More than 300 national and global neurologists participated in a day-long 11th Continuing Medical Education (CME) seminar on November 3 which focused on increase in the number of stroke patients due to rising pollution levels in urban areas.



More than 250 delegates from five countries participated in the seminar. P N Renjen, a leading neurologist who practices as senior consultant at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, elaborating on the stroke burden pointed out, "Increasing urbanisation is leading to increasing pollution in cities like Delhi and this in turn is causing a marked increase in the instances of stroke." 

"Towards managing this, advancement in vascular neurology is key and that is the best done when all come together and share experiences and best practices," he said. Stroke claims a life every 6 seconds and 15 million people worldwide suffer a stroke each year and 5.8 million people die from it. Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability in India, Renjen said.

This year, the conference was designed to give insight into the advancing field of vascular neurology. At the same time, the CME also proved to be an ideal platform for doctors from across the world to share ideas, techniques and experiences for the benefit of the counterparts from other countries present at the conference.