Interview with Dr Kinzang Dorji, coordinator of the first FLS from Bhutan
In January 2023, the Capture the Fracture® (CTF) programme had the pleasure of welcoming the first FLS from Bhutan to the Map of Best Practice.
The Eastern Regional Referral Hospital in Mongar, Bhutan joined the CTF Network, making Bhutan the 53rd country to be displayed on the Map of Best Practice. We interviewed Dr Kinzang Dorji, orthopaedist and FLS coordinator, to learn more about his FLS and the post-fracture care landscape in Bhutan.
What was your inspiration to join the Capture the Fracture® network?
“I came to know about the Capture the Fracture® network program during my orthopaedic residency at Lerdsin Hospital, Bangkok around year of 2017. I could observe and experience how they achieved an excellent care for fragility fractures starting from prevention to treatment and then from rehabilitation to follow up. This network provided health care professionals with access to a wealth of resources, knowledge and support to improve the care of fragility fracture patients.”
“I am very passionate to improve the livelihood of our elderly population in my community and country as a whole. By joining this network, it is a perfect opportunity for collaboration with the experts around the world, share their best practices and learn from each others experiences to improve the care of fragility fracture patients and reduce the burden of health care systems and the society as a whole.”
How do you hope the Capture the Fracture® programme will be helpful for your FLS?
“FLS is still new in our setting and we are still in a stage of coordinating and establishing these services at our institution. I feel that the Capture the Fracture® network will be the perfect platform for providing tools, knowledge, guidance, support and exchanging experiences to develop an excellent and systemic FLS services at our institute. It will ultimately improve the livelihood of our elderly population in my country by enhancing and strengthening our newly developed FLS protocols for the times to come.”
What is the post-fracture care and FLS situation in Bhutan from your perspective?
“Honestly speaking, except for few orthopaedic surgeons, many of our health practitioners may not be aware of this concept of post-fracture care and FLS in Bhutan. We even don’t have a concrete data and screening tools for the fragility fracture till date. Life expectancy in our country has increased and there is rise in incidence of fragility fractures. In our setting, we have initiated the registry for the fragility fractures and FLS.”
“On behalf of my all the team members from Eastern Regional Referral Hospital and also from my country Bhutan, I am very privileged and honored to be part of this network and very hopeful that it will help to improve the care for patients with fragility fractures in my country. I hope to share and help other hospitals in my country to start these services for the benefits of patient and health care system. I have no doubt that Bhutan will soon initiate this holistic approach for the care of fragility fractures for all the health care centers in the country.”