The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

1 crore epilepsy cases in country
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 6
Epilepsy occurs when there are recurrent seizures due to an abnormal activity in brain cells. Seizures can cause uncontrollable shaking or convulsions and may temporarily block awareness or cause confusion. Epilepsy is the name given to seizures that occur more than once because of an underlying abnormality in the brain. It is a common condition affecting about 1 per cent of the total Indian population, which means that there are an estimated one crore Indians with epilepsy.

These facts were disclosed by experts at an epilepsy awareness workshop for schoolteachers organised by the Department of Neurology, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) at Dumra Auditorium here yesterday.

The workshop was specially organised for schoolteachers with an objective to demonstrate how to respond positively to the child having the seizure, to teach them the first-aid that should be administered to the child having seizure and to help them educate their students about epilepsy.

Dr V.S. Saxena, Secretary, Indian Epilepsy Association, said the parents should inform their wards’ teachers about their wards’ epilepsy. This will help to ensure that teachers and fellow students will be prepared to deal with a possible seizure. The teachers should emphasise that epilepsy is neither a disease, nor it is contagious. The expert said seizures were a result of the brain sending mixed up messages to the body and lasted only for a few seconds or minutes and when they were over, the brain and body worked normally again.

Dr Saxena said that association was already working for epileptic children in 20 different states of the country and now with the help of DMCH, a branch would be started in Punjab.

Dr Gagandeep Singh, Reader, Department of Neurology, DMCH, spoke on the aspects of schooling, educational, recreational and vocational needs of epileptic schoolchildren. He stressed that barring the few moments when the child was having a seizure, children with epilepsy were just like normal children. He said the teachers should try to make the child’s experience as “normal” as possible, adding that a record of the observations of the child’s behaviour should be properly maintained.

Dr Jeyraj Pandian, Lecturer, Department of Neurology, Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) said physical exercise was necessary for all children. However, for children with epilepsy, physical activity might involve some additional risks. Children with seizures, which are not well-controlled, should participate cautiously in physical activities. Generally, most physical activities, apart from swimming, water sports, aero-sports and mountaineering, were advisable for children with epilepsy.

HEALTH CARE
Ways to avoid anaemia

Do you generally feel tired. If yes, then you may be anaemic. The lack of haemoglobin and RBCs is called anaemia. Iron deficiency is one of the most common nutritional deficiencies in the world. It occurs most frequently in infants beyond six months age, adolescent girls, and women of child-bearing age.

The most striking symptom of anaemia is the paling of skin. The colour of internal lining of eyelids becomes yellow.

Besides there is giddiness and weakness, breathing is shallow, the pulse rapid the blood pressure becomes low. In some serious cases the tongue is often sore and the nails of the fingers become brittle.

It may be caused by loss of blood through excessive menstruation, childbirth, injury, bleeding from the gastro-intestinal tract, defective blood formation because of infections; toxins and drugs, inadequate intake of iron, defective absorption of substances in the diet which enrich the blood.

In 16 to 60 years age group haemoglobin should be around 15 to 16 per cent in case of men and 13 to 15 per cent in case of women. Red cells which ae carrier of haemoglobin have a limited life-span. To maintain haemoglobin and red cells within normal limits, it is necessary that new fully haemoglobinised red cells are produced to replace the lost ones.

General treatment:

Not all forms of anaemia are preventable, but those caused by nutritional deficiencies can be avoided by maximising your intake of food containing iron, vitamin B-12, and folic acid or by taking supplements of these nutrients.

*Include iron-rich food items in your diet.

Take green vegetables, seasonal fruits, soup and fresh juice. Apples, being rich in iron, arsenic and phosphorus, are beneficial for anaemia patients.

‘Methi’ leaves help in blood formation. These are useful for adolescent girls to prevent anaemia.

*Give mashes bananas to children in routine.

* Ayurvedic preparations are also useful in anaemia. These include navayas loh, punernava mandoor, triphala powder, lohasave, loh bhasam etc.

