Delhi goes purple to create epilepsy awareness
16 April 2013 7:44 AM IST
There are about six to 10 million people living with epilepsy in India, accounting for nearly one fifth of the global burden.
‘The challenge of meeting the needs of the people with epilepsy in a developing country like India is a daunting task for everyone involved in the planning and delivery of health care,’ said Puroshotam Lal, chairman Metro Group Hospitals. April is declared purple month when epilepsy awareness programmes are given an extra spin to get maximum mileage.
‘The prevalence of epilepsy is around 10 per 1,000 people with rates being twice in rural areas when compared to urban areas. There are around 500,000 new cases of epilepsy every year in India. The number of patients with epilepsy who do not seek medical treatment varies from 38-80 per cent. The reasons of this large treatment gap is due to multiple factors, including lack of awareness about epilepsy among the people, social stigma, reluctance to accept the diagnosis, improper distribution of the available medical facilities, especially among rural, tribal, and hilly areas of the country; and availability and/or affordability of the long term anti-epilepsy drug treatment,’ added Lal. Amitabh Goel, senior consultant Neurosurgery Metro Hospitals & Heart Institute in Noida, said, ‘Now surgery is also available for epilepsy.’ According to him, around 5-10 per cent of patients are not controlled by medications alone, a significant number of these patients can become seizure free through surgery.
‘Epilepsy is a neurological condition that affects an astounding one in 200 people. In normal people, the brain operates through controlled electric currents generated between neurons. In epileptic patients, however, the electric current between circuits becomes uncontrolled due to misplaced or rebel neurons and causes seizures. During a seizure, the part of the body affected is the one that corresponds to the rebelling neurons and its function,’ added Goel.
‘The challenge of meeting the needs of the people with epilepsy in a developing country like India is a daunting task for everyone involved in the planning and delivery of health care,’ said Puroshotam Lal, chairman Metro Group Hospitals. April is declared purple month when epilepsy awareness programmes are given an extra spin to get maximum mileage.
‘The prevalence of epilepsy is around 10 per 1,000 people with rates being twice in rural areas when compared to urban areas. There are around 500,000 new cases of epilepsy every year in India. The number of patients with epilepsy who do not seek medical treatment varies from 38-80 per cent. The reasons of this large treatment gap is due to multiple factors, including lack of awareness about epilepsy among the people, social stigma, reluctance to accept the diagnosis, improper distribution of the available medical facilities, especially among rural, tribal, and hilly areas of the country; and availability and/or affordability of the long term anti-epilepsy drug treatment,’ added Lal. Amitabh Goel, senior consultant Neurosurgery Metro Hospitals & Heart Institute in Noida, said, ‘Now surgery is also available for epilepsy.’ According to him, around 5-10 per cent of patients are not controlled by medications alone, a significant number of these patients can become seizure free through surgery.
‘Epilepsy is a neurological condition that affects an astounding one in 200 people. In normal people, the brain operates through controlled electric currents generated between neurons. In epileptic patients, however, the electric current between circuits becomes uncontrolled due to misplaced or rebel neurons and causes seizures. During a seizure, the part of the body affected is the one that corresponds to the rebelling neurons and its function,’ added Goel.
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