App soon to track clubfoot treatment

Bhubaneswar: A mobile phone application would soon be launched in the state to track the treatment of clubfoot disease and its monitoring and create a database of it.
The Health and Family Welfare department and two other departments of the government and the Cure International India Trust (CIIT) Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to improve treatment in government hospitals and give an impetus to its training by professionals of the Health department from the state.
Under the MoU, the CIIT has been asked to develop a mobile application which could be used to track treatment, the follow up of treatment, monitoring of the process and data compilation which could later be shared with larger health forums.
As per the agreement, the Health department will provide the physical infrastructure like hospitals, staff, treatment centres while the CIIT would ensure training to the health professionals here in the Ponseti treatment system.
The Ponseti system is a manipulative treatment method, started in the United States as a non-invasive treatment for clubfoot disease in children. Clubfoot is a congenital problem of abnormality of the foot of children which are often found twisted.
The MoU has been envisioned to boost availability of clubfoot treatment in more hospitals, ensure counselling, follow-up and tracking besides documentation.
The SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack has been chosen to be the nodal agency for training in the treatment under the Ponseti method. The project is named ‘CURE Clubfoot Odisha Project’.
Other government hospital staff would also be trained in the process.
Under the project while the Health department would provide physical infrastructure, the Women and Child Development department would assist the programme by screening the kids living with the disease through Anganwadi workers involved under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS).
The Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SSEPD) will assist in implementation of the project by creating awareness in the state.