Haemophilia patients in state helpless as medication runs out

A 39-year-old haemophilia patient, who had internal bleeding in his right knee joint, travelled to Surat on February 20 to prevent lifelong disability.

- Shreya Jachak

MUMBAI: "The medicines for my condition are not available in Maharashtra anymore," he said. "I couldn't delay taking them or I would risk losing my leg. The last option was to get help from Gujarat."

It has been 15 days since his travel, and the bleeding has started again. "Given my condition, I need to take medicines at least twice a month to keep everything under control," he said. "But for the last three months, we have been struggling to get them."

Haemophilia is a rare genetic disorder in which a person's blood is unable to clot, which could lead to internal bleeding, including at the joints. "To stop the bleeding, we administer Anti-Haemophilic Factors (AHF), which are an extremely important part of the treatment," said a doctor from the BMC-run KEM hospital, which is the only nodal centre for haemophilia treatment in the city.