The Health department will do a State-level mapping to identify persons with inherited blood disorders like haemophilia, thalassemia, and sickle cell anaemia and to provide them the required medical treatment and follow-up care.
The mapping will help track patients, ensure care, and bring these patients to the hospital without delay in the event of emergencies, Health Minister Veena George said in a statement issued here, after attending a meeting to improve service delivery to those with inherited blood disorders.
Better treatment
She said that treatment facilities for these diseases would be improved in the State. A 10-bed ward and improved diagnostic facilities had been arranged at the government hospital at Mananthavady for patients with inherited blood disorders.
For coordinating the screening of patients, a sickle cell project coordinator has been appointed at Wayanad. A lab technician and data entry operator in the Government Medical College Hospital (MCH), Kozhikode, have been shifted to the Wayanad MCH. All lab technicians in the 16 hospitals in Wayanad have been given refresher training. Preliminary screening and free care is being offered for sickle cell anaemia as well as pensions and food kits.
Ms. George directed officials to prepare a detailed proposal for the Comprehensive Haemoglobinopathy Research and Care Centre which is proposed to be started at Wayanad.
