Thalassemia & Sickle Cell Patients Stage Dharna For Blood Transfusion Centre At MKCG Hospital In Odisha’s Berhampur

Berhampur: Hundreds of thalassemia and sickle cell patients on Tuesday staged a demonstration demanding a dedicated blood transfusion centre at MKCG Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur of Odisha’s Ganjam district.

About 750 thalassemia and sickle cell patients, registered in MKCG Hospital, along with their parents sat on a dharna in front of the Odisha Blood Centre, Department of Transfusion of the hospital raising slogans in favour of their demand. Later, they submitted their charter of demands, addressed to the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC) Southern Division, to the Dean MKCG Medical College.

They said thalassemia and sickle cell patients below 14 years are referred to Paediatric Ward and above 14 years to Casualty for blood transfusion. But such patients face difficulties in these wards due to the movement of other patients and medical staff.

Considering the problem, they demanded that the MKCG Hospital authorities should set up a dedicated blood transfusion centre for safe blood transfusion.

“There is a standard operating procedure (SOP) under the National Health Mission (NHM) guidelines for blood transfusion, which is approved by both Central and state governments. But this guideline is not followed in MKCG hospital,” they said.

As per the guidelines, blood haemoglobin level for pre-transfusion needs to be 9.5-10.5 mg/dl which is not followed properly by the hospital. And in that case, many patients suffer from several side effects and lose their life in some cases, some parents alleged.