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The Thalassemia Channel on VJHemOnc is an independent medical education platform, supported with funding from Agios (Gold). Supporters have no influence on the production of content. The levels of sponsorship listed are reflective of the amount of funding given.
General Updates | The management of thalassemia in India
Shruti Kakkar, MD, Christian Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana, India, discusses the management of thalassemia in India, highlighting the variability in access to treatment options across different facilities and regions. Dr Kakkar highlights that some centers can provide high-quality care with access to regular blood supply, chelation therapy, and multidisciplinary care. In contrast, others face challenges in accessing basic necessities, such as a supply of blood for transfusions. This interview took place virtually.
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Transcript
So, India right now… I would say India, within India, there are many, many Indias and many tiers of, you know, facilities available. So, thankfully, I work in a center where we have a regular supply of blood, except for, I believe, you know, rare circumstances like COVID or a dengue epidemic, we usually do not face any shortage of blood. We have access to leukodepleted and a phenotype-matched blood, so you know we’re able to transfuse; we are able to maintain a pre-transfusion Hb of 9...
So, India right now… I would say India, within India, there are many, many Indias and many tiers of, you know, facilities available. So, thankfully, I work in a center where we have a regular supply of blood, except for, I believe, you know, rare circumstances like COVID or a dengue epidemic, we usually do not face any shortage of blood. We have access to leukodepleted and a phenotype-matched blood, so you know we’re able to transfuse; we are able to maintain a pre-transfusion Hb of 9.5-10. Chelators are available and most chelated chelation drugs are now available through government state governments and they’re available free of cost for most of our patients. And you know, multidisciplinary care – all cardiologists, hepatologists, gynecologists, orthopedicians – all sorts of multi-centric care is, you know, multi-specialist care is available, and we are able to provide quality care to our patients.
But then you know I go outside my own institute and I do these camps across various cities in Punjab, and then there are patients who are not even getting blood appropriately, so there is a wide variation, and that’s what we are planning to, you know, conduct an observation and see what are the different kinds of care available. So, yes, there are centers who are probably comparable to any center that’s in the UK, but on the other hand, we still have patients who do not have access to a regular supply of blood. But I believe, you know, I started working in the field of thalassemia in 2012, and in the last 13 years, we’ve come a long way, and things are improving, and with the government’s commitment towards the cause of hemoglobin disorders right now, I think we will have an improving outcome in our patients with thalassemia year after year. And I’m quite hopeful about that.
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