A silent burden: Thalassaemia patients in Karnataka battle disease with hope and hardship

Her day begins with a quiet prayer and a glance at the faded calendar, marked with yet another hospital appointment.

- GNS News Agency, May 28

For over two decades, Gowramma's life has revolved around needles, blood bags, prescriptions, and silent strength. Gowramma is the mother of two grown-up children — Tarun and Santosh — both living with thalassaemia, an inherited blood disorder characterised by reduced haemoglobin production. Every few weeks, the children need blood, life-saving transfusions that keep them alive, but slowly poison their bodies with iron. The medicine to fight this iron overload is expensive, and the bills never stop. The family has a small garment shop at Peenya, an industrial area in the northern part of Bengaluru, and is struggling to meet an avalanche of medical expenses. Gowramma has not been able to get the free medicines from the government-run Victoria Hospital for the last four months.