Here’s why haemophilia patients are too scared to enter a hospital

Patients with haemophilia are too scared to visit hospitals for treatment as they do not want to contract Covid-19 at any cost.

St John’s Hospital, catering to 900 families, said it is couriering the medicines to a few patients. Haemophilia is a blood disorder that prevents the blood from clotting.

Patients afflicted with Covid-19 are given blood thinners because the infection causes blood clots, but the same cannot be done for haemophiliacs if they contract the coronavirus due to the nature of their disease, doctors said.

People with haemophilia can have spontaneous bleeding (sudden bleeding inside the body for no apparent reason), besides bleeding into muscles and joints.

Giving them prophylaxis on a regular basis helps the blood to clot normally in case of an injury or bleed. Prophylaxis is a replacement for the clotting factor, which is a blood protein that controls bleeding.

The treatment stops bleeding and destruction of the joints, helping children with haemophilia remain active and follow a routine life.

“Patients are scared because having haemophilia and contracting Covid at the hospital is a worry,” Dr Cecil Ross, Professor and HOD, Medicine, at St John’s, told DH.

“If they are admitted to a hospital for a major bleed for four to five days, they are apprehensive of the hospital-acquired Covid infection. They believe even getting admitted to a Covid suspect ward puts them at risk,” Dr Ross added.

Despite the fears, the hospital had in-patient admissions for intracranial bleed, bleeding in the stomach and the joints, among others.

“Since March, we had 35 admissions. One patient contracted Covid but was home quarantined since he was asymptomatic, while another patient discharged recently had pneumonia, Covid and severe haemophilia,” Dr Ross said, adding that those with haemophilia cannot be given blood thinners like aspirin and heparin like other Covid-19 patients.

State tops in care

Premroop Alva, general secretary, Hemophilia Society (Bengaluru chapter), noted that Karnataka stood out in caring for its tight-knit haemophiliac patient community during the pandemic.

When Victoria Hospital — one of the two Haemophilia Treatment Centres (HTCs) in the city — was declared a designated Covid hospital, all haemophilia patients needing admission continued treatment at KC General Hospital, Nimhans, Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health, and Sanjay Gandhi Institute of Trauma and Orthopaedics.

“The state took proactive measures in sending factors home in other districts,” Alva said. “In Bengaluru, the day care centre at Minto Eye Hospital is functioning where patients can get factors infused.” Victoria and St John’s, the two HTCs in the city, cater to as many as 1,100 haemophilia patients.