‘No public hospital in Pakistan provides medicines to treat Parkinson’s disease’

No public hospital and healthcare facility in Pakistan, including those in Karachi, provides medicines for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, an ailment of elderly people, showing how senior citizens are treated in the country after their retirement.

“Parkinson’s is a disease of elderly people whose age is above 55 years, but not a single public hospital in entire Pakistan provides the complete treatment and medicines to patients with Parkinson’s disease,” said eminent neurologist and professor Dr Muhammad Wasey of Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) while addressing a seminar at the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on Tuesday.

The seminar was organised by the Neurology Awareness and Research Foundation (NARF) in collaboration with Health Committee of the KPC in connection with World Parkinson’s Day being observed globally on April 11.

Senior neurologist Dr Abdul Malik, Irshad Jan and KPC Health Committee Secretary M. Waqar Bhatti also spoke. A short walk was also held at the Karachi Press Club and it was attended by patients, doctors and common people to create awareness about the neurological disorder.

Deploring that there were only 170 trained and qualified neurologists in Pakistan to treat Parkinson’s disease, he said there was only one neurologist for 1 to 1.3 million people in Pakistan. He added that due to lack of treatment facilities, thousands of patients with movement disorder could not live a healthy life.

“In these circumstances, we hold these awareness seminars to educate people in the country that Parkinson’s is not merely a symptom of old age; instead, it is a neurological disorder, which can be treated with medicines available in the country,” he said and added that elderly people with problems with movement and walking, shaking hands, tremors and stiffness of limbs should seek medical advice from trained and qualified neurologists.

He announced that their organisation, Neurology Awareness and Research Foundation (NARF), would train young doctors and general practitioners in identifying the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease so that they could refer such patients to consultant neurologists.

He urged the print and electronic media to highlight the symptoms of and treatment available for the movement disorder. Another eminent neurologist from South City Hospital, Dr Nadir Ali Syed, spoke about the psychosocial impact of Parkinson’s disease, and added that this disorder was associated with many psychiatric problems such as anxiety, sleep disturbance and psychotic symptoms.

“Depression is the most common comorbid condition in Parkinson’s disease that can affect over 30 per cent of Parkinson’s patients,” he added. “Psychiatric disturbance has negative impact on the course and management of the disease and especially depression has a greater negative effect on a patient’s quality of life, disability and resulting in more decline of cognitive functioning,” Dr Nadir said and added: “We have to join hands to create awareness about Parkinson’s disease to help fight this crucial disease and show solidarity with patients.”

Earlier, speaking at a press conference, renowned neurologist from Aga Khan Hospital Dr Shahid Mustafa said Parkinson’s disease was a movement disorder, in which a vital chemical in the brain called dopamine gradually reduced. It progresses slowly and brings on symptoms of tremor, slowness in movement, stiff limbs, and walking or balance problems.

“There is no definitive test to detect Parkinson’s disease or Parkinsonism. For diagnosis, doctors take a thorough medical history and may request a number of movement tests,” he said and added that studies reveal that approximately five per cent of patients had an onset before the age of 50 years and two per cent of those aged 65 years and above.

The average age of diagnosis is around 60, but approximately 15 per cent of people with Parkinson’s disease are diagnosed before the age of 50 and are said to have young-onset Parkinson’s disease.

A number of researchers have found that increased risk of developing the disease is 1.5 to two-fold in males as compared to females but other studies have however reported no gender differences, he added.

“Many treatments can reduce the symptoms and improve quality of life. Patients need to know that the disease will not be cured completely, but, the disease progress can be slowed with medications,” said Dr Mustafa.