'Karnataka's brain health Initiative to be replicated nationally'

The Karnataka Brain Health Initiative (Ka-BHI) would be replicated at the national level, NITI Aayog member V K Paul said at the event ‘Ka-BHI - Reflection to Action’ at Nimhans here on Friday.

He added that the country does not have a model for brain health initiatives. “We need to bring our best ideas to the Karnataka model so that a preventive, promotive and treatment-driven brain health initiative can be given to the nation. Soon, this will become the model that the WHO and the world will follow,” Paul said.

Under the pilot of the Ka-BHI initiative in Bengaluru (South), Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts, 122 doctors in Primary Health Centres (PHCs) have been trained in neurological disorders and one Brain Health Clinic each has been set up in a district hospital in these districts.

The state government has launched the programme with the support of Nimhans and Niti Aayog.

The initiative aims to address the shortage of doctors and facilities to treat neurological disorders, like stroke, dementia, epilepsy and headaches. This would also decongest Nimhans, where many now go for treatment of simpler illnesses too.

Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said that the initiative would be expanded across the state. “We will support all requirements in terms of finances and human resources. Our PHC doctors have completed three months of training already. We want Asha workers and ANMs to be trained next,” he said.

Suvarna Alladi, principal investigator from Nimhans for the project, said that of the 1,034 patients who sought care under K-aBHI, the majority (603) had visited the brain health clinics in district hospitals, followed by Nimhans (325) and PHCs (166) whereas 682 cases could, in fact, have been treated by PHC doctors.

Among the 203 stroke patients, only nine had reached them in the golden hour which is critical for reducing chances of death or disability. Though 40 per cent of patients did approach a health institution within the golden hour, the institutions they approached did not have the right facilities. Hence more awareness is needed, along with stroke-ready centres in all district hospitals, Dr Alladi said.

The analysis also revealed that dementia patients were coming in only from urban areas, indicating a lack of awareness among the rural population. An eight-member scientific advisory group for the project was also announced.

The website ‘Healthcare Access and Innovation Laboratory’, sponsored by NGV Foundation, was launched at the event.