Hemophiliacs across the state have urged the government to crackdown on laboratories and companies supplying contaminated blood products to avoid transmission of blood-borne diseases among patients.
This is significant as clotting factors are blood products that are essential to keep people with hemophilia alive.
“People with hemophilia are at increased risk of contracting viral infections such as hepatitis and HIV as they require injections of factor VIII and IX concentrates every time they have a bleeding episode,” said Parthasarathy, vice-president of the Madras chapter of the Hemophilia Society.
“While government has been supportive by providing these expensive blood products free of cost, factor concentrates that are not manufactured or stored properly can get contaminated,” he said.
Recent studies by the Hemophilia Federation of India have shown that 10-14 per cent of people with hemophilia in India have Hepatitis B infection and 24-30 per cent of them are hepatitis C positive. The prevalence of HIV in hemophiliacs is a high 6 per cent.
Hemophilia is a genetic disease, with an incidence of one in 8,000. The blood of a hemophiliac child does not contain sufficient ‘clotting factors’, leading to incessant bleeding.
“People with hemophilia have to be guarded from injuries as even a small bump or scratch can set off a bleeding. The problem is the internal bleeding that may take hours to diagnose,” says Dr Usha, a medical practitioner who helps out with the society.