29 July 2007
Lagos — The Hemophilia Foundation of Nigeria yesterday in Kaduna during a Stakeholders Forum disclosed that it has so far expended over N40 million on treatment of Hemophilic patients in the country over the last two years.
Hemophilia which is the inability of the blood to clot when the skin is cut open is a rare blood disorder which affects about 1 in 10,000 people and doesnít have any cure yet, but with treatment Hemophilic patients can live normal lives.
According to the President of the Foundation, Mrs. Megan Adeniran, Nigeria now with about 150,000 Hemophilic people necessitated the setting up of the foundation which she disclosed is now affiliated to seven teaching hospitals in the country and is planning to have six treatment centers in each region of Nigeria that would reduce the numbers of patients traveling outside the country for treatment.
Clearing the myth surrounding the disease, Mrs. Adeniran who also lost a son to the disease said contrary to the belief by some people that Hemophilia is a ëwhite manís diseaseí maintain that the hereditary disease is present in Nigeria and spreading.
She added that the foundation is being constrained in its struggle against the disease by lack of both funds and adequate knowledge on the part of medical workers.
It is pathetic that some Doctors and Nurses donít even know a hemophilic condition when faced with one. There are so many instances of bleeding patients who go to the hospital when their bleeding refused to stop only to be told that they are suffering from something else.
ìWe are calling on Dentists, Physiotherapists, Orthopedics and all those medical workers to all acquaint themselves with the condition so as to be able to contribute toward quick diagnoses of the condition and early and effective treatment that would alleviate the pains of the patients.î
Dr. Aisha Mohammed of the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Shika in Kaduna state said the hospital is presently building a Hemophilic data bank that would help the hospital in its determination to carry out full research on the disease, and added that despite the disease not having any known cure, but with treatment Hemophilic people can go to work or school regularly and live a relatively productive life.
Some Hemophiliac sufferers who were also at the forum narrated their ordeal. Mr Mike Akpamo from Delta state told THISDAY of how his leg was amputated when it was bleeding non-stop. Engineer Abdullahi from Jigawa also narrated how he had to spend about N500, 000 thousand to get the injection for the treatment of the disease when his son started bleeding.
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