Patients of epilepsy do not need feel dejected and despondent anymore as the debilitating disorder can be cured, and they can lead a normal and happy life, said Dr. G. Bhakthavatalam, Chairman of a private hospital in Coimbatore.

The hospital conducted a special session, “Life after epilepsy surgery,” yesterday, with 66 patients who were supposedly cured of the disease participating.

The patients shared with the audience their experience before and after surgery.

A 19-year-old college student from Andipatti in Madurai district narrated his life-changing treatment received and said that before being treated, he was in the vice-like grip of seizures or fits for the past 10 years. The seizures would occur at any time. He had fallen down from a speeding bus once when the seizure occurred, and suffered fractures in the hands and legs.

Post-surgery, he is confidently moving around without fear of a seizure, and is doing well in his studies.

A 17-year-old girl from Salem shared how she suffered since the age of five, and how she, and her family, was now heaving a sigh of relief after her cure. Also among the patients who shared their harrowing experiences were a 11-year-old boy from Chennai, and a nine-year-old from Salem.

Dr. Bakthavathsalam said that “90 per cent of doctors are not aware that epilepsy is curable.”

The hospital has so far cured 66 epilepsy patients. Of them, seven were treated for free, he said.