*Take five to 10 gm of jaggery after meals in the morning and evening.

*Drink fresh carrot juice, mix with beetal root juice.

*Raisins are a rich source of easily assimilable iron.

*Take tomato juice and soup regularly.

*Use soyabean flour, soya refined oil and soya paneer-milk etc.

*Fresh liver of goat, (lightly-cooked) and its fresh blood can help fight severity of anaemia immediately.

*Patients should avoid deep-fried food.

Dr Anil Dheer

Docs urged to work with commitment
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 6
“According to the Supreme Court ruling of August 12, 2002, consumer courts have been given more teeth. The courts would be competent to decide complicated issues relating to medical process. This should not deter the doctors but make them work with more zeal and commitment,” said Dr Jagdish Singh, Associate Professor, SMS College, Jaipur.

He was speaking at a Punjab IAP conference organised by the district Indian Academy of Paediatricians here today. According to the organising secretary, Dr Rajinder S. Sibia, at least 200 delegates, mostly paediatricians from Punjab and Chandigarh, attended the conference.

Dr Ajit Singh Chawla, organising chairperson of the conference, while delivering his presidential address said it was for the first time that such a conference was being organised outside a medical institution. Inaugurating the conference, Dr B.N.S. Walia, former director and head, Paediatrics Department, PGI, Chandigarh, dwelt on doctor-patient relationship.

Dr S.N. Tiwari, a local Civil Surgeon, who was the guest of honour, while releasing the souvenir, said the education and training of doctors was a must in the fast-changing scenario of the medical field. The district IAP had done a commendable job by organising the conference.

Dr Surinder Likhi, patron, while inaugurating the scientific session praised the treasurer, Dr Harinder Singh, for his untiring efforts in making the conference a success.

Dr J.G. Jolly while speaking on transfusion medicine in paediatrics emphasised the role of different blood components for transfusion in case of different diseases rather than transfusing the whole blood.

Dr Veena Kalra, Professor and Head, Department of Paediatrics, AIIMS, New Delhi, introduced newer antiepileptic drugs available in India for treating different types of seizures.

Dr Madhulika Kabra from the Genetics division of the Paediatrics Department, AIIMS, spoke on prenatal diagnosis. Dr S.S. Bedi, co-chairperson, also spoke.

MC XI beat Satluj Club
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, October 6
Despite a fine allround display by Aman Seth (65 and 2 for 32), Satluj Club lost by eight runs against M C XI in an exhibition cricket match organised by the club at the S D Government College for Boys ground here today. The cricket pitch at this college ground has been relaid with the help of Mr Sandeep Jalota and other club members under the supervision of Mr Des Raj, Sports Officer with the Punjab Sports Department.

The main pitch and two practice strips in this ground were dug up in 1999 during the last General Elections when political parties had organised rallies there. The ground was vandalised and cricket activities had be shifted to Punjab Agricultural University ground. When sports lovers and sports organisers’ pleas to repair this venue failed to elicit any response, some members of the Satluj Club took pains to get this ground repaired.

The Satluj Club won the toss and opted to field first. M C XI scored 202 for 8 in the allotted 30 overs. Jaswinder Singh was the top scorer with 38 runs while Bittu and Jatinder contributed 27 runs each. For the Satluj Club, Rakesh Saini and Aman Seth took three and two wickets conceding 30 and 32 runs respectively.

In reply, the Satluj Club team was all out for 194 runs with three balls to spare. Aman Seth scored 65 runs and Rakesh Saini contributed 25 runs. For M C XI, Rinka was the most successful bowler claiming 6 wickets for 25 runs.

Fatehgarh Sahib
Football meet: The district football championship will held from October 25 to October 27 at the ITI Grounds, Bassi Pathana.

According to Mr Amarjit Singh Kohli, general secretary of the DFA, the championship will be organised by the DFA and the entries would close from October 20 and the teams may contact Mr Ranbir Rana and Babaljit Panesar at Bassi Pathana. He said the district team would be selected to participate in the state championship.