Health Ministry: More resources needed to counter haemophilia

KABUL (TOLOnews): On World Haemophilia Day, the Ministry of Public Health, voiced concerns over the lack of sufficient facilities to treat patients who are suffering from this disease.
The Deputy Minister of Administrative Affairs of the MoPH, Mohammad Ishaq Sahibzada, said that the ministry is trying to establish new centers for patients who are suffering from Haemophilia.
“We will build centers to treat haemophilia in other zones as well, to serve our poor nation,” he said.
This comes as the head of the central blood bank, Mohammad Nasir Sadiq, said that more than 30,000 people are suffering from haemophilia across the country and that the bank provided over 2.1 million factors (clotting substances) to the patients.
He also voiced concern, saying that they lack enough facilities for the treatment of the patients.
“There is a lack of facilities and a lack of experts to treat haemophilia,” Sadiq said.
This comes as the head of the curative medicine section of the MoPH, Ahmad Seyar Pawan, called on aid organizations to provide facilities for the treatment of Haemophilia.
“I call on the national and international charity committees, private sector, World Health Organization and International Federation of Haemophilia to pay particular attention to haemophilia disease,” he said.
The patients who are suffering from haemophilia also asked that their problems be addressed.
“They send factors to our zones. I came from Mazar-e-Sharif. You know that the people are struggling with economic problems. We have serious problems. We come here once a month and we are being provided with only one factor for a month—while one is good for only one week,” said Farhad, a patient.
April 17 marks World Haemophilia Day. The number of patients with Haemophilia in Afghanistan has not yet been determined.