Your blood has crescent moons: How sickle cell anaemia is silently endangering India’s tribes
- Srirupa Ray
- Times NetworkUpdated: Dec 22, 2023, 11:52 IST IST
When Gautam Dongre’s two-month-old son had to be given a blood transfusion, the doctor thought it was just another case of severe anaemia. But after a few months, the child fell ill again and the back and forth from hospital continued for the next two and a half years. Till a senior doctor advised a sickle cell anaemia test.
It's been 19 years since, and Dongre has had another child diagnosed with sickle cell anaemia. The US and UK have recently approved a new gene editing therapy that can prove to be a permanent cure for the millions suffering from the disease around the world. But Dongre feels India needs sensitization of the masses as well as medical practitioners first before any new remedy is even mooted.
It's been 19 years since, and Dongre has had another child diagnosed with sickle cell anaemia. The US and UK have recently approved a new gene editing therapy that can prove to be a permanent cure for the millions suffering from the disease around the world. But Dongre feels India needs sensitization of the masses as well as medical practitioners first before any new remedy is even mooted.
