Lack of life-saving medicine poses threat to hemophilia patients
Srinagar: The shortage of essential, life-saving hemophilia drugs has been going on for a few months now, and is a regular issue every year.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the patients suffering from hemophilia, many of them children as young as five-year old, gathered at the Press Colony in Srinagar to seek attention to their plight.
Around 50 people gathered at Press Colony to protest the non-availability of Clotting Factors. The protesters were hemophilia patients of all age groups, including children.
Speaking to the media, the protesters said, a police party tried to quell the protests and bundled up the crowd into police vehicles to be kept at Police Station Kothi Bagh. “The children were scared and crying, and some of them had nose bleeds,” a protester told the media while seeking anonymity. He lamented that their legitimate demand for life-saving factors and right to voice was being “trampled upon”. He said their mobile phones were also taken away by police, and they were kept at the police station for many hours. “We are patients, not criminals or disrupters. We are already disabled, what harm can we cause anyone?” another hemophilia patient said.
A Child Welfare Committee team reached Police Station Kothi Bagh after receiving information about children who were with the people who had been stopped from protesting. The team said they were there to ensure all the rights of children were protected. Soon after, the Hemophilia patients were allowed to leave and talk to the media.
