Patients suffering from Epilepsy in the Wa Municipal are at risk of relapsing while newer patients risk worsening their conditions. This is because the Wa Municipal Health Directorate has run out of epilepsy drugs. The drugs which run out early this year were donated to Health Directorate by Basic Needs Ghana and Center for People’s Empowerment and Rights Initiatives (CPRI) last year.
Speaking to GBC’s Radio Ghana on the International Epilepsy Day at Wa, the Focal person for Mental Health at the Wa Municipal Health Directorate, Sylvester Basagnia appealed for support from government and well-meaning individuals and organisations to restock their stores with drugs to enable them treat the patients.
International Epilepsy Day is a special event which promotes awareness of epilepsy in more than 120 countries including Ghana each year. Every year on the second Monday of February, stakeholders meet to celebrate and highlight the problems faced by people with epilepsy.
Speaking with Radio Ghana, the Focal person for Mental Health at the Wa Municipal Health Directorate, Sylvester Basagnia said over the years due to increasing sensitisation, more patients are willingly submitting themselves for treatment leading to increasing numbers recorded at the outpatient departments (OPDs) of health facilities.
“Hitherto people with epilepsy used to hide their conditions. For now, because of evidence based treatment, people who used to have frequent seizures are getting better so others are opening up. This has also increased OPD attendance. As at 2017, we had 60 cases, in 2018 we had 156 cases. The 156 [cases] include the new cases and the re-attendance because epilepsy treatment is not overnight. In 2019, we had 78. The number means that the re-attendance that we would have had, some are currently stable and have been weaned of the medication,” he explained.
Mr Basagnia said it is unfortunate the government’s support towards the epilepsy is minimal. He said over the years, the Wa Municipal Health Directorate has only been able to support epilepsy patients with drugs through the benevolence of some well–meaning organisations.
“Government is not really supporting in this regard. Mention can be made of Basic Needs Ghana and Center for People’s Empowerment and Rights Initiatives (CPRI) who are doing well in the area of mental health. Intermittently, they give us some allocations to help our clients,” he said.
Mr Basagnia continued to say that in 2019 “we never had shortage. Just the beginning of this year [2020], we run out of stock and what we currently do is to prescribe for clients to go and buy; but the question is how many can afford”.
The Focal person for Mental Health at the Wa Municipal Health Directorate, Sylvester Basagnia encouraged caregivers, relatives and friends of persons with epilepsy to be very supportive rather than ostracize them. He encouraged families to patronise the services of trained midwives at health facilities for skilled deliveries instead of deliveries at home.
Epilepsy is a central nervous system (neurological) disorder in which brain activity becomes abnormal causing seizures or periods of unusual behaviour, sensations and sometimes loss of awareness. The Focal person for Mental Health at the Wa Municipal Health Directorate Sylvester Basagnia said the primary causes of epilepsy largely remain unknown while the secondary factors could include accidents immediately after birth or later in life, substance abuse and tumors in the brain. He said treatment of epilepsy is hugely dependent of the causative factors of the disease to the individual.
Story filed by Mark Smith.
