A first: Free haemophilia cure at med colleges

Faridkot, February 28

Punjab has become the first state in the country to provide free of cost treatment to haemophilia patients up to 13 years of age at all government medical colleges.

The Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) has started the service in the three government medical colleges at Patiala, Amritsar and Faridkot. As the cost of the therapy is Rs 30,000 per kg of the body weight for a year, the treatment is limited only to those patients who are up to 13 years of age and below 40 kg in body weight, said Dr Raj Bahadur, BFUHS Vice Chancellor.

Haemophilia is a mostly an inherited genetic disorder that impairs the body’s ability to make blood clots, a process needed to stop bleeding, said Dr Varun Kaul, a paediatrician at Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital here.

A weekly dose of hemlibra, a subcutaneous solution, increases the potential of blood clot formation. But due to cost constraints, it is only being administered to children below 13 years of age who are inhibitor-positive.

The state has around 450 haemophilia patients and 24 of them are inhibitor-positive. Haemophilia results in patient bleeding for a longer time after an injury, easy bruising and an increased risk of bleeding inside joints or brain. — TNS