Qatar to launch epilepsy awareness programme

By Noimot Olayiwola/Staff Reporter

A national epilepsy programme that will create awareness as well as help bust the myths surrounding the neurological disorder and encourage treatment is being planned in Qatar, a senior doctor said.

An epilepsy awareness campaign will get underway early next year, Dr Ghanem S al-Sulaiti, Neurosurgery unit head and neurosurgeon consultant at the Hamad Medical Corporation told Gulf Times yesterday.

The programme is one of many to be run under the upcoming Neuro-Science Institute at the HMC, al-Sulaiti said.

He was speaking on the sidelines of the Fourth Congress of Gulf Neurosurgical Society and First Qatar Neurosurgery and Spine Society Conference, which began yesterday at the St Regis Doha.

The three-day conference is being held under the auspices of HE the Minister of Public Health and the Supreme Council of Health’s Secretary General Abdullah bin Khalid al-Qahtani.

“Epilepsy is considered a social stigma by many families due to a lot of misunderstanding as many people do not consider it a disease, just like diabetes or hypertension. Patients can be a normal person just like the rest of us,” Dr al-Sulaiti said.

Many families feel ashamed to come to the hospital to get treatment for epilepsy and some prefer to seek traditional alternatives, oblivious that untreated epilepsy can cause deafness, he said.

“People are not educated enough about the safety of persons suffering from epilepsy or about the necessary precautions to help ensure they (epilepsy sufferers) do not drive or operate heavy machinery or equipment when they are experiencing seizures,” the doctor said.

According to him, one in 10 people worldwide has a seizure once in their lifetime and about 20% of them will need surgical intervention because they may not respond to medication.

Dr al-Sulaiti said that more cases of neurological disorders and diseases are diagnosed now due to advanced technology.

“The number of cases has increased in the past two years. If we used to see at least one case per month earlier, now we have a case every week. And this is due to population increase, technological improvement and better diagnosis,” he said.

The most common cases now include traumatic brain and spinal chord injuries due to road traffic and construction work site accidents; spine problems such as back and neck pain, regenerative diseases as well as brain injury cases.

Dr al-Sulaiti said the conference will address the latest developments in several neurosurgery-related issues, including spine surgeries, trauma surgeries, neurological diseases, rehabilitation and physiotherapy.

“In particular, we will present our experience of stereotactic radio-surgeries (a form of radiation therapy that focuses high-power energy on a small area of the body) undertaken by teams at HMC over the past two years,” he said.

“Last month, Qatar became the first country in the Middle East to use robotic surgery to treat a neurological case. It is our plan to improve on this by attracting experienced surgeons from Europe,” he said adding that the unit is also working on improving its use of prosthetics for cervical and lumbar spine problems.