It was hard work but by now we have a clinic for epilepsy and diabetes. I am very happy with the combination and on some clinic days it is very nice to work here and to see the progress.
It makes me especially proud and content when I hear that a patient is no longer suffering from fits.
On the other side you have to know that both diseases, diabetes and epilepsy, are still taboo topics which makes still a lot of trouble.
Epilepsy is seen as a sickness of the devil and many people visit a witch doctor first. Children are sent home from school because it is difficult in a class of a hundred to have a child with epilepsy. In the past we have visited all the schools and villages in the area to give education about epilepsy.
Diabetes is also taboo because it is a chronic illness and it is expensive. Insulin is expensive here for the patient because it is used regularly. We work together with ïnsulin for life”(www.insulinforlife.org), an organization sending insulin worldwide to countries where it is not available. It helps but insulin is still a rare good. Children are especially the dupe. They come too late to the hospital and finally they have to suffer from the results of that. There is still no global understanding of this disease, especially of the consequences. That's why some patients will never come back to get their insulin.
