Project Aashaa comes in aid of epilepsy patients in Gumla

Gumla: Epilepsy is often associated with paranormal activities in rural areas. The prevalence of this disease in tribal-dominated Gumla, where witchcraft is also common, has devastated many families. Realising the need to manage the disease, the administration rolled out ‘Project Aashaa’ on March 5. The project has saved the patients from getting involved in accidents due to sudden fits and effect proper treatment to cure them finally.Under the initiative, the district administration procures the drugs to be administered to the patients to control convulsions. “Also, an advanced CT Scan would be installed at the sadar hospital to screen the patients,” Gumla civil surgeon Dr Raju Kacchap said.The head of the department (HoD) of Neurology with the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (Rims) in Ranchi, Dr Surendra Kumar, attended to over 350 epilepsy patients during a free health check-up camp held on March 5. “The patients were given anti-convulsions drugs free of cost under the Project Aashaa. And, results are encouraging,” said Dr Sharib Ahmad, the head of the Gumla district mental health centre (DMHC).“Many epileptic patients who visited the March 5 camp have experienced either no convulsion or the duration and frequency of the seizures have gone down substantially in the district over the past one-and-a-half months. I got this feedback from them during their visits to the DMHC for receiving the allotted drugs,” claimed Neel Kusum Lakra, a social worker of Gumla DMHC who is responsible for community participation.The father of eight-year-old Anamika Kumari of Koynara-Tongritoli, Krishna Lohara, said, “My daughter used to suffer around 15 epileptic fits at least three to four times in a year. But she hasn’t suffered seizures after taking medicines.”Another Anamika Kumari of Jhargaon village, who used to suffer epileptic fits almost regularly before taking medicines, had only four seizures since taking the midicines administered in the March 5 camp and no fall for the past 15 days, her father Manoj Oraon said.Around 11 persons in this rural tribal district have died in incidents like drowning in ponds or well, getting burnt while cooking, and falling when walking on roadside that resulted from epileptic fits in 2022. “Over 2,000 persons are reported to be afflicted with this disease,” Gumla additional chief medical officer Dr P K Sinha said.Seeing the distress of the poor and ignorant rural patients and to bridge the treatment gap, deputy commissioner (DC) Sushant Gaurav ideated ‘Project Aashaa’ — to alleviate epilepsy related issues holistically and give a new life to those gripped with the same. “This neurological disorder adversely affects education, employment, marrige and other social opportunities along with financial burden on the patient and the family due to treatment and travel besides being associated with stigma,” the DC told TOI.“Our next step is to start free investigation process by arranging CT scan / MRI and spectroscopy screening facilities to find out the root cause of the disease,” he added.