Licence terms stifle haemophilia centre

World Haemophilia Day

The first medical centre of its kind in the State to treat all blood-related diseases under one roof may not be a reality at least in near future, thanks to a flaw in the guidelines governing grant of licence to set up blood banks.

Davangere Haemophilia Society (DHS) has been awaiting licence from Karntaka State Blood Transfusion Council (KSBTC) for the past one year  to set up a blood bank as part of its ambitious project.

Dr Suresh Hanagavadi, DHS president and a haemophiliac himself, conceived the idea of setting up the medical centre in Davangere, some 20 years ago.

Land donated

Kiravadi Girijamma, a philanthropist donated her land to set up the centre, while legendary singer S P Balasubramanyam became chief patron of DHS. He laid the foundation stone for the centre in 2001.

“Our centre aims to provide treatment to thalassemia, platelets, blood-related diseases, Von Willebrand’s disease, haemophilia etc and to help patients dependent on blood transfusion for life. It’s a 25-bed hospital coming up at a cost of Rs 25 lakh with donations from philanthropists,” Dr Suresh said.

KSBTC modified the norms to issue licences for setting up blood banks, a year ago. According to the new norms, licences will not be granted unless the blood banks are located on the hospital premises.

In the meantime, DHS entered into a memorandum of understanding with Karnataka Health Promotion Trust (KHPT) to implement its HIV-AIDS project.

Accordingly, the DHS has to earmark 10 beds in its proposed medical facility to HIV/AIDS patients. The arrangement, however has proved to be an obstacle for the project itself.

The KSBTC authorities who conducted an inspection a year ago, refused to consider the proposed centre as a hospital citing the MoU with KHPT.

“It is in fact, a hospital as it has got inpatient facilities, special isolation and general wards. We had never anticipated that an MoU with KHPT would create this problem,” Dr Suresh said.

The Drug Control Department, one of the agencies involved in granting licence suggested DHS to purchase all equipment required for a blood bank before the arrival of KSBTC team for inspection. The Society promptly purchased expensive equipment and installed them also. With the refusal of licence for the blood bank, the fate of the centre itself is hanging in balance.

Dr Suresh said the office-bearers of the Society met top officials including Health Department Secretary Ramana Reddy and Health Minister B Sriramulu.

However, the promise to grant licence is yet to materialise. He said they have also written to National AIDS Control Organisation which monitors KSBTC.

Patients affected

“We get huge number of patients every month as Davangere has the best facilities to treat haemophilia and thalassemia. We are completely dependent on blood banks in other hospitals. Nearly 50 patients were affected as we did have not blood bank facility at the centre,” Dr Suresh added.