By Dr. Cholpon Shambetova
The “Central Asian Movement Disorders Course” was conducted in the capital city of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, on June 22-23, 2019. The venue was the conference room of Kyrgyz-Turkish Center named after Chingiz Aitmatov of the historic National Library of the Kyrgyz Republic named after Alykul Osmonov. The two-day course was jointly organized by the Movement Disorders Society and Parkinson’s Disease Alliance – CIS, and the Clinical Hospital of the Administrative Department of Presidential and Government Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic. Support was provided by the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society Asian Oceanian Section (MDS-AOS) under the auspices of the Developing World Education Program (DWEP).
The Course Director was Dr. Cholpon Shambetova, a recipient of the MDS-AOS Visiting Trainee Grant (to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) and leadership training program MDS “LEAP”. International faculty consisted of Pr. Eduardo Tolosa (Barcelona, Spain), Pr. Shen-Yang Lim (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) and Pr. Ai Huey Tan (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).
This teaching course was the first-ever event in Kyrgyzstan dedicated to Movement Disorders and Parkinson’s disease. The coverage of topics was comprehensive, from the basics to diagnosis and treatment, as well as more advanced aspects. Topics included: Parkinson’s disease (including device-aided therapies), other parkinsonian syndromes, dystonia, tremor, chorea, ataxia, treatable movement disorders, drug-induced movement disorders, restless legs syndrome, and botulinum toxin injections treatment.
In addition to didactic lectures, there was a large opportunity for discussion of video cases presented by the international faculty, as well as by the local neurologists and trainees. Patients were brought in by Dr. Shambetova and presented in Grand Rounds format, stimulating lively discussions among participants. The audience indicated that these practical discussions were extremely useful for their clinical practice.
The course was attended by 132 participants including senior and junior neurologists, neuropediatricians, neurosurgeons, general practitioners, residents, and students from Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
The course participants indicated a high level of interest in developing the Movement Disorders field in Kyrgyzstan, and discussed further steps and plans for additional events, as the teaching course also revealed many areas for further improvement.
