Jharkhand Epilepsy Management Program: State Panel Recommends Comprehensive Care After Gumla Deaths

Gumla: The state health and family welfare Department is currently going through the report of a three-member state panel of doctors recommending a comprehensive epilepsy management programme for Jharkhand and to act on it. The department received the medical team's recommendation on January 16, 2026.

The panel, comprising Dr Bimlesh Singh, deputy superintendent of the Ranchi sadar hospital as its head, neurologist Dr Sanjiv Sharma, and a medical officer of the health directorate, Dr Rahul Kishore Singh, as its members, submitted its report with a multi-dimensional epilepsy care programme to the state director-in-chief (DIC) of health services Dr Siddharth Sanyal after visiting Gumla on December 14, 2025. The team visited the district to probe the epilepsy deaths due to lack of treatment and awareness, following an order of the DIC, which formed the panel after being apprised of the situation through a TOI report, forwarded by the additional chief secretary (health), Ajoy Kumar Singh.


Notably, TOI highlighted the alarming situation of epilepsy cases in the state with a report titled, “40 Epilepsy Deaths in Gumla Between 2020 & August ’25”, in print, and with the headline, “Rural Jharkhand Faces Alarming Epilepsy Deaths Due to Lack of Treatment & Awareness”, online on November 10, 2025. TOI provided the list of epilepsy deaths to the team members during their Gumla visit.

During the visit, the team members, accompanied by Dr Anupam Kishore, the deputy superintendent Gumla sadar hospital, visited the houses of some families whose members died due to epilepsy-triggered incidents in water bodies.

After interacting with the patients and their families, the panel members were surprised by how people in rural areas were still ignorant about the hazardous neurological ailment and turned to quacks and relied on herbs for treatment.

Talking to TOI, neurologist Dr Sharma said, “The majority of rural people are still not aware of the treatment of epilepsy, and 90% of such patients depend upon local herbs and faith healers. So, when such untreated patients go to ponds, wells, rivers, or other water bodies for any purpose, they drown as the convulsions grip them.”

He added, “The Jharkhand govt will support the epilepsy patients with treatment facilities and make the rural residents aware of it.”

Additional secretary to the health and family welfare department Vidhyanand Sharma Pankaj on Thursday told TOI, "We have received the report with a recommendation for an epilepsy care programme by a three members state team of doctors attached with a letter of the DIC health services."

"The department will act on the recommendation of the committee as it is now going through it," he said.