KOCHI: Karunya pharmacies in the state are fast running out of haemophilia medicines, putting the lives of the hundreds of patients in danger. Parents of Madhav C P, a four-year-old Kochi boy with haemophilia, is constantly under the fear that they will soon run out of their last stock of medicines once he starts bleeding.
“Our son requires factor 8 injection once in two weeks. Since we come under the Karunya Benevolent Fund (KBF) Scheme of the state government, it is a major relief for us. Otherwise, for one injection, it would have cost us around Rs 2,800-3,200. We cannot afford to pay Rs 25,000 a month just for the medicines,” said Praveen Kumar, the boy’s father who works at a car dealer shop.
Haemophilia is a lifelong bleeding disorder, which occurs due to the absence or deficiency of clotting factors (protein 8 and 9) in the blood mainly due to the mutation of genes. It is a hereditary disease, wherein blood does not clot in case of an injury or even without an injury and spontaneous bleeding may occur inside the joints and muscles of patients. Haemophilia is mainly found in males. Around 80 per cent of haemophilia patients require transfusion of factor 8 while around 20 per cent require factor 9 for clotting.
“If any external bleeding occurs, we can at least come to know but internal bleeding will be life-threatening if it goes unnoticed. If the medicine shortage continues, we will have no other option but not to send him to school. We will be forced to keep him at home and constantly watch him,” said Kumar.
Presently, the shortage of medicines has mainly affected districts including Ernakulam and Thrissur. The non-payment of dues to pharmaceutical companies is cited as the reason for the sudden shortage of medicines. A total of 1,700 haemophilia patients have been registered in the state under KBF. “The government is yet to pay around Rs 30 crore in dues to the pharmaceutical companies. In September last year when such a shortage came up, the government paid some dues to the companies to resume the supplies. It was agreed that the dues would be completely paid by the end of December, but the payment has not been made so far,” said Jimmy Manuel, president, Thiruvananthapuram chapter of the Haemophilia Society of Kerala.
Manuel said discussions are going on with the companies and the state government. “Discussions are going on and we have been told that the government is trying to pay a part of the amount to keep the situation under control. If the shortage continues and spreads statewide, we will launch a massive protest,” said Manuel.
