Drug Addiction & General Physicians

Drug addiction causes immense human distress and the illegal production and distribution of drugs have spawned crime and violence worldwide. Today, there is no part of the world that is free from the curse of drug trafficking and drug addiction. Millions of drug addicts, all over the world, are leading miserable lives, between life and death.

India too is caught in this vicious circle of drug abuse, and the numbers of drug addicts are increasing day by day. What started off as casual use among a minuscule population of high-income group youth in the metro has permeated to all sections of society.  Apart from affecting the financial stability, addiction increases conflicts and causes untold emotional pain for every member of the family. With most drug users being in the productive age group of 18-35 years, the loss in terms of human potential is incalculable. The damage to the physical, psychological, moral and intellectual growth of the youth is very high. Adolescent drug abuse is one of the major areas of concern in adolescent and young people’s behavior.

Addiction is defined as a disease by most medical association.  Like diabetes, cancer and heart disease, addiction is caused by a combination of behavioural, environmental and biological factors. Genetic risks factors account for about half of the likelihood that an individual will develop addiction. With increasing pressure on general physicians to treat and advocate for drug and alcohol addicted patients, it is more necessary than ever that physician have the knowledge and skills to appropriately address this segment of the population. Physicians need training and practice in referring patients to treatment teams, monitoring patients in recovery, and providing interventions that will eliminate or reduce substance abuse before it becomes addiction. Addicted individuals are both stigmatized and marginalized, and many are too ill to advocate for themselves. Widespread recognition in the medical community of addiction as a treatable illness will contribute to a greater understanding of addictive disorders and reduce the stigma attached to the diagnosis and treatment of addiction. [Extracts from various Articles on internet]

Rotary Club of Bombay West and Muktaa Charitable Foundation have organized an Addiction Medicine Workshop for GPs in association with KEM Hospital’s Dept. of Psychiatry & Deaddiction Centre of Excellence and Vile Parle Medical Association.  This 7 – Session Course on every Wednesday afternoon from 18^th January 2017 to 1^st March 2017 is aimed at training General Physicians to identify, counsel and treat drug addicts.  Over 90 GPs who have registered for this Workshop will benefit from this initiative.

Addiction Medicine Workshop for GPs

Rotary Club of Bombay West in association with Dr.Madhu Oswal, Founder Volunteer &Muktaa Charitable Foundation, Pune, Department of Psychiatry and De-addiction Centre of Excellence, KEM, Mumbai & Vile Parle Medical Club Public Health Trust once again organized a Certificate Course / Workshop on Addiction Medicine for family physicians / General Practitioners from the Mumbai and surrounding areas.  On January 18, 2017 the Inaugural Session of "Addiction Medicine Workshop for GPs" took place at Rotary Service Centre, where the Chief Guest was District Governor Gopal Rai Mandhania. The objective of this Course is to expand knowledge, add skills and motivate doctors to work in the field of addiction.  Legal and illegal drugs such as tobacco, alcohol, opium, cannabis, club and designer drugs will be discussed in detail. Skills needed to take history, make an assessment and manage addicted patients will be imparted during the interactive workshop. Empowering the General Practitioners would result in combating this health hazard called ‘drug abuse’ which has gripped our society, with more and more youngsters falling into the trap.There are 7 sessions of 2.5 hours each on every Wednesday starting from 18^th January till 1st March, 2017.  These sessions are in a workshop format, making them interactive and enjoyable. 

The first session of the workshop saw more than 80 doctors participate. Interestingly, the doctors were across the spectrum, i.e. Homeopath Doctors, Allopath Doctors as well as Ayurveda Doctors. The most common query was how to handle the patient, who is an addict, what medicines to prescribe? How should the doctor counsel that patient as well as his immediate family since the therapy must include a balance of medicines as well as counselling. The response received from the participant Doctors was very positive and they were happy to receive inputs given by Dr.Shubhangi Parkar, who was the key note speaker for this session.

Project Co-ordinators for the workshop are IPP ShirishRege, Rtn.Dr.Manoj Patel, R/Ann Dr.Bhavna Patel and Rtn.ShardulKulkarni.  Project Advisors :Rtn.Dr.ShyamlalKhanna and PP Rtn.Mohan Joshi.  District Avenue Advisor (Substance Abuse Prevention & Healthy Minds) :Rtn.YogeshZaveri

Rtn. ShardulKulkarni

Sangam - a Fusion Music Concert @ Rotary

Rotary Club of Bombay West in association with “Sur Aaur Saaz” presented ‘’SANGAM”, a Fusion Music Concert  on Sunday, January 15 2017, by internationally acclaimed artists Anuradha Pal on the Tabla, Veena Chandra on the Sitar, Phil Scarf on Saxophone and Snehal Muzoomdar on the Santoor.  Sangam is a meeting of various streams not only Sarita but also Sur. 

The programme started by Star Tabla virtuoso and Percussionist Pandita Anuradha Pal briefing the audience about taking sounds from nature and weaving the sounds through different continents of Latin America to Arabia to India. The melody was a mix of different regions with semi classical ragas used and also interestingly incorporated a Bollywood piece as well. Pandita Veena Chandra, internationally renowned Sitarist, composer, teacher and choreographer enthralled the audience with the gentle, fluid and classical notes on the sitar. CA Snehal Muzoommdar, professional Santoor maestro for more than three decades (and a Rotarian from RC of Bombay Harbour), using a folk raga from Rajasthan and Gujarat spell bound the audience playing the Santoor  which communicated the emotions of a young a girl carried in a Palkhi with the backdrop of a flowing river amidst tall mountains. Saxophonist  Phil Scarff has beautifully moulded the saxophone to Indian classical music, and he played a piece by the world renowned Saxophonist and Composer Sonny Rollins, based on the Caribbean rhythm. The final piece of the programme was the jugalbandi of all four artists based on the Carnatic Raga known as Raga Hamsadhwani.

Sangam was unity in diversity of different instruments of different nature – percussion, string and blow instruments from different origins. It was a treat for music lovers. Much of the success of this music lay in the beautiful and fluid rendering of the performances.

The Fusion Music Concert was sponsored by Union Bank of India and co-sponsored by DCB Bank.

Padma Shri Dr.Deepak Phatak honoured by Rotary Club of Bombay West

Rotary Club of Bombay West conferred Rotary Lifetime Achievement Award on Padma Shri Dr.Deepak Phatak for his outstanding achievements as IT Professor, Researcher, Application & Systems Developer and Mentor.  

President Aslam Merchant presenting citation to Dr.Phatak

Padma Shri Dr.Deepak Phatak’s devotion and dedication to the teaching profession at IIT Bombay since 1971, as Head of Department of Computer Science, as Dean of Resource Development, as Head of Kanwal Rekhi School of Information Technology, Head of Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management and currently as the Subbarao Nilekani Chair Professor has been truly exemplary, having guided several Ph.D candidates, Masters’ level students and thousands of Bachelor level students. His contribution in research work in databases and systems, software engineering, IT enabled education and IT strategy planning is noteworthy.  His leading role in development of aircraft maintenance training simulator, smart card technology and surveillance system for SEBI are undeniably commendable and benefiting a wide section of our society. Through his Eklavya Project and Outreach Programmes, Dr.Phatak has created an open platform to help students and teachers of engineering colleges use modern technology and dissemination of open source audio-visual content to train them.

A recipient of Padma Shri from Government of India and several national and international awards, Dr.Deepak Phatak has truly displayed an exceptional commitment and high achievement in his profession which has not only resulted in advancement of the vocation but has also positively impacted our country’s development.