Fortis Malar Hospital, Adyar has launched a comprehensive epilepsy centre. The centre will have a dedicated team of eight experts, including an epileptologist, neurologist and neurosurgeon. The team will evaluate the patient’s health condition, diagnose the cause of epilepsy and treat the patient accordingly.
“For the first two years, we will put the patient on medication and will administer a combination of drugs. If the condition is not cured, then we will go for surgery after meticulous evaluation,” said Dr Dinesh Nayak, senior consultant neurologist and epileptologist at the hospital. About 80% of those affected by epilepsy can be cured by drugs and only 20% require surgical intervention, added the doctor.
According to statistics, 6 million people in India are affected by epilepsy. Of those affected, 20% of the patients have anti-epileptic drug resistance.
In Chennai, over 7,500 people have developed drug resistance and in Tamil Nadu, this figure stands at 60,000. About 50% of the people affected can be benefitted by the surgery, said Nayak.
World Epilepsy Day is observed on February 8. The hospital will organise a subsidised ‘Epilepsy Check Campaign’ from February 8-29 for evaluation and consultation from hospital specialists.
The comprehensive epilepsy centre was opened by BS Raghavan, IAS, author and social activist on Tuesday.
Dr Sathish Kumar V, consultant neurologist and stroke specialist at the hospital said that the hospital has performed 105 epilepsy surgeries from 2008 to till date.