Chapter Name: Thailand Epilepsy Society
Report By: Kamornwan Katanyuwong, M.D.

Publications:

Epilepsy Digest-Thai Official Educational Bulletin: This bulletin can be accessed via EST’s official website www.thaiepilepsysociety.com
• 2019: Epilepsy in special conditions
• 2020: Special issue on Cannabis

Summary of Activities:

In July 2019, the 11th Executive Board commenced administrative roles for a two-year term.

1. Annual Meetings
• 2019: 23rd Annual Scientific Meeting Theme: Difficult to treat epilepsies, June 21. Since the 33rd International Epilepsy Congress was held in the capital city, Bangkok, from June 22-26, therefore the customary 2-day-meeting was shortened to a one-day course and was allocated to the day prior to the congress. International guest speakers were Prof. A Simon Harvey (Australia), Prof. Ingrid Scheffer (Australia), and Prof. Seung Bong Hong (Korea).
• 2020: With the pandemic COVID-19 infection, EST provided an online academic program with the theme of “Virtual Epilepsy Network”, September 5-6. This 24th Annual Meeting was the first time ever for organizing a virtual meeting for our society. EST received a great honor from Prof. Byung In Lee from Korea to be an invited international guest speaker via the webinar system.
• 2020: One-day course of basic EEG monitoring on August 30.

2. Educational Activities
• 2019: A 2-day epilepsy educational course, free-of-charge, was conducted for pediatric neurology fellows and senior neurology residents, September 7- 8. The activity was arranged at the Chonburi Province.
• 2020: Owing to the pandemic Covid-19, the epilepsy course for the residents and fellows was shifted to a virtual meeting using pre-recorded videos. To disseminate the knowledge, this educational activity was open for physicians to register without any fee.
• The Inter-hospital Epilepsy Surgery Conference including case discussion, topic review, and EEG/MRI quiz, was held 2 times in 2019 and withheld in the year 2020 due to the pandemic Covid-19.\

3. Additional special event
• From June 22-26, 2019, the EST was honored to be the local host of the 33rd International Epilepsy Congress (IEC) in Bangkok. EST’s members had a great opportunity to participate as the co-chair, as platform speakers, and as poster presenters. EST partially supported the registration fees for the trainees who participated in presentations in the congress.

4. Activities in relation to the Epilepsy Association of Thailand (EAT)
• Fundraising included a Running Day for epileptic patients in January 2019.
• Campaigns were organized for public education and awareness of epilepsy, for International Epilepsy Day and Purple Day, 2019. University hospitals and major government hospitals around the country participated.
• Epilepsy camps were held for epileptic patients in the Chiang Mai regional area on March 17, 2019.
• Bangkok also held an epilepsy camp one-day trip for epileptic patients on November 23, 2019.
• Social media i.e. Facebook, YouTube, broadcast communication and news were utilized to increase awareness of epilepsy especially during Covid-19 infection.
• EAT members were provided financial assistance to attend the International Epilepsy Meetings, especially for the 33rd IEC, 2019.
• Face to face meetings were not feasible in 2020 due to the COVID-19 virus.
Success
• 2020: The Thai Government announced a policy allowing cannabidiol products to be used legally in specific medical conditions. The EST Committee has provided information to assist this process. EST’s executive members gave assistance to the Ministry of Public Health of Thailand for an education course on using and understanding cannabis.
• The EST has been involved in the process of developing guidelines for new laws for epileptic drivers. Currently in 2020, the Medical Council of Thailand agrees to state that an epileptic person is allowed to drive if these conditions are met: seizure-free for one year and good adherence to antiseizure medications. New laws will be organized by the Thai government after the final agreement from members of The House of Representatives.

Challenges:

• EST is aware of the pandemic Covid-19 infection and the subsequent concerns and safety issues on many levels e.g. social distancing effects on doctor-patient care and how to continue to serve epileptic patients in real situations. All government hospitals and university hospitals have developed a system to communicate with their patients and to send antiseizure medications to their homes.

• We carefully monitor the details of people with epilepsy to observe whether their conditions are aggravated by Covid-19 and if there are any difficulties in providing treatment during the infection.

• EST continues to provide epileptic knowledge via virtual meetings.

Future Plans:

• To encourage the Thai government to consider integrating epilepsy into the Government-support Service Plan.

Officer Election Date: June 2021