DAVANAGERE: Even though he himself is a haemophilia patient, it did not deter him from becoming a champion to protect the patients with the rare blood disorder.
The story of Dr Suresh Hanagavadi who has been conferred with Padmashri award by the Union Government is heart-touching. Every day Karnataka haemophilia Society he has founded treats five or six patients and, amidst the hardship he faces, Dr Hanagavadi continues treating them totally free-of-cost.
Dr Hanagavadi founded the Karnataka hemophilia Care and Haematology Research Centre and the Karnataka Hamophilia Society at Davanagere. He said, “What prompted me to start the Karnataka Haemophilia Society was watching the sufferings of my maternal uncle Neelakantappa before his demise in 1980.
It was him who asked me to become a doctor and find a solution for these kinds of disorders. Later I came to know that I am also suffering from the same disorder. I founded the Society with only nine patients but now it provides treatments to more than 1,000 patients.”