Patients of Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) have been affected after the Bheri Zonal Hospital in Nepalgunj refused free testing of blood samples.  

Despite the government’s announcement of free SCD medicine and treatment programme, 500 blood samples collected in the hospital remained untested. The District Public Health Office (DPHO) collected the blood samples and sent to the hospital for further examination. 

The hospital had initially informed the DPHO that the machine used to test the blood was out of order. But the machine was found to be in working order. Hospital Superintendent Dr Birendra Bahadur Chand later revealed that they had no funds to conduct blood tests. “The programme belongs to the DPHO. We cannot test the blood samples for free. We are charging Rs1,000 for each test,” said Chand. 

The SCD is a hereditary blood disorder common among the people from the Tharu community living in Dang, Bardiya, Kanchanpur, and Kailali districts. The disease causes patient’s red blood cells (RBC) to turn into stiff and abnormal sickle or crescent shape, instead of a normal disc shape with a hole in the middle, blocking blood flow into blood vessels and causing various complications.  

According to data of the Bheri Zonal Hospital, around 300 people in these districts are afflicted with the SCD. Chief of the DPHO Khim Bahadur Khadka said the government has established a laborator in Bheri Zonal Hospital to test the SCD. “We will manage the materials and equipment to test the disease. But we don’t know why the hospital is refusing to test the blood samples,” said Khadka. 

The DPHO has also requested the central laboratory to send the essential materials to test the blood samples. With the hospital running out of SCD medicines, the SCD patients said they were compelled to buy the medicines from pharmacies at much higher prices. 

A report of the truffle research lab of the Tribhuvan University and the National Health Research Council showed that 18 percent unmarried Tharu women were found heterozygous (having dissimilar pairs of genes for any hereditary characteristic) for sickle cell strait during the DNA test.