Curing thalassemia... with tainted blood
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A hospital is supposed to be an institution that treats you; it is supposed to be a safe haven. A place where death lurks, but hope, medication and treatment come first.
What horror then to realise that it could also be the place where your sickness gets worse and your disease turns into a life-threatening condition – not because of some infection going around, not because of your own weaknesses, not because it was fate – but due to your caregiver’s negligence.
A shocking news report recently stated how highly at risk children with thalassemia are at contracting the HIV virus, Hepatitis B and C in the very hospitals treating them; through the blood transfusions meant to aid their condition.
Prof Dr Javaria Mannan of the Thalassemia Federation of Pakistan said in a conference last week that a small number of thalassemics had been found to be HIV-positive. She also said there was a very high incidence of hepatitis B and C in transfusion-dependent thalassaemics in the country with up to 80% of patients hepatitis B or C positive.
Following the news, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital became the focus of attention, where the suspected thalassaemic patients with AIDS were reported by a TV channel.
While a four-member committee of doctors claimed they had ruled out reports of any thalassemic having contracted HIV there, it was noted that the centre failed to produce a record of blood screening before its transfusion to the patients. It was also noted that the centre's management of blood transfusions through private labs put patients at grave risk.
In any other part of the world, there would be outrage and heads would roll – sadly in this part of the world, one can only pray for the poor children and their parents, for accountability is not the norm here.
Read on: 1,029 mothers, 211 kids contract HIV/Aids
Thalassemia is a condition that requires constant blood transfusion – it is painful and scary enough already. Instead of receiving blood that would help these children suffering from this condition, they have now been given other deadly diseases.
Transfusion centres in Pakistan usually only screen blood for Hepatitis B and C and not for HIV/Aids. Thalassemia affects at least 50,000 people in Pakistan. How can those people be saved from such a horrific disease when the blood banks have no idea what kind of tainted blood they are transmitting through to patients?
Our health ministry, which is mostly non-existent, needs to take this incident as their wake up call when it comes to enforcing mandatory blood screening in the country.
Take a look: Timely screening can save people from HIV/Aids, say experts
The health system in Pakistan is almost always collapsing. According to Dr Yasmin Rashid, Secretary General for the Thalassemia Federation of Pakistan, thalassemia patients are more vulnerable to such incidents as they need to get transfusions very often.
She claimed that she had lobbied very hard for the promulgation of the Blood Transfusion Act 10 years ago, but like everything else in the country, this law was never implemented properly either.
We are a ridiculous nation when it comes to implementing laws. Close to none exist for traffic, mandatory education and proper health care. However, our lawmakers always seem to have the time to focus on laws revolving around social media websites on the Internet and foreign television channels being viewed in our homes.
What kind of a nation does not prioritise the safety of their citizens?
The kind that is rooted with corruption and lethargy and bestowed with pathetic governance.
Also read: Thalassemia ordinance to prevent spread of dangerous disease
Our children are not safe on the road when it comes to public transport and road accidents.
They are not safe when it comes to crime and sexual abuse, rife in this frustrated nation.
And now they no longer seem to be safe at hospitals and treatment centres.
Children have been burnt to death in hospitals due to negligence and faulty electric work. They have been kidnapped from hospitals almost hours after being removed from their mothers’ wombs and now they could be lying on a hospital bed receiving tainted blood.
As I finish writing this post, I realise that today is December 5, 2014, the first death anniversary of Nelson Mandela.
That is an eerie coincidence because Mandela once said something that applies so aptly to Pakistan today:
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But the question is, how many of us care to?
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