Country’s first arthritis centre launched in Karachi

Led by an American board-certified rheumatologist, Pakistan’s first arthritis centre has been established in Karachi by a group of health experts for early diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal diseases and systemic autoimmune conditions, commonly referred to as rheumatic diseases.

“We have a signed a memorandum of understanding with a local health group for the establishment of Pak-American Arthritis Centre (PAAC), where foreign and locally trained and qualified rheumatologists will be available for the diagnosis and treatment of rheumatic diseases, which are very common in Pakistan but are hard to diagnose and treat by other health experts,” said Dr Saliha Ishaq, managing director of the PAAC at the launching ceremony on Wednesday.

Other leading rheumatologists, including Dr Tabe Rasool from the Dow University of Health Sciences, Dr Tahira Perveen from Liaquat National Hospital, Dr Babar Saeed Khan, Chief Executive Officer Ehad Medical Centre Karachi Dr Anam Dayem, as well as dozens of rheumatologists and health experts were also present on the occasion.

According to experts, rheumatoid arthritis, or RA, is an autoimmune and inflammatory disease, in which the immune system of a person attacks healthy cells in his or her body by mistake, causing inflammation (painful swelling) in the affected parts of the body. Rheumatoid arthritis mainly attacks the joints, usually many joints at once.

Dr Saliha said they have signed the MoU with the Ehad Medical Centre, which had over 20 branches throughout Karachi where trained and qualified rheumatologists would be available following the establishment of the PAAC. The network of the centre would be expanded to other cities of Pakistan with the expansion of the Ehad Medical Centre in the country, she said.

Speaking about the burden of arthritis in Pakistan, Dr Saliha said around three per cent of the Pakistani population was suffering from different auto-immune diseases as well as rheumatoid arthritis, but unfortunately due to a lack of trained and qualified rheumatologists in Pakistan, thousands of people, both young and old, were living with chronic pain for years without proper treatment and management.

“Feeling the need for a dedicated arthritis treatment centre in Karachi, we have established this centre which will be serving patients from entire Sindh and Balochistan as well as from South Punjab, who are unable to get proper treatment, as most of the public and private health facilities lack the services of rheumatologists in this vast area.”

Declaring Covid-19 as an emerging culprit of inflammatory arthritis, senior rheumatologist from DUHS Dr Tabe Rasool said people who recovered from Covid-19 were complaining of muscle and joint pain, which lasted from six months to over a year. The establishment of an arthritis centre in Karachi with over 20 branches was good omen for such patients.

“A large number of people started visiting health facilities with complaints of arthritis and new onset of joint and muscle pain after recovering from the Covid-19 infection. Unfortunately, most of the patients with arthritis, especially backache, are misdiagnosed and suffer for months or even years before reaching to any trained and qualified rheumatologist,” Dr Tabe said and hoped that the PAAC would prove to be a blessing for thousands of chronic patients suffering from rheumatic disorders.

Dr Babar Saeed Khan said they had managed to bring together American, British and Pakistani trained rheumatologists onto one platform of the Pak-American Arthritis Centre to provide state-of-the-art treatment as per international standards to patients who were in extreme agony but were unable to consult any foreign-trained expert in the country.

“All our branches at Ehad Medical Centre would be having trained and qualified rheumatologists from the Pak-American Arthritis Centre, which will be consulting experts all around the world to provide quality treatment. These experts would reduce the cost of treatment as well as suffering of patients by properly diagnosing and treating them.”

Speaking about rheumatic disorders, Dr Tahira Perveen said that if a person is having joint and muscle pain which aggravates while taking rest but becomes bearable while working, the person should immediately approach a rheumatologist. She added that very soon, trained and qualified rheumatologists would be available at all 20 branches of the Ehad Medical Centre in Karachi.