NALBARI, June 12 - Lack of awareness among the masses has complicated and increased epilepsy cases in the State. Nalbari district has been adversely affected due to growing epilepsy cases.
This fact was revealed by a study conducted by a Guwahati-based multi-speciality hospital. The study analysed data from records of the last 17 years.
Addressing mediapersons at the Nalbari Press Club, Dr Prasenjit Deka, Consultant, Department of Neurology, GNRC Hospitals, said that most of us believed that seizure is a synonym for epilepsy, but in reality epilepsy is more than seizures. Assam is facing a debilitating burden of 3 lakh epilepsy patients.
He added that the point which needs to be focused is that a majority of those cases are unrecognised, under reported and hence untreated. For example, Nalbari district has around 5,774 epilepsy patients. But 99.66 percent of them are untreated. The corollary is that lack of health awareness adversely hits not only the population�s physical wellbeing, but also its mental, social and economic wellbeing. Dr Deka stated that the main reason for 99.66% of untreated epilepsy cases due to lack of treatment or inadequate attention towards prevention was lack of awareness.
Urging the media to support their mission, he stated that only the media can help take the message of preventive healthcare and early intervention to the masses, and thereby serve the cause of nation-building.
