World Vitiligo Day observed at GMCH

GUWAHATI, June 25: The North-East States branch of the Indian Association of Dermatologists, Venereologists and Leprologists (NEIADVL) observed June 25 as World Vitiligo Day along with the rest of the world to commemorate the death anniversary of pop icon Michael Jackson who was a patient of vitiligo, stated a press release.

The day-long programmes were aimed at educating the public on the benign ture of the disease and reducing stigma and discrimition faced by the sufferers. These included free vitiligo camps, radio and TV shows, setting up banners and posters at strategic locations, distribution of information leaflets for public awareness, sending of informative bulk sms and write-ups on prominent newspapers. There were also scientific programmes for the medical fraternity in the form of CMEs and panel discussions to update doctors with the latest knowledge on the subject and encourage research in vitiligo.

At Gauhati Medical College Hospital the faculty of the Department of Dermatology, Dr Jyoti th, Dr Debeeka Hazarika and Dr Pankaj Adhicari enlightened the vitiligo patients on the ture of vitiligo and its treatment and answered to queries from the patients. Patients were provided free medicines for their treatment including some expensive ones that cannot otherwise be easily procured by the common man. Educatiol programmes for doctors included a tiol level webir featuring prominent dermatologists of the tion, that was webcast on a big screen at the Dept. of Dermatology, Gauhati Medical College Hospital in the afternoon, and a CME organised at a prominent hotel in Guwahati in the evening.