IT has been revealed that head injuries can cause epilepsy.
This, according to a health professional, is either due to accident that gives trauma to the head or batting.
Deputy Director of Nurses Service in Psychiatry at the Kaneshie Polyclinic, Mr. Nsiah Aryetei, disclosed this in an interview with Weekend Today.
According to him, utero infection which happens to the mother while the child is in her womb and failure to immunise children could also lead to epilepsy.
He therefore, advised people with unprovoked seizures to seek medical attention instead of going to consult herbalists.
“The concoctions administered might even be a cause of the seizure,” he advised.
Mr. Nsiah Aryetei further disclosed that a major challenge in combating epilepsy in Ghana is the misconceptions and stigma attached to the disease.
“People seek spiritual alternatives than medical attention since they believe it is a spiritual illness,” Mr. Aryetei said.
He however, advocated for sensitisation and awareness of the disease in communities to deal with the misconceptions associated with the disorder.
And in Ghana, according to a Ghana Health Service report, four-five epileptic patients are not receiving any treatment.
That, the report revealed, meant that out of 265,000 persons living with epilepsy in the country, 212,000 were not receiving the low-cost treatment composed of two medicines, carbamazepine and phenobarbital.
In an interview with a cross-section of Ghanaians, they expressed different opinions about the disease.
A trotro driver, Alex Ntiamoah, told Weekend Today that he believes epilepsy is a spiritual disease.
“It is a curse from witches who want an individual’s downfall. It can also be as a result of punishment because of a parent’s sins,” he explained.
A hair stylist at Spintex, Accra, Auntie Joyce, also told Weekend Today that it was not normal for a child to be born with epilepsy; however she would recommend seeking spiritual help instead of medical attention.
“I know someone who had epilepsy but was cured only when he went to the Northern Region to see a herbalist,” a trader narrated.
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