The Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine (ISCCM) along with Eli Lilly India has launched the “Surviving Sepsis Campaign - Mumbai Declaration” to fight Sepsis, commonly known as blood poisoning. ‘Surviving Sepsis’ is a concerted effort of intensive care professionals from around the globe to reduce the number of deaths from Sepsis through a five point plan of diagnosis, treatment, referral, education and counseling.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Pravin Amin, chairman, organizing committee of ISCCM & chief intensivist Bombay Hospital said, “Mumbai declaration is an effort under the Global ‘Surviving Sepsis campaign’ to urge government and healthcare providers to recognize the growing burden of sepsis and provide adequate resources to combat it. It brings together three leading professional organisations in the field of sepsis — the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the International Sepsis Forum along with ISCCM professionals at the 10th Annual Conference of the Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine.”
The conference will be held in Mumbai from February 4-8 at NCPA, which will include plenaries, thematic sessions, debates and panel discussions. Workshops including the FCCS Course, trauma and cardiac life support courses will precede the congress.
About 25 per cent of the intensive care deaths the world over according to ISCCM panel is on account of Sepsis. Eli Lilly’s Xigris is the latest treatment available in the country to treat intensive care Sepsis. Xigris is a biotech product, which is currently being imported from the US. It was introduced in the country 18 months ago. “After the recent customs duty cut by the Union government the price of Xigris has been reduced from Rs.6 lakh to Rs.3.5 lakh per four day course. This course is recommended for a patient with body weight of 60 kg,” said Dr Ramanand Nadig, medical director, Eli Lilly India. About 200 patients have so far been treated with Xigris. The normal recommended course is of four-day duration.
ISCCM is planning to initiate a fellowship programme exclusively on critical care. The eligibility criteria for the programme will be a postgraduate medical degree in disciplines like cardiology, diabetology, nephrology, and childcare. “Currently the critical care of heart is looked after by a cardiologist, kidneys by a nephrologists, and diabetes by a diabetologist. There is a need for doctors and paramedics who can take the overall charge of critical care patients admitted for whatsoever reasons. Our course is aimed with the objective of bringing forth doctors who are critical care specialists,” said Dr Shruti Nagarkar, organizing secretary of the conference.