“Sankalp”- A solemn vow of sheer hard work, determination, passion, vision and persistence to ensure that no individual ever dies due to lack of blood and to promote 100% Voluntary Blood Donation. A group of young students, who took this vow on 23rd May, 2003, have come a long way to celebrate the spirit of 1000 Voluntary Blood Donation Drives on 12th July, 2017.
June 2017 was the a landmark month in Sankalp’s quest to ensure that no one suffers due to shortage of blood.
One would often wonder how Sankalp’s emergency team manages to handle a multitude of request of Bombay blood group day after day.
Just within June the organisation got 19 blood requests for Bombay group patients. These were requests for 34 units of blood with 26 requests indicating the need for immediate transfusion.
Thalassemia is an inherited genetic blood disorder that does not allow the production of normal healthy red cells. Bone marrow transplantation from a HLA-matched sibling donor can be a safe option for definitive cure but the chemotherapy used to get rid of the diseased marrow may cause infertility.
Rajnikant and Minakshi, living in a small village near Junagadh in Gujarat, were filled with joy when their first son was born. All the senior family members were also happy. They named him Ronak which meant grace, and by the grace of God he was their gift. Truly he brought "Ronak" in their family.
Since last year Sankalp India Foundation had been requesting the Government of Karnataka to come up with a comprehensive policy for support for thalassemia.
Maternal mortality continues to be a significant challenge across the developing countries and particularly relevant to India. Post-partum haemorrhage is the leading cause of maternal death. Tranexamic acid is a widely available and inexpensive drug which is routinely used for trauma patients to reduce death due to bleeding.
Recently, there was a news of 35 patients who were undergoing regular management for thalassemia in Civil Hospital Jalandhar being detected with Hepatitis C. This is not the first time such news has come out in open. This news comes as a shock. Can something be done?
Rai Bahadur Sir Upendranath Brahmachari was a renowned Indian scientist and a prominent medical practitioner of his era. He had a remarkable personality and his most outstanding research contribution was the discovery of Urea Stibamine, an organic antimonial compound, which played a vital role in the treatment of Kala-azar (a Hindi term for black fever), a protozoal infection. His “Treatise on Kala-azar” is a premier work on the subject.
World Health Organization (WHO) has been planning and adopting several measures to ensure that equity of care is never compromised or ignored in the delivery of healthcare.
