On the occasion of completion of 10 years of the Autoimmune Bullous Disease Clinic at the Department of Dermatology at PGIMER, Chandigarh, a brief patient education initiative was organized at the Dermatology OPD. These diseases are uncommon globally. The clinic has registered nearly 2000 patients of pemphigus, pemphigoid and other autoimmune bullous diseases in these 10 years. Considering the uncommon nature of these diseases, this is a huge number and possibly the highest number of patients registered in a single clinic in the whole country. The clinic has registered patients from entire north India and also from distant states including West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. The clinic is held on every Wednesday. Any patient suffering from these blistering diseases can register at the clinic.
The clinic is at forefront of the proper care of these patients with the most advanced treatment modalities available, reaching at a correct diagnosis using advanced diagnostic techniques for proper treatment and carrying out cutting-edge research. Over these 10 years, more than 40 research articles on autoimmune bullous diseases were published. Consultants of the clinic are involved in multi-centric research projects in collaboration with centres across the globe. They also participated in global regulatory clinic trials investigating the efficacy of new medicine for pemphigus.
On this occasion, Prof Naresh Panda, Dean (Academic), PGIMER released patient education booklets and patient education videos prepared in Hindi, English and Punjabi. These diseases are chronic ones that require long-term treatment. These booklets and videos were made by the resident doctors of the department under the supervision of Dr Dipankar De, who looks after the clinic along with Dr Sanjeev Handa and Dr Rahul Mahajan. These documents are intended to educate the patients about their disease and how to take care of themselves when they are diseased and also when disease-free. Additionally, recorded videos of patients who have been through these diseases were displayed. These patients shared their experiences with the disease and these are likely to immensely motivate other patients.
A poster walk was organized where publications of the department were showcased. Plain language summary of the findings of these researches in Hindi, Punjabi and English were displayed for better understanding of the patients.
