Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan on October 14, 2020 launched the second phase of “Thalassemia Bal Sewa Yojna” for the underprivileged Thalassemic patients.
- Launched in 2017, this scheme is a Coal India CSR funded Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) program that aims to provide a one-time cure opportunity for Haemoglobinopathies like Thalassaemia and Sickle Cell Disease for patients who have a matched family donor.
- The CSR initiative was targeted to provide financial assistance to a total of 200 patients by providing a package cost not exceeding Rs. 10 lakhs per HSCT.
What is Thalassemia?
- According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Thalassemia is an inherited (i.e., passed from parents to children through genes) blood disorder caused when the body doesn’t make enough of a protein called hemoglobin, an important part of red blood cells.
- When there isn’t enough hemoglobin, the body’s red blood cells don’t function properly and they last shorter periods of time, so there are fewer healthy red blood cells traveling in the bloodstream.
- Red blood cells carry oxygen to all the cells of the body.
(Source: PIB and CDCP)
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