Haemophilia patients seek drug procurement policy to deal with crises

SHAKEELA ANDRABI

SRINAGAR: The Haemophilia Society of Kashmir continues to sound alarm over a persistent shortage of essential medicines for patients battling the life-threatening disease, despite months of appeals and requests.
Haemophilia patients, registered with Haemophilia Day Care Centre at SMHS hospital of GMC Srinagar, have demanded a concrete policy for the procurement of anti-haemophilia drugs round the year. The daycare centre often faces shortage of Factor VIII and Factor 9 drugs and patients often suffer due to lack of medicines and remain at high risk of fatalities. President, Haemophilia Society of Kashmir, said the hospital often faces shortage of anti-haemophilia drugs due to the non-seriousness of the medical college and JKMSCL. He said due to the lack of the life-saving drugs needed to maintain artificial factor levels, many patients who specifically need this type of drug are at risk of bleeding. “There is one patient who has a fracture and needs surgical intervention. He is admitted at Bone and Joints Hospital Barzulla Srinagar and his surgery can’t be performed unless he has factor-VIII,” he said. He added, that the GMC Srinagar sent the annual requisition to JKMSCL a month ago and the drug procurement is delayed repeatedly.”Haemophilia is itself a medical emergency and the patients suffer owing to the delay in procurement of requisitioned drugs at JKMSCL level. Timely availability of drugs is the only source which saves patients from any adversity and deformity,” he said.
The patients complain that over the years the concerned authorities have failed to frame a policy for haemophilia patients due to which they are suffering.”The unnecessary prolonging of the issues at the hands of concerned authorities and their staff need to curb this approach so that the life-saving drugs are made available,” he said.
The Haemophilia patients appealed to the Lieutenant Governor to kindly intervene in the matter and issue instructions to concerned authorities to arrange procurement of drugs on time to save the precious lives of patients.
As per health experts if these drugs are not available then there will be huge issues for the patients and they can bleed and it can lead to death. According to the officials of the Jammu and Kashmir Medical Supplies Corporation Limited, there is a procedure to procure imported drugs. “When we place an order for the imported drugs they give it within three months. After we receive the medicine we send it to a quality test to the National Institute of Biologicals which takes 45 days,” he said.
He added that GMC Srinagar and the haemophilia patients want that the drug should be procured without testing which is impossible and not in the interest of patients. “We release the medicines only after the quality check,” he said.
The GMC said there are 413 haemophilia patients registered with SMHS hospital and GMC Srinagar can send the requisition of one year in one go which will become easy for JKMSCL to procure and supply in phased manner that would lead to saving of state exchequer by way of one time testing and poor patients wouldn’t suffer in case of any emergency.