A mega health camp, the first of its kind in Andhra Pradesh, is being conducted in the Krishna District Industrial and Agricultural Exhibition Society premises beside The Hindu office in Autonagar exclusively for thalassaemia patients from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on February 28.

Thalassaemia patients, most of them children, are born with a defect in their blood. Their body cannot make haemoglobin, a compound that helps in the transport of oxygen. Children with thalassaemia have to continuously get haemoglobin from somewhere else.

Blood transfusion is the only way they can get taemoglobin so they need to get blood transfusion frequently. Babies that are one year old or less may need blood transfusions once in a month, but as they grow they will need it once in two weeks. But the frequent transfusions cause several complications.

Iron overload is one of the treacherous complications. Too much iron in the body results in damage to the heart, liver and endocrine system, which includes glands that produce hormones that regulate most processes in the body.

Another dangerous complication of frequent transfusions was enlarged spleen. The spleen helps the body fight infection and filtered out unwanted materials such as old or damaged blood cells. Thalassaemia is often accompanied by the destruction of a large number of red blood cells, making the spleen work harder than normal, causing the spleen to enlarge making the anaemia worse. The only solution to the problem was the removal of the spleen.

For more details, dial 939296779 or 9393096779.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by Special Correspondent / Vijayawada – February 26th, 2015