Asthma not a road block in life: Experts

New Delhi: With a motive to clear the clouded vision about asthama, country's first 'Asthma Dialogue' programe orgainsed by the respiratory experts and real-life heroes, who assembled to demystify asthma, clear the misconceptions around asthma and its treatment.

The ace badminton player, Parupalli Kashyap, who was guest speaker said, "Asthma is not curable but it can be controlled well enough and it should not be a deterrent in leading the life of your dreams. If Asthma has not limited my life, then why yours?"

Dr Himanshu Garg, Head, Department of Pulmonology, of a private hospital said, "When it comes to asthma, there is a lack of insight and lots of misconception and myths surrounding the disease and its available treatments."

To reach out to people with real-life success stories, and to change their mindset around Asthma and its treatment, Dr Pratibha Dogra, Sr Consultant said, "Asthma in India comes with huge social stigma. Forget about taking the right treatment, people even fear to get diagnosed with asthma and often hide their diagnosis which makes them delay the right treatment which harms them in the long term.

"The real-life heroes present between us are proof that Asthma, if managed timely and properly, can never become an obstacle in life. We need to understand that there is nothing wrong in getting diagnosed with Asthma, but not addressing it properly, she added.

According to a study, published in the Journal of the Association of Physicians of India, asthmatics in India believed that their asthma was under control if they have upto two emergency doctor visits a year.

The quality of life of these patients was significantly affected with 93 percent school/work absenteeism and a loss of 50 percent productivity. 75 percent of the asthmatics have never had a lung function test.