Growing Sickle Cell Population Worries Association

Nigerian Army Engineers reconstructing the Ezenwa Street in Onitsha North Local Government Area of Anambra State last Wednesday. Photo: NAN

People with the sickle
cell challenge have called on the Federal Government to develop a more effective health policy to check their growing population.
The Coordinator of the Association of Sickle Cell Clubs in Anambra State, Mrs Aisha Edward, made the call in Awka as part of the activities marking the World Sickle Cell Day.
Edward said those living with the condition in the state were protesting the neglect and discrimination they had suffered, noting that many of their members had died.
She said the situation of their members was made worse by the proliferation of non-governmental organisations which have made money from the public without transmitting same to them.
The coordinator called on the police to launch a crackdown on the activities of the organisations which were set up to feast on the misfortune of others.
She also called for legislation at the federal and state levels to give their members career advantage in public and private service employment as well as incorporate them in the national health insurance scheme.
She said the association had no fewer than 250 registered members in Anambra, excluding infants, and expressed sadness that some of them had died as graduates for lack of care and frustration in the last four years.
She called for the establishment of a sickle cell centre in Anambra and the installation of gene testing machines in hospitals and other public places like churches and mosques.
“Our government should do something medically urgent to check the continued multiple production of sickle cell patients. Our hospitals should be equipped to detect and effectively manage the cases.
“Patients should be cared for and not pitied; there is a lot stigmatisation against us and people who run non-governmental organizations claiming to represent us are there for their selfish gains.
“We request the police to close down these fraudulent organisations and urge members of the public who care about us to relate directly with us because managing our condition is just too expensive,” she said.
She also commended the wife of the Anambra governor, Mrs Ebere Obiano who has pledged to provide support for them and expressed confidence that she would uplift their plight.