'Finance Dept sitting on funds proposal for Haemophilia centres'

Centres planned in Raichur, Gulbarga, Hubli, Bellary, Hassan and Bangalore.

The Department of Medical Education has been sending repeated proposals to the Finance Department for an allocation of Rs two crore to set up Haemophilia care centres in various districts of the State, Minister for Medical Education  Sharanprakash Patil has said.

The minister was speaking at the inauguration of a two-day advocacy workshop for persons with Haemophilia recently.

These centres are likely to come up in Raichur, Gulbarga, Hubli, Bellary, Hassan and Bangalore using the existent infrastructure of well known hospitals like KIMS (Karnataka Institute of Medical Science), Hubli, K R Hospital and Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute in the City.

“There are more than 2,000 detected cases of people with Haemophilia in Karnataka and there may be a number of undetected cases as well,” said Patil.

Patil highlighted the need for training personnel and staff for such centres to which Dr K Ghosh, President, Haemophilia Federation (India), openly volunteered to render the Federation’s services.

Karnataka is only the second state after Pondicherry where the State government has taken direct responsibility to look after Haemophilia patients, said Ghosh.

However, while lauding the efforts of the government at large, Ghosh said that they had been “stuck” in bureaucratic hurdles and there was a need to take measures to remove the hurdles.

“Such Haemophilia centres and coagulation laboratories will not only treat patients suffering from the disease, but will also treat haemorrhages in mothers and patients suffering from dengue,” said Ghosh.

A number of dignitaries from the World Federation of Haemophilia, with whom the workshop has been jointly organised, were present.