In a novel initiative, the medical health and family welfare department has decided to celebrate, 8th day of every month as blood donation day for the Thalassaemia patients. The Thalassaemia affected patients require blood transfusion at regular intervals to survive. In an order, the additional secretary, health and Mission Director (MD) National Health Mission (NHM), Yugal Kishore Pant has asked all the district in -charges that the 8th of every month should be observed as ‘ Give Blood for Thalassemics’ so that the sufficient blood is collected for transfusion to the patients of Thalassaemia in the state.
In order to create awareness among the general public for patients affected with Thalassaemia, May 8 is celebrated as ‘World Thalassaemia Day’. Pant said that all the blood banks have been directed to organise special voluntary blood donation camps so that awareness is created for diseases like Thalassaemia, Anaemia and Haemophilia.
He said that the message that such patients need regular blood transfusion should be spread among masses. It is worth mentioning here that under the Haemoglobinopathy programme of National Health Mission (NHM) the health department teams are visiting the government and aided schools for tests of Haemoglobin and Thalassaemia in Haridwar, Almora, Dehradun and Nainital districts.
The department has deployed eight teams under the programme in which students of class IX are examined. As per the data available with the health department there are 260 Thalassaemia patients in four districts of Uttarakhand. Free blood transfusion is done for these patients at 40 government and private blood banks in the state.
