The Spine Foundation-demo - The Spine Clinics

Dr. Shekhar Bhojraj is a renowned senior Spine Surgeon in India. Having sensed a lack of a dedicated spine care facility in India, he initiated ‘The Spine Unit’ at the prestigious KEM Hospital (MCGM) in 1988, first of its kind in the country.

The unit overcame major challenges like setting up an infrastructure, raising awareness, conducting workshops to train the orthopaedic surgeons, designing and developing indigenous implants and conducting outreach programs to reach the underserved community.

Our Philosophy

In 1998 Dr. Bhojraj started‘The Spine Foundation (TSF)’ as a social arm of ‘The Spine Unit’. TSF considers it a social responsibility to make spine care affordable and accessible to the non-affording millions. It aims to provide high quality care to patients with spinal pathologies, but with limited resources.

The foundation has a core group of Spine Surgeons who provide their services for these patients for free. TSF provides financial assistance for their investigations, treatment, admissions, surgery, rehabilitation, and their ultimate placement back into society so that they can once again be productive members of society.
The funding for the cause comes from Patrons, NGOs, and organisations.

Services

Two centres were set up, one at the V.N. Desai Municipal Hospital, a peripheral hospital in the suburbs of Mumbai serving the ‘Urban’ poor and one at SEARCH, a hospital located in the tribal area of Gadchiroli serving the ‘Rural’ poor.

The Association of Spine Surgeons of India (ASSI) joined the cause and started a social wing headed by Dr. Shekhar Bhojraj to root in for the cause.

TSF Affiliated Centres: Several centres like V.N. Desai Municipal Hospital, Tilak hospital, Wadia Children’s Hospital in Mumbai and SEARCH Gadchiroli, Parmarth Ashram Rishikesh, Himalayan Institute Dehradun are already functional.

Present Activities

The Spine Foundation has planned a multi-centric comprehensive Spine care program for patients with spine ailments in Rural Maharashtra along with the Govt. of Maharashtra and other Non Government Organisations.

This program includes setting up Rural Spine Care Centres (RSCC), consisting of spine operation theatres, spine clinic and spine wards, in the existing orthopaedic departments of the various government medical colleges in rural areas. The doctors are trained and sensitised by a series of lecture courses and workshops.

Our Work

Since its inception, the foundation has seen over a 25000 out patients and performed surgeries over 950 patients.

At its tertiary referral centres in Mumbai, the spine foundation has treated over 20000 out-patients and performed over 700 surgeries

At its first rural centre at SEARCH, Gadchiroli, TSF provides spine care to a population which struggles for even the bare necessities and the closest MRI centre is over 100 miles away, the foundation has treated over 2500 out-patients and performed over 150 spine surgeries.

The Rural Spine Care Centres since their inception in 2015 have catered to more than 2600 patients and performed 93 procedures.

The foundation is now looking at setting up systems in place, empowering the local workforce and training the local doctors to make each of these centres self sufficient. It has been a brilliant journey from inception to reality.

Support TSF

Having surmounted this mammoth task in quick time and with support from the spine surgeon community, NGOs and the government alike, the first challenge seems to have been overcome.

However, the bigger battle lies ahead – as we seek to cover the entire geography of our vast and diverse country, to reach out uniformly to the millions of under served and needy population with spinal ailments, and make a healthy spine every individual’s privilege. For this we reach out to similar minds with effective ideas and skill sets to help achieve our utopian dream!

Our goal – ‘to provide a composite spine health service to all’

Principle