kolkata: The State Health Department has directed hospitals and medical colleges to conduct High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) tests on antenatal mothers and adolescents, on a mandatory basis, in order to rule out thalassemia and sickle cell disease.
HPLC is a blood test done to check if the mother has any blood-related disorder such as thalassemia. If the mother turns out to be a carrier, the father is subsequently checked for the same. The health department has recently issued a notification in this regard saying that samples will be collected from antenatal clinics (ANC) of block health facilities or obstetrics and gynaecology departments of hospitals. HPLC test results should be added to the investigation imprint (stamp) of the antenatal card. The samples of whole blood have to be collected in an EDTA vial and sent to the tagged Thalassemia Care Unit (TCU) within three days maintaining a cold chain, the order said.
The state has already decided to supply packed red blood cells (PRBC) to all thalassemia patients with an aim of transfusing appropriate components to all such patients across the state. PRBCs are issued from various blood centres such as Blood Component Separation Units (BCSU) and also non-BCSU centres. According to an order, all non-BCSU blood centres will receive PRBC from a BCSU through a bulk transfer of components.
All non-BCSU blood centres have been tagged with BCSU blood centres for uniform and uninterrupted supply of PRBC throughout the state. The health department has laid down certain guidelines in order to implement this programme.
Now, patients suffering from thalassemia, haemophilia, and sickle cell diseases no longer require to visit hospitals and appear before a specific committee to get a ‘disability certificate’ as the state health department has simplified the process of issuance of the certificates. These patients are now able to avail themselves of ‘physically challenged’ certificates from the local TCUs. The state had issued a directive in this regard.