Societal misunderstanding: ‘Epilepsy has nothing to do with demons’

Doctors lament lack of understanding about curable condition in children

KARACHI: Epilepsy is a fully curable neurological disorder but, unfortunately, a majority of children suffering from epilepsy in Pakistan do not have access to treatment facilities or education, as a large number of people consider epilepsy to be a supernatural phenomenon.

The Pakistan Society of Neurology (PSN) arranged an awareness walk outside Karachi Press Club on Monday in which children from various educational institutions, teachers, doctors and other citizens participated.



PSN president Dr Muhammad Wasey Shakir said that there are around two million epilepsy patients in Pakistan, of which more than one million are children and a majority of them have no access to either education or treatment facilities. He claimed that barely 25% of the epileptic children are getting treatment, as most parents either consider the disorder as some kind of supernatural phenomenon or a condition under the influence of evil spirits. Instead of visiting proper health facilities, the parents often approach faith healers and quacks.

Dr Shakir said that epilepsy was a curable disease, even in Pakistan, where qualified neurologists and all the medicines required to treat the neurological disorder were available, adding that epileptic patients could live a healthy life like normal people. "All we need is awareness that epilepsy is a disease, which is curable and has nothing to do with supernatural and demonic forces," he added.

Paediatric neurologist Dr Atif Saeed Anjum from the National Institute of Child Health informed the participants that the treatment of epilepsy was available at most tertiary-care hospitals in Pakistan and maintained that hundreds of children were getting education like normal children after receiving proper treatment for their condition.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th,  2016.