Purple Day: International Day of epilepsy awareness observed

Ludhiana, March 26, 2022: Department of Neurology, DMCH celebrates Purple Day today to raise awareness about epilepsy. A virtual event was organized on the occasion which was attended by over 200 patients and experts.  The main objective this event was to eliminate common myths and stigma about epilepsy and to encourage people who are living with epilepsy.

The event was inaugurated by Chief Guest Prem Kumar Gupta, Secretary, DMCH managing Society with Prof. Parampreet Singh, Dept of Neurology, PGIMER and Dr Vineet Sehgal, Secretary Punjab Chapter, Indian Epilepsy Association as Guests of Honor. Others joined the occasion were Dr Sandeep Puri, Principal, DMCH, Dr Triza Jiwan, Principal, DMCH College of Nursing, Dr Ashwani K Chaudhary, Medical Stupt, Professor and Head, Dept of Neurosurgery, Dr Hanish Bansal, Associate Professor Department of Neurosurgery and Dr Gagandeep Singh, Prof. & Head Dept of Neurology, Dr Rajinder Bansal, Prof. Department of Neurology, Dr B S Paul, Associate prof. & Dr Monika Singla Associate Prof., Department of Neurology.

On this occasion, an App “Epilepto”- Smart watch and mobile application for monitoring epilepsy was also launched by Prem Kumar Gupta. This app is developed by Dr Ashish Sahni, Assistant Professor, Dept of Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology and his team of Interns of Department of Biomedical Engineering in collaboration with several Departments of Neurology, Cardiology and Neonatal; for several years. He is also running several funded projects in collaboration with DMCH.

“Epilepto” is a comprehensive app for self-management of seizures by the patients themselves. The Features of the App includes, Medication reminder section, to monitor seizure and caretaker of the patient can also monitor the seizure symptoms with this app.  This app was released as a clinical trial for 30 volunteer patients for further fine tuning the app using the patient feedback.

Prem Kumar Gupta, Secretary, DMCH managing Society lauded the efforts of the Department of Neurology for organizing this awareness session and also appreciated the efforts of Dr Ashish Sahni and his team for developing this app which will be very helpful for patients with epilepsy and their caretakers also.

During the event, patients with epilepsy shared their inspirational stories with the audience. Some of the patients shared their videos, in which they demonstrated various activities like painting, weightlifting, and musical performance to give a message that patients with epilepsy can live normal lives with timely diagnosis and medication.

A role play was also demonstrated by BSc. Nursing students  of DMCH College of Nursing.

The event was coordinated by Dr Parth Bansal, Dr Rajat Gupta, Dr Saurabh Sultania, Bindu K Professor DMC College of Nursing & Sister Ranjit Kaur.