‘Strengthen epilepsy treatment facilities in rural areas’

Jaipur: Since patients suffering from epilepsy are directly taken to godmen for ‘jhaad phoonk’ rather than going to a doctor. Looking to this, neurologists’ body has written to the state government to ensure treatment facilities for epilepsy in primary health centres (PHCs) in rural areas along with creating awareness on the disease, which can be controlled in most of the cases with proper medication and can be cured.
Indian Epilepsy Association (IEA), Rajasthan chapter, a body of neurologists, has written to the state government to fix a day in a week on which an epilepsy patients can go to any hospital or clinical establishment run by the state government and collect the medicine.
“The government is providing anti-epileptic medicines free of cost under free medicines. But, it should be made available in the PHCs in rural areas. Since in rural areas, people are unaware of the disease and they do not know that seizures are a neurological disorder. So, they don’t go to doctors and instead go to tantriks or godman for jhaad-phook,” said Dr R K Sureka, president, IEA (Rajasthan chapter). TNN