition, brain infection, multi sclerosis in brain, toxic (alcohol), and stroke, among others,” he said.

Dr Achal Kumar Srivastava, Department of Neurology, AIIMS, who tackles 5,000 cases of balance disorder said, “We get five to ten cases every week at AIIMS. In this disorder, hands and foot get imbalanced. As a result, such patients face numerous problems in the society.”

He said such people have problem in walking and the police catches them as if they were drunk.

India has mere 2,000 neurologists

Dr Satish V Khadilkar, president, Indian Academy of Neurology, told Chandigarh Tribune that there were only 2,000 neurologists in the country.

“There are a very few training centres in India to cater to a large population. Though the government recently doubled them, still their number is not sufficient. In the USA, there are 48,000 neurologists. In Russia, there are 28,000 neurologists,” he said.