Jeypore: More than 200 children have reportedly been suffering with Sickle cell, a blood disorder, in Jeypore area of Odisha’s Koraput district.
Persons with the disease produce unusually shaped red blood cells which don’t live as long as healthy blood cells and so can become stuck in blood vessels. They require life-long treatment with repeated blood transfusion.
According to reports, most of the affected patients belong to financially weaker sections. They have to depend on the blood banks of either Koraput SLN Medical College and Hospital or the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) here for their blood transfusion.
Reports said, both these hospitals are facing an acute shortage of blood. While there is an annual demand of 5000 units of blood in these hospitals, only 4000 units have been collected this year from different sources.
Generally, the relatives and volunteers donate their blood to the needy patients. However the family members of patients, who cannot afford to purchase blood, are seen running from pillar to post to procure blood.
In most cases, poor patients affected with sickle cell have been left in the lurch due to shortage of blood, locals complained.
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Ms Kalinga