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SERVICES WE OFFER IN THREE MENTIONED CLINICS

  • Medical Examination
  • EEG Examination
  • Counseling
Ifakara Saint Francis Referral Hospital
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday
Time 8:30 am to 3:30 pm

0784 402 899 (Dr. Winifrid Gingo)
0693 842 402 (Dr. Mabusi)

INUKA Rehabilitation Hospital
Monday to Friday
Time 7:30 am to 3:30 pm

0759 951 085 (Reception)

0743 119 682
0784 592 237 (Dr. Godfrey Ligomba)

 

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Iyunga RC Health Center
We will offer this service at Iyunga RC from August

0789 643 786
0754 069 233 (Dr. Joshua Mwakyelu)

Do you know anyone with epilepsy or anyone who is experiencing seizures?
If you know someone with epilepsy or seizures let us know through our social media pages, and we will help you to address him/her to reach our facilities. Click our social media logos below for more information.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Which services do we offer?

We offer services in different health facilities specializing in epilepsy.
We launched an epilepsy clinic in Ifakara, Morogoro Region, at St Francis Referral Hospital and another one in Wanging’ombe at Inuka Rehabilitation Hospital, Njombe Region.
From August we will also offer the same services in Mbeya City at Iyunga RC Health Centre.

In our clinics, we have medical doctors who are trained in Epilepsy treatment and we provide EEG examination done through a specific machine that helps us to better identify your type of epilepsy in order to treat it with proper drug management. This is very important because there are different types of epilepsy and often doctors or nurses at health centres/dispensaries are used to treat them in the same way due to a lack of knowledge and a proper examination. 

How much do your services cost?

At Saint Francis Referral Hospital, in Ifakara, the medical examination is free of charge!
Then we offer the EEG examination which helps doctors to identify your type of Epilepsy for 25.000 tzs.
If you are enrolled at NHIF you can get this service for free. 

At Inuka Rehabilitation Hospital, in Wanging’ombe (Njombe region) the medical examination costs 5.000 tzs while the EEG examination costs 30.000 tzs.
At the moment at Inuka Rehabilitation Hospital, the NHIF doesn’t cover the EEG examination cost, but we are working on it.

Can I book an appointment?

You do not have to book an appointment; you can just reach these health facilities mentioned above and ask for epilepsy services. The doctors are ready to help you! 

Can you give me the contacts?

St. Francis Referral Hospital
0784402899 (Dr. Winifrid Gingo)
0693842402 (Dr. Mabusi)

Inuka Rehabilitation Hospital
0759951085 (Reception)
0743119682 (Dr. Godfrey Ligomba)

Iyunga RC Health Center 
0789643786 – 0754069233 (Dr. Joshua Mwakyelu) 

What is epilepsy? What are the symptoms? 

Epilepsy is a brain disorder, in which brain activity becomes abnormal, causing seizures or periods of unusual behaviour, sensations, and sometimes loss of awareness.
Epilepsy symptoms can vary widely:

  • Stare blankly for a few seconds during a seizure;
  • Convulsions or shaking of all body;
  • Loss of consciousness; 
  • Stiffness of muscles;
  • Loss of muscles control;
  • Convulsions at the ends of the hands/feet
What are the main causes of epilepsy?

Anyone can develop epilepsy, at every age, the main causes could be:

  • Childbirth issues, like lack of oxygen or hypoglycemia that lead to brain damage;
  • Brain infection (e.g Cerebral Malaria, parasite by eating raw pork meat);
  • Genetic factors;
  • Traumatic brain injury (e.g complication of car accident);
  • Complication of a stroke;
  • Brain tumors;
  • Unknown reasons.
Is epilepsy a curse?

Epilepsy is also traditionally seen as a curse by the ancestral spirits or it is attributed to possession by evil spirits. It is also believed to be due to witchcraft and poisoning and often it is thought to be highly contagious.
Epilepsy is not a curse, but just a brain disorder in which people can experience seizure episodes.

Is epilepsy a contagious disease?

Often when someone falls down, loses consciousness, and gets a seizure we feel scared to help him/her because we think it might be something dangerous and contagious. But it’s not true at all. 
Science confirms that a person with epilepsy or who gets seizures is not a contagious person and we should help him/her to recover as soon as possible.
A person experiencing a seizure is not contagious by saliva or by touching the person itself. Epilepsy is a brain disorder and the seizure can be one of its symptoms.

Is epilepsy treatable by natural drugs? 

