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Children suffering from clubfoot disease treated free of cost at district hospital in Noida
Noida: Salarpur village resident Uday Pratap Singh and his wife were ecstatic when their son was born in 2019
Noida: Salarpur village resident Uday Pratap Singh and his wife were ecstatic when their son was born in 2019. However, their joy was short-lived as neighbours and locals in their area started cursing them on seeing that their son’s feet were bent inwards.
“People in the locality started calling my son ‘witch’s son’ while some blamed me and my family for the condition. Some old women in the village said I must have “stepped out during an eclipse” while pregnant. People said my son will never be able to walk as this condition is not treatable,” said Uday Pratap, who works as a daily wager for a private firm.
His son, Shivaay Singh, was born at the Gautam Budh Nagar District Hospital, where the Rashtriya Bal Swastha Karyakram (RBSK) scheme of the STATE OR CENTRE? the government was launched in February 2019 to provide free treatment for congenital talipes equinovarus (CTEV), commonly known as clubfoot disease for patients who are up to two years of age. Clubfoot is a debilitating birth defect that causes one or both feet to point inward and upward, making it difficult and painful to walk.
After Shivaay’s birth, he was screened for congenital diseases at the hospital during a follow-up after which he was referred to the orthopaedic department. Here, Dr Brajesh Kumar Singh, the district nodal officer for RBSK’s clubfoot disease program and senior orthopaedic surgeon at the hospital, started his treatment.
Today, Shivaay’s feet have been cured by as much as 70% and he is able to stand with support. He is one of the 46 kids undergoing treatment at the hospital under the program since 2019. Of these, 42 are from Gautam Budh Nagar while others have been from Ghaziabad and Delhi.
“Once the disease is detected at birth, the treatment begins. This disease is treated in three steps. First, their feet are plastered for five-seven weeks. Second, tenotomy surgery of the child’s foot is done. Third, special types of shoes or braces are given to the child, which are to be worn till the age of four-five years,” said Dr Brijesh.
Uday Pratap said had the treatment not been free of cost, he wouldn’t have been able to afford it.
In order to make the program a success, an international non-profit, Miraclefeet, has been providing technical and logistical support to the district hospital which includes training doctors as well as providing latest technology for braces for the feet. The NGO works in partnership with the Uttar Pradesh Department of Family Welfare and the National Health Mission, Uttar Pradesh.
“We fund and manage the support staff to educate and follow-up with families, and provide training, technical and organizational guidance, and innovative monitoring and evaluation tools to doctors involved in the treatment. Patients under the program are provided with MiracleFeet foot abduction braces,” said Saurabh Chauhan, program executive, Miraclefeet.
An estimated 7,000 children are born with clubfoot in Uttar Pradesh every year, he said.
According to Dr Brijesh, lack of awareness regarding clubfoot treatment is a major concern of health officials.
“Whenever a child is found born with the disease, a loud and clear message has to be given to the parents that the disease is treatable with early intervention. The disease is difficult to treat only if the child has grown up to the age of four-five or above. Under the government’s program, treatment is given to children below two years of age for free,” he said.
He added that in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country, the program had to be stalled for at least nine months. “Otherwise, the number of patients under the program would have been at least 100,” he said.
Follow-up treatments are another cause of concern. “Most of the parents are daily wage earners and during early stages of treatment, the child needs to be brought to the hospital every week. In many cases, parents fail to do so. This is where program volunteers have to go for home visits and convince the parents to bring the child to the hospital,” said Chauhan.
The high cost of treatment is another deterrent for low-income families.
“While plasters at early stages cost ₹500, the cost can go upto ₹10,000 as the plaster has to be changed every week till the child is at least 10 months old. The tenotomy surgery costs around ₹25,000. Besides, the braces that the child has to wear for at least three more years cost ₹18,000 each. As the child grows, they have to be changed at least twice a year,” said Dr Brijesh.
