Can’t afford medicines, say thalassemia patients

KABUL (Pajhwok):  The thalassemia patients have asked government and aid providing organisations to facilitate them with free medicines.

Thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder caused when the body doesn’t make enough of a protein called hemoglobin, an important part of red blood cells. Thalassemia is a treatable disorder that can be well-managed with blood transfusions and chelation therapy.

Melad, 12, the resident of Darulaman area of Kabul, said he had to get fresh blood each month for survival.

He was happy that the Central Blood Bank provided him with blood and added: “I am a thalassemia patient, each month I have to come here to the Central Blood Bank and get blood to survive.”

He said the blood was provided to them free of cost but the medicine are not free and patient had to pay.

Melad’s family is suffering economically and his father work hard to provide money for his medicines. He asked Public Health Ministry and other aid providing organisations to provide him with free of cost medicines.

Freshta, 10, the resident of Kart-i-Naw area and a thalassemia patient, said: “I’m sick, I don’t like being here because they apply injection in my hand, I want to be healthy like other children.”

She asked the Public Health Ministry to provide free of cost medicines to her and other children.

Freshta’s mother, who did not want to be named, said the medicines required for Freshta cost 3,000 afs each month and her husband arranged it with immense difficulty.

Dr. Amanullah Arghandiwal, in-charge of the Blood Bank for thalassemia patients, said there are a large number of thalassemia patients who referred to them for free of cost blood.

He said up to 40 patients daily visited the blood bank for blood. He said the main treatment of this disease was fresh blood and if it did not reach to them the patient could lose life.

We are in need of equipment in the central bank, we are facing a shortage, and we are facing a shortage of antidotes and flutin. If we say to the family, take this medicine, they say we can’t afford it

He stressed saying there was blood and medicine shortage, adding the blood could be arranged one way or the other but medicines were expensive.

Dr. Mohammad Nasir Sadiq, head of the Central Blood Bank, said 12,211 thalassemia patients were registered with them in the bank who each month received blood.

He said the thalassemia patients needed blood every three weeks and the blood bank provided them with the blood free of cost.

He said besides volunteer people who refer to them for blood donation their mobile teams traveled to different areas and collected blood.

“We daily campaign for blood donations specially in crowded places last year we conducted 212 campaigns for blood donation.”

He said last year over 107 million CC blood was collected and 316,000 patients were distributed the blood.

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