Call for national stroke control programme as disease causing 400 deaths daily

Around 10 per cent of the Pakistani population is suffering from different types of neurological disorders, including stroke, which results in about 400 deaths every day in the country, leading neurologists said on Thursday and urged the health authorities to launch a ‘National Stroke Control Programme’ on the pattern of infectious diseases control programmes.

“For the last two years, 400 people are dying in Pakistan due to stroke while hundreds others are becoming permanently disabled due to this preventable neurological disorder. We immediately need a national stroke control or prevention programme to stop people dying and getting disabled from stroke,” said Dr Muhammad Wasey, president of the Neurology Awareness and Research Foundation (NARF), while addressing a news conference at the Karachi Press Club (KPC).

Accompanied by Chairman Pakistan Parkinson’s Society Dr Nadir Ali Syed and Pakistan Society of Neurology’s (PSN) central executive committee member Dr Abdul Malik, Dr Wasey said World Brain Day 2022 was being observed all over the world, including Pakistan, on Friday (today) with the theme ‘Brain Health for All’, but unfortunately, very little attention was being paid to the prevention and treatment of neurological disorders in Pakistan.

“There are only 250 trained and qualified neurologists practising in Pakistan while there are hardly 10-12 paediatric neurologists available for the treatment of neurological diseases among children. Most of the teaching and district headquarter hospitals lack neurology departments or even a neurologist to diagnose and treat patients with neurological disorders,” he deplored.

Terming stroke the biggest neurological issue in Pakistan, he said that as over 1,000 people have large and minor strokes in Pakistan on a daily basis, of whom 400 die every, there is a need for establishing stroke centres at all the teaching and district headquarter hospitals to prevent people from death and permanent disability.

Stroke is the second largest cause of permanent disability in the world, but it is the number one cause of disability in Pakistan, Dr Wasey said, adding that epilepsy is another major issue which is under-diagnosed and many patients remain undiagnosed for several years.

Calling for the availability of medicines for the treatment of neurological disorder on affordable prices, he said the “clot busting” drug tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is a very effective medicine for the treatment of stroke, but it is very expensive in Pakistan. He added that several other medicines, including those for the treatment of epilepsy, are not available in the market these days.

Another renowned neurologist and chairman of the Parkinson’s Society of Pakistan, Dr Nadir Ali Syed, said the burden of neurological disorders was already very high in Pakistan, but after Covid-19, many more people were coming up with neuropsychiatric issues, including depression, sleep disorders, fatigue and anxiety, while some even reports post-traumatic stress order.

“But as we have limited resources to treat neurological disorders, all we can do is to improve our lifestyle, exercise daily, consume healthy and balanced diet, sleep early and avoid intoxicants including alcohol and nicotine to prevent ourselves from neurological disorders as well as from neuropsychiatric issues,” he added.

Eminent neurologist Dr Abul Malik spoke about the economic burden on patients and their families due to stroke and other neurological disorders, saying the cost of medicines for the treatment of neurological diseases was very high, and as patients had to take them for their entire life, it could cause serious financial burden to the patients’ families.