Health Dept spends Rs 1,700 m on Thalassaemia

CHRISTIE Fernando- Chilaw special correspondent

The government spends Rs 400,000 to 1 million per child with Thalassaemia per year.

The Health Department spends Rs 1,700 million on Thalassaemia every year. This is seven percent of the national health budget, said Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Teaching Hospital, Kandy, Dr Kalinga Nanayakkara.

Dr Nanayakkara was delivering the keynote address at a symposium on Bone Marrow Transplantation for Thalassaemia at the Harindra Corea hall, Chilaw recently.

He said Thalassaemia is an inherited genetic blood disorder. A Thalassaemia major child could be born to parents with Thalassaemia trait (half thalassaemics ).

Dr Nanayakkara said there are 500,000 Thalassaemia traits in the country. Most people are not aware of the carrier status. A goal of the Thalassaemia Circle is to detect and confirm the carrier status of the people.

He said Thalassaemia major children need blood transfusion monthly.

Most of them need monthly blood transfusion from five months of birth. Fifty percent of the blood issued by the blood bank of the Teaching Hospital, Kurunegala goes to the Thalassaemia unit, he said.

They need to inject drugs at home into the abdominal wall daily to reduce the iron load from blood transfusion and each vial costs Rs 680.

He said there is no cure for Thalassaemia. Patients die at a younger age (the eldest in Ampara is 17 years).

The primary goal of the Thalassaemia Circle is to establish a bone marrow or stem cell treatment centre in Sri Lanka with the help of the Health Ministry, Dr Nanayakkara said.