AIIMS to help set up national registry for multiple sclerosis

NEW DELHI: On the occasion of World MS Day today, the All India Medical Institute of Sciences (AIIMS) announced to help set up a national registry for multiple sclerosis (MS), a rare autoimmune disease.

Rohit Bhatia, an additional professor of neurology at AIIMS, said, “The neurology centre at AIIMS has today is seeing more MS patients residing in tier I and tier II cities from across the country. Therefore efforts are being made to collate the data and understand the disease from an Indian perspective, which as of now, is not the case as the disease is considered more predominant in the western countries. In this regard, the AIIMS is keen to set up of a National MS Registry for maintenance of epidemiological data of MS patients from across the country for evidence based research, treatment, and education.”

In 2011, the department of neurology at AIIMS started collecting data of MS patients undergoing counselling and treatment at the institute in order to track their demographic profile, medical condition, quality of life, disability stage and post treatment outcome.