KARACHI, March 11: A Pakistani specialist of epilepsy, currently working in the United States, regretted non-availability of the latest equipment in the country to diagnose and treat epilepsy. She observed a constant increase in the number of epileptic population.

Dr Fawzia Siddiqui, Director of Epilepsy Programme and Neuro-diagnostic Laboratory at John Hopkins University and Harward School of Medicine, in her presentation Recent Advances in the Diagnosis and Management of Epilepsy at Dow University of Health Sciences here on Thursday, feared that absence of treatment facilities might be complicating the situation further.

She was disappointed to learn that no hospital in the country had video monitoring system or video electro-encephalogram equipment being used widely in the UK and USA for treatment of epilepsy.

Only one private hospital in Karachi has acquired, only recently, the video machine and this hospital, too, was still not operational for want of trained doctors, she observed.

The strength of qualified neurologists in Pakistan is hardly 50 which is absolutely insufficient for a population of over 140 million. Out of the 50 neurologists, only 11 are in Karachi.

Dr Fawzia pointed out that said every ninth US citizen suffered epileptic seizure in his life whereas this number might be double in Pakistan because of lack of the required facilities.

She said that treatment of epilepsy through surgery was possible and that the success rate at John Hopkins University Hospital was 80 per cent. She said there were more than 20 different medicines available in the world to treat epileptic people. However, only 50 per cent of the medicines were available in Pakistan.

About major causes of epilepsy, Dr Fawzia said that in some cases, it appeared inherited and difficult to be treated, though chances of an improvement were there. Some of the other causes are head injury, use of certain drugs, meningitis and illness in childhood. Dr Fawzia, through a presentation, showed how to diagnose the disease. She also screened video clips in this regard. -APP