The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Skin treatment should be available in rural areas, says Minister

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Skin treatment should be available in rural areas, says Minister

Staff Reporter

National conference of skin specialists begins; bicycle rally organised

— Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

Launch: Minister for Urban Development and Law and Parliamentary Affairs S. Suresh Kumar at the the inauguration of Dermacon 2009 in Bangalore on Wednesday.

Bangalore: Urban Development and Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister S. Suresh Kumar on Wednesday asserted the need for making affordable skin treatment available in rural areas.

The Minister was inaugurating Dermacon 2009, the 37th national conference of Indian Association of Dermatologists, Venereologists and Leprologists (IADVL).

He said that although the rural masses contracted many skin diseases because of unhygienic living conditions and lack of awareness, there were not many skin specialists to treat them in the villages.

“It is unfortunate that there are not many skin specialists in rural areas. Besides, the high cost of skin treatment has made the advancements in dermatology available only for the rich,” he said.

The Minister urged the participating experts to deliberate on how to make skin treatment affordable to the poor and create awareness about skin care and personal hygiene among the villagers. “You discuss and tell us what can be done and the Government will take it forward,” he said.

Asserting that it was the State Government’s wish to develop Bangalore as the health tourism capital, Mr. Kumar said: “Good health for all is our motto. But the Government alone cannot achieve this. We need the help of private doctors in making quality and affordable health care available for all.”

The Minister, who expressed concern over the mushrooming of beauty clinics in the city, said people who fell prey to the misleading advertisements by these clinics ended up spoiling their beauty. He urged the dermatologists to deliberate on how to create awareness among people about such misleading advertisements and spurious beauty treatments. “I am interested in knowing how the outcome of this conference would help the people,” he added. As part of the conference, live demonstrations on surgeries to remove acne and nail, hair transplantation, liposuction and fat transfer and correction of upper and lower face were conducted on Tuesday.

The conference is a global convention on evolving trends in dermatological therapy. The former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was supposed to inaugurate the conference. But he could not make it. Instead he sent a list of oaths for the dermatologists, which was read out during the inaugural function.

Over 3,000 experts from the U.S., U.K., Germany, Italy and India are presenting papers on leprosy therapy, newer options in Vitiligo therapy, anti-ageing medications, lasers for the Indian skin, hair cloning, stem cell and gene therapy at the conference.

Bicycle rally

To mark the inaugural, skin specialists participated in a bicycle rally organised on Wednesday to highlight the aspect of “Healthy Body – Healthy Skin”.

The rally that began from Vidhana Soudha would culminate at Gayathri Vihar on Palace Grounds, the venue of the conference.

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