When a person has seizures for the first time, often family members consult a traditional diviner or a healer to find out whether this is due to possession by an ancestral spirit or to other supernatural causes. Often at great cost of the family.

Natural drugs/herbs are used to treat several diseases but for epilepsy and seizure management these natural drugs are not enough because epilepsy it’s a brain disorder caused by biological factors, therefore the patient needs to be seen by a specialist doctor and receive specific antiepileptic drugs (AED).

How can I help a person during a seizure episode? 

When you witness a person experiencing a seizure crisis you can see it as something scary, especially if you don't know what to do.
For most types of seizures, basic First Aid measures are all that is needed.
The steps are simple and anyone can do them.

  • stay with the person until the seizure ends and see how long it lasts;
  • remove sharp objects nearby so that he/her does not get hurt;
  • turn the person's head to one side to prevent suffocation, place something soft under his/her head;
  • do not put anything in the mouth such as water, drug tablet or food until the person regains consciousness;
  • do not hinder his/her movements;
  • stay with the person until the seizure crisis ends;
  • bring the person to the hospital or health facility nearby only if
    •  the seizure lasts more than five minutes;
    •  the seizure recurs frequently throughout the day;
    • the person got seizure in the water (sea/river)
    • if the person is injured, pregnant or sick;
    • the person does not return to his/her normal state;
    • if it’s the first time that happens.
Is it possible to heal from Epilepsy? How can I manage my seizure crisis? 

Epilepsy is treatable with medications or sometimes with surgery. 
Drugs can help to control seizures and to reduce the number of seizure episodes.

Some people require lifelong treatment to control seizures, but for others, the seizures eventually go away.
Some children with epilepsy may outgrow the condition with age.
Often it happens that people go to a health centre or dispensary where the doctors are not trained in Epilepsy management and they prescribe an uncorrected drug. This doesn’t help the patient and lead the family and the community to think that epilepsy is not treatable by medicine. But it is! 
If you want to try our services, you will find a trained doctor and a specific machine to identify and treat in the best way your kind of epilepsy, and lastly reduce your seizure episodes. 

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Who we Are

Comunità Solidali nel Mondo - ONLUS (Com.Sol)

is an Italian NGO founded in 2007 based in Italy and officially registered in Tanzania as an International Ngo in May 2017.

Com.Sol is operating in Tanzania since 2010, collaborating with others Italian partner associations, Cesc Project and Gondwana, in the regions of Njombe, Mbeya, Dar es Salaam and Ifakara in local partnership, respectively with Dioceses of Njombe, Dioceses of Mbeya and Caritas Development office, Ivrea Sister Congregation, St. Francis Referral Hospital and SFUCHAS University.

Com.Sol promotes development interventions in the fields of health, education, agriculture, and employability focusing on Persons with Disabilities (PWDs). 

The most important achievements of these years are the launching of three rehabilitation centers based on CBR (community-based rehabilitation) strategy enrolling more than 7.000 children with disabilities. 

According to our experiences in the rehabilitation centers, we have seen many children with disabilities suffering from epilepsy.
The lack of facilities and qualified health workers to treat epilepsy increases the treatment gap and if untreated this disease worsens their quality of life, their psychomotor development, and the efficacy of their rehabilitation treatments.
This disease is even surrounded by misconceptions and a lack of knowledge that led to the rise of stigma and discrimination.

Therefore, we planned a project "Heri walio na Huruma" , funded by the CEI Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI)  with the aim of reducing the health and social difficulties that people with epilepsy face in their life.
Our first aim is the launching 3 epilepsy clinics, in Mbeya, Ifakara, and Njombe Region, buying EEG machines, training the medical doctors that will be responsible for the clinics, the health workers of each hospital/center, and caregivers and persons with epilepsy themselves, with the support of doctors from Italy specialized in Child Neuropsychiatric. 

The second aim concerns the training of more than 200 health workers in 8 different regions of Tanzania through a cascade-training model led by the SFUCHAS university team about epilepsy management and its protocol.
These activities are led by Professor Senga Pemba, Professor Albino Kalolo and Titus Mashanya.

We hope it can be a model and lead to a national strategic plan for mental health, substance abuse, and neurological disorder. 

The third aim of the project concerns a national campaign to promote awareness and knowledge to fight against the stigma of epilepsy among the community through different channels (television, radio, and social media). 

As part of the CBR strategy, our goal is to improve the quality of life of persons with disabilities, and in particular, the ones suffering from epilepsy and their families, to promote their inclusion within the community and reduce the treatment gap by improving the quality of the Tanzanian health system.

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