Maharashtra Government to Conduct Screening for Anaemia in 10 Lakh People

After the Union health ministry has directed the Maharashtra government to start the screening for anaemia across the state.

Accordingly, the state health department will screen around 10 lakh people for sickle cell anaemia in 2023.

This development came as there are 17 active cases of sickle cell anaemia and 2 lakh people are carriers of the disease. Most of them are from Vidarbha, and tribal areas are the most affected, a senior official stated.

For those unversed, this is a genetic or hereditary disorder, in which red blood cells become oval-shaped due to the deficiency of oxygen in blood. It occurs when a person inherits two abnormal copies of the haemoglobin gene from each parent.

According to experts, the disease can be tackled with lifetime medication by taking folic acid and Hydroxyurea along with pain medication. It is most common among the tribal population with a nine per cent positivity rate.

Normal RBC cells live for 120 days but sickle cells break apart easily and die and the cell life span is reduced to 10-20 days, thereby causing anaemia and decreased oxygen-carrying capacity of haemoglobin which causes fatigue, experts exclaimed.

The symptoms of this disease include fatigue, swelling of hands and feet, frequent infections, delayed growth and puberty, vision problems, episodes of pains in chest, abdomen and joints; besides, some adolescents and adults with sickle cell anaemia also have chronic pain, which can result from bone and joint damage, ulcers, and other causes.

If reports are to be believed, in Maharashtra, a total of 1,69,191 people were detected with the trait -- carriers who don’t show symptoms but can pass on the trait on to their children – in last February.

As many as 14,141 patients with Sickle Cell anaemia were diagnosed in Maharashtra. However, the state’s figure from the public health department shows a higher number with 18,000 registered patients.

But the lack of health infrastructure, medicines and specialists not only left them crippled but also pushed up mortality rates.