States first sickle cell clinic

Aiming at providing better treatment, screening and counselling for patients and their families affected with sickle cell disease, HCG Hospital opened the first sickle cell clinic in Karnataka on Saturday.

The clinic was opened to mark the World Sickle Cell Day. Speaking on the occasion, Dr B S AjaiKumar, Chairman of HCG Hospital said, “This is for the first time we are coming out with a sickle cell clinic in Karnataka.

Not just treatment, but counselling, education for the patients and their families will be provided at the centre.” Consultant Paediatric Hematologist Dr Intezar Mehdi said, “Around 50 per cent of the world’s sickle cell population resides in India. Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Tamilnadu, Kerala and Karnataka are among the worst affected states.” He added, “Approximately 3.2 million people belong to these high-risk communities.” Stressing on the awareness, he further said, “Awareness is the key, because it is a genetic disorder. Counselling, premarital screening, antenatal diagnosis, newborn screening would be the key for effective management of the disease.”