Karnataka Hemophilia Society receives N S Hema award

The Karnataka Hemophilia Society was awarded the N S Hema Memorial award for their service to haemophilia patients on Thursday. Haemophilia is a genetic disorder that impairs the body's ability to make blood clots, needed to stop bleeding.

Dr Suresh Hanagavadi, the founder of the Society, was given a citation and a cash award of Rs 1 lakh by the Association of People with Disability.

A haemophiliac himself, Dr Hanganavadi, said that it was after seeing his uncle suffer from the rare disorder and die a painful death that he felt the need to establish an NGO to help these patients.

"When my uncle once had severe pain in the head and tried to explain to the doctor that he could possibly be bleeding, the doctor put his ego first and said that he was not a medical professional to give him advice. He lay on the bench of the medical hospital writhing in pain. It was then that he told me that I should take up the cause. That pushed me to take up a medical degree," he said.

This year the Association received as many as 30 applications. and five NGOs made it to the top in the screening process.

Speaking on the occasion, former Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde said that working as the Lokayukta was an eye opener for him and he saw a lack of humanism in most places he worked.

He said that the definition of democracy as "for the people, of the people and by the people" does not remain valid here. Otherwise public interests would have been taken care of. "If it was so, then the government would have offered all that the NGOs are doing now," he said.