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Asthma Care India Charitable Project

Giri Dandamudi, MD

Project Mission:

To deliver effective, cost-efficient asthma medications to those in rural areas who most need it in order to control their asthma symptoms.

Project Goals:

To raise awareness of asthma in rural areas of India in order for people inflicted with this disease to seek the appropriate treatment in a timely manner.
To properly screen patients for those who are suffering from asthma through practical and objective methods/measurements.
To provide asthma medications which are affordable and can be administered by patients themselves on a daily basis.
To track patient progress and outcomes in order to measure the level of success of this project so as to ultimately determine the most effective ways to improve the conditions of patients with asthma in rural India.

Accomplishments To Date:

The Asthma Care India Charitable Project began in 2000 with several camps conducted over the years in rural villages in the state of Andhra Pradesh in order to establish a baseline for asthma awareness.
After screening many rural residents for asthma, 250 of them representing 25 villages were selected to take daily medications and to measure their progress.
Currently, there are 3 clinics with a trained, local physician diagnosing, treating and following up with asthma patients
One of the largest Indian pharmaceutical companies, Lupin Pharmaceuticals (www.lupinpharmaceuticals.com), was approached to supply the project with asthma medications at discounted prices in order to make it more economical for patients to comply with the medication plan.
The Asthma Care India Charitable Project is now operating under the CARE Byrraju Rural Health Mission (www.carehospitals.com/crhm) in Bhimavarum ( West Godavari District ) for the past 3 years.

Medication Details:

Select patients initially take an inhalation steroid as a daily control medication and are later instructed to take a long-acting Beta agonist along with the steroid.
Select patients use rescue medication and oral steroids (for a short duration of 5 days) when their asthma flares up.
Select patients take Budamate 400 mcg (Lupin Pharmaceuticals, Inc.), which primarily contains budesonide and formotarol, once per day using rotocaps and Lupihaler device.
Select patients take Budamate twice per day for 2 weeks along with Wysoline 20 mg daily for 5 days when their asthma flares up.

Preliminary Findings:

The screening process for correctly identifying those patients suffering from asthma is a very important facet of the project.
Medications are not as effective for those patients who are smokers and/or are in advanced disease states.
There is a concern that patients stop taking their medications once their symptoms are better when they should be taking certain medications continuously regardless of the severity of their symptoms in order to control their asthma for the long term.
There is a concern about using inhalation steroids in terms of their potential side effects.
The average cost of medications for a patient is about 3 rupees per day.

Conclusion:

By employing practical criteria and spirometry functions, asthma can be accurately diagnosed early in the disease state of patients. Furthermore, persistent asthma symptoms can be effectively and cost-efficiently treated with Budamate on a daily basis as evidenced by the nearly 80% success rate found in those asthma patients complying with such medication treatment. Some of the ongoing challenges that face the continued success of the project include disease awareness, drug costs, medication compliance, project administration and patient progress monitoring.

Photo Gallery:

Care Byrraju and Institute for Asthma and Allergy Diseases	Asthma Program

Astham Patient Treatment	Dr Bhimaraju checking Ashtma patient

Dr Bhimaraju Ashtma patient - drugs