National Brain Week 2020

Inauguration

For the last seven years the Academy is organizing public education and awareness programs on brain health and brain diseases during “National Brain Week”. The activity is held with the Foundation day of the academy which is 16 th December.

‘National Brain Week’ was organized virtually this year on the backgrounds of ongoing Corona pandemic. Neurologists and experts across the country had joined the Week-Long celebration. The sessions were conducted online daily from 18th to 24th December 2020 between 6pm to 7.30pm. on Zoom and were live on YouTube or Facebook. The theme this year was “ my health my responsibility”. Emphasis was on preventive aspects of the neurological diseases. National convener Dr Chandrashekhar Meshram planned the program for the week, prepared the press note and the poster, which was circulated to members of IAN, general public, patients, care givers, physicians and general practitioners.

Pre-Event Awareness

On 18th December, Past President of Academy and philanthropist Padmashree Dr Ashok Panagariya inaugurated the event and addressed the audience. IAN President Dr JMK Murthy in his address explained various types of epilepsy, its diagnosis, social aspects and treatment. Past President Dr Pramod Kumar Pal spoke on Parkinson’s disease. President Elect Dr Nirmal Surya spoke about brain health. Dr Gagandeep Singh, former secretary of IAN, told about the foundation day of the Academy and public education activities. IAN Secretary Dr U. Meenakshisundaram highlighted what is so special about Neurology.

On 19th December focus was on exercise and music. Dr Jacob George spoke on exercise and prevention of brain disorders while Dr Sathish Kumar talked about exercise and health – how to reverse aging. Dr Shantala Hegde talked about music in brain health. The session was chaired by Dr Suryanarayan Sharma and Dr Anuradha.

On 20th December was dedicated to common neurological problems. Dr Debashish Chowdhury talked about headache and Dr Sudhir Kothari on vertigo. Dr Hrishikesh Kumar explained the gait disorders. Dr Subhash Kaul and Dr Vinay Goyal chaired the session.

On 21st December Dr Vivek Lal explained about loss of vision. Dr Sumit Singh spoke about Multiple sclerosis and Dr Joy Desai on Sleep- pakruti ki anokhi dawai. The session was chaired by Dr. Sanjay Sharma, Dr P.K. Maheshwari and Dr VG Pradeep Kumar.

On 22nd December Dr Satish Khadilkar spoke on nerve and muscle diseases, Dr R.Lakshminarsimhan on Myasthenia Gravis and Dr Kameshwar Prasad on Stroke. This session was chaired by Dr Sudhir Shah, Dr Sita Jayalakshmi and Dr P N Sylaja.

On 23rd December Dr Subhir Bhave interviewed Dr Chandrashekhar Meshram on Diet for prevention of diseases and weight control. Dr Bindu Menon discussed neurology on the wheels. This session was chaired by Dr Manish Modi and Dr. Bhawana Sharma.

On 24th December was dedicated to Neurorehabilitation. Dr Nirmal Surya highlighted the need for neurorehb.Dr Hutoxi Writer spoke about the role of Physiotherapy, Dr Murali Krishnan on role of occupational therapy, Dr Sonal Chitnis on role of speech therapy, Dr Urvashi Shah on role of neuropsychologist, Dr Abhishek Shrivastava on advances in neurorehab and Dr Achal Srivastava on Ataxia . The session was chaired by Dr Man Mohan Mehndiratta, Dr Apoorva Pauranik and Dr Partha Ray.

After the session concluding function was held . IAN President Dr JMK Murthy, President Elect Dr Nirmal Surya, Secretary Dr U. Meenakshisundaram , past Secretary Dr Gagandeep Singh, Convener Dr Chandrashekhar Meshram and Dr Partha Ray expressed their views about the extremely successful event.

Important information regarding the diseases and their prevention was conveyed in best possible way. Difficult topics were made simple by speakers for understanding of general public. Faculty was from different regions and states of the country. After the talks the audience got the opportunity to interact with the experts during Question and Answer session. During the week IAN 3000k Challenge was also organized. 58 neurologists ran for 3109 kms during the week and set the example for the society.

There was overwhelming response to the event. Extremely positive feedback was received not only from lay public but also consultant physicians who enjoyed and learned from the sessions. Print media participated actively in the campaign and there were 33 publications of the event during the week in English and regional languages. The recording of the event is available on YouTube and Facebook.

Dr Sudhir Shah, Ahmedbad and his team had organized an update for the physicians on 19 th and 20 th December. Dr M A Aleem’s interview on neurological issues related to Covid 19 was also published in newspaper.

Academy has decided to undertake public education and awareness activity more frequently throughout the year during 2021.

Concluding Reports

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