The State government has proposed to set up a register in every government hospital in the State to ensure that haemophilia patients receive free medicines, Health Secretary V.K. Subburaj said here on Saturday.
Participating in the World Haemophilia Day organised at Voluntary Health Services, Taramani, he said the modalities would be ready in a fortnight.
Following a representation from non-governmental organisations working with haemophiliacs that medical treatment could cost up to Rs.1 lakh for a patient each year, the State government had announced in the Budget that medicines they require would be supplied free of cost in government hospitals.
According to Mr. Subburaj there are about 2,000 persons with the genetic condition, which affects only boys. Girls are born carriers of the condition in which the blood lacks the ability to coagulate.
Normally, after an injury blood clots prevent excess flow. But in haemophiliacs, the bleeding does not stop as the blood does not have the coagulation factors. Haemophilia can be diagnosed in toddlers by the swelling in their knee. Such patients need to be given the coagulation factors to enable the blood to clot.
Alok Srivastava, head of Haematology Department at CMC Vellore, called for organising the patient community and volunteers to create awareness about the condition. He called for awareness programmes for doctors and the community at large.
Mayor M. Subramanian, who released the Tamil version of a book on haemophilia, assured support to the endeavours of the Chennai Chapter of Haemophilia Society, which appealed to the Mayor for providing diagnostic centres in corporation dispensaries under his jurisdiction.
