CUTTACK: Health and Family Welfare minister Mukesh Mahaling on Tuesday inaugurated the Centre of Competence (CoC) for sickle cell disease (SCD) at the department of clinical hematology of SCB Medical College and Hospital.
Mahaling also unveiled two state-of-the-art facilities, Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and Automated Capillary Zone Electrophoresis for Newborn Screening, at the hospital. The first of their kind in Odisha and eastern India, NGS will aid cancer genomics and help in the diagnosis and management of various cancers, as well as genetic blood disorders such as SCD, thalassemia and hemophilia, while the Automated Capillary Zone Electrophoresis machine will help confirm genetic blood disorders in newborns.
The CoC has been established with the installation of the two advanced machines at a cost of Rs 3.90 crore under the National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission (NSCAEM).
Addressing mediapersons Mahaling said, “Odisha records the highest incidence of sickle cell disease in India, with genetic haemoglobinopathies affecting approximately 15.6 per cent of the state’s population.” He thanked the Centre for including the clinical hematology department of SCB MCH under the NSCAEM. He said that the government has proposed to set up a second centre at VIMSAR, Burla.
“Earlier, testing for sickle cell disease was time-consuming, particularly in newborns. The advanced NGS technology will now complement existing HPLC screening, facilitate molecular-level prenatal diagnosis, help confirm ambiguous or doubtful HPLC results, and support capacity building and training of field-level medical officers,” he added.
He also inaugurated the country’s first single-window Model Day Care Centre with dedicated diagnostic and therapeutic facilities. The centre, with a single-window system for OPD registration and consultations, will provide day-care beds for transfusions and treatment, on-site specialised laboratory diagnostics, in-house drug distribution and counselling for patients suffering from blood diseases.
Among others, Rajya Sabha MP Debasish Samantaray, Choudwar-Cuttack MLA Souvic Biswal, SCB MCH superintendent Prof Jyotish Chandra Choudhury, in-charge dean and principal Prof Saroj Kumar Tripathy, and professor and HOD of Clinical Hematology Dr Sudha Sethy, were present.
