My research on SCI patients of Pakistan

       A majority of Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI) can occurs due to any reason of incident such as: road accidents, falling from buildings, swimming accidents, sudden falling, suicide attacks, any explosion and natural disasters (earthquake, tsunami, flood, etc.) or many other reasons. The spinal-cord is the part of our brain which carries the information and signals to/from all the body parts. This thing makes the brain to make order to all body parts on our will, so if this spinal-cord breaks from the center then the brain is unable to receive and give the orders to the body parts. This condition makes the patient as paraplegic or quadriplegic. Spinal Cord Injury patients result in permanent disability and paralysis. Most of this paralysis may involve the loss of movement in the arms and legs, known as QUADRIPLEGIA, as well as and other parts of the body, mostly below the area of injury. A spinal cord injury, that affects the body's lower extremities from the stomach and legs is known as PARAPLEGIA.

  

A General overview on Pakistani SCI Patients

           In Pakistan, the Spinal cord injury (SCI) patients are in thousands of numbers and the all are hopeless to get 100% recovery so that they can again able to walk on their own feet. In Pakistan, the patients of SCI increased up to 600 patients at the same time, due to an earthquake of October 8, 2005., which is the highest number ever reported in any disaster in the whole world. But this is the only figure of that disaster, but in whole there are thousands of patients in Pakistan who are affected to this type of injury. Some patients belong to villages and some from cites also. But in general figure round about 83% didn’t get well medical cure and the rest only 17% patients got available cure. 

         The male-to-female ratio is approximately 1:3 (26% : 74%). The majority 78% are 16 to 39 years of age. If we discuss these figures as level vise into the Pakistani patients then it shows as figures like: 62% had lumbar-level injuries, -- 25% had thoracic-level injuries, -- 9% had lumbar-level injuries, and a few had sacral-level injuries. All patients developed urinary tract infections; 15% had bowel complaints; 2% developed deep-vein thrombosis and 0.05% developed wound infections. Following are the some complications which the patient of SCI usually complains and its percentage w.r.t all SCI patients: 

       

This should be clear that these figures are from the patients of Sindh, Punjab, KPK, Baluchistan, Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir. 

Seeks Attention 

               Awareness of potential complications in patients with paraplegia is essential to care planning in Pakistan. The priorities include skin, bowel, and bladder care and provision of prophylactic heparin. SCI patients require comprehensive long-term planning from the government side so that they could also pass there life in the normal way so that the nation could also utilizes their talent and God-Gifted potential. 

•  Only 3 proper rehabilitation centers are at present working in Pakistan: 1 is in Rawalpindi namely AFIRM (Armed Forces Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, 1 in Peshawar, and the other 1 is in Islamabad namely NIRM (National Institute of Rehabilitation and Medicine), are playing and important role to make these people mobilized and to help them to pass there life in a well-mannered way. Like these center, in all the cities and towns of Pakistan there should be such type of centers which can help the patients of SCI to improve the living standard and able to play there their part in the progress and prosperous of their beloved country Pakistan. 
• The Patients are scattered to all over the country and there should be a government recognize office there all patients must be registered in daily basis so that government could easily facilitate them with the basis heath facilities and make them able to play their role in the country’s progress and so that they could improve the living standard. 
• The patients from the villages and towns even don’t know the levels of there injuries and its precautions, so that they could be alert for their future living standard. There should be such form of physicians who can guide them and make them alert from many long-term medical problems this thing mostly makes the patient’s current condition to its worst end. If they have its knowledge then at least they can reduce the chances of kidney failure, bladder condition, pressure sores and many more things. 
• All citizens of Pakistan must know the growing rate of SCI injuries patients so that they could aware to the patient’s medical structure and help them morally to place them in first. This act can also make awareness to avoid the reasons of SCI do that it could reduce the number of patient annually. That was the simple go through about the Spinal Cord Injury patients. Keep them in your kind prayers.