‘Fatalities can be avoided only if blood diseases are detected in time’

Health staff asked to take such cases to the notice of nodal hospitals

Additional Chief Secretary to CM P.V. Ramesh said a large number of people were succumbing to thalassemia, cancer and sickle cell anaemia due to their failure to detect those diseases in the early stages. The government has issued instructions for collecting data thereof and to refer it to nodal hospitals for necessary action.

Participating in a workshop on ‘Comprehensive action plan for prevention, early detection, effective management and monitoring of blood diseases with focus on thalassemia, sickle cell anaemia, bleeding disorders and blood cancers’ organised by the Dr. YSR Aarogyasri Healthcare Trust at the Secretariat on Friday, Dr. Ramesh said the government was free providing treatment to the eligible beneficiaries but it did not want people to fall prey to those diseases as they imposed a tremendous socio-economic burden on society besides causing misery to the affected persons and their families.

The officers and staff of the Health, Medical and Family Welfare Department have been instructed to report chronic cases of anaemia and low platelet counts to the nodal hospitals to enable them to swing into action.

Creating awareness

Special chief secretary (health, medical and family welfare) K.S. Jawahar Reddy said the government was in the process of filling the vacancies of oncologists and providing the required diagnostic facilities in all teaching and district hospitals.

Awareness was being created on the diseases with the involvement of expert private medical practitioners, he added.

Noted haematologist Alok Srivastava from the Christian Medical College, Vellore, appreciated the efforts being made by the A.P. government to keep these diseases under check.

He shared his experience in tackling those diseases and promised to help the State government in containing them.

Aarogyasri Trust CEO A. Mallikarjuna, Director of Medical Education K. Venkatesh, Director of Public Health Aruna Kumari, A.P. Vaidya Vidhana Parishad Commissioner U. Ramakrishna Rao and Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences Vice-Chancellor P. Syam Prasad were present.