Kochi: Acute shortage of medicines that are relied by haemophiliacs in Kerala to raise the concentration of clotting factor, a protein, in blood has been reported from government-run fair-price pharmacy outlet Karunya. Nearly 2,000 haemophilia patients, including infants, depend on these medicine stores for the medicine.
The haemophilia centre at the district hospital in Aluva alone has 984 patients, including 6-month-old babies to adults. But presently, the hospital does not have even one stock of factor to give to these patients.
The crisis has been reportedly triggered after private pharma companies stopped supplying the life-saving medicine to Karunya pharmacies over non-payment of dues amounting to crores of rupees. (The Kerala Medical Services Corporation Ltd (KMSCL) runs the Karunya Community Pharmacies based in government hospitals in the state.)
The KMSCL has to give Rs 30 crore to the companies for the medicines supplied over the last year. However, the finance department, that runs lottery in the name of Karunya scheme, has not done much to resolve the crisis. The health department too has not made any move to ensure the availability of the life-saving medicines.
The factor medicine used to curb and prevent bleeding was being supplied free of cost under the Karunya Health Scheme of the Kerala government. However, the free and subsidised healthcare programme of Kerala is beset with crisis after the Karunya Benevolent Fund was scrapped last year as the new Karunya Arogya Suraksha Padhathi (KASP) came into effect on April 1.
(Factor refers to protein factor that aids clotting. Haemophilia is mostly an inherited genetic disorder in which blood doesn't clot normally owing to the paucity of either Factor VIII or Factor IX that induces blood clotting. For this reason, haemophilia is also known as the Factor Deficiency. Several types of Haemophilia are categorised as per the deficient factor.)
