With a large number of tribal population suffering from sickle-cell anaemia and thalassemia, the government has established a research centre in Chandrapur in Maharashtra to help early detection and control of these blood related disorders. The Union Health Ministry said that the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has initiated efforts to set up a satellite centre of National Institute of Haemoglobinopathies (Mumbai) in the Chandrapur district. The Ministry said that since the establishment of a permanent centre may take time, ICMR has acquired a portion of the district TB Hospital in Chandrapur to start the research activities.
“To address the above issues, ICMR has initiated efforts to set up a satellite centre of the National Institute of haemoglobinopathies, Mumbai in district Chandrapur for carrying out research on haemoglobinopathies,” an official statement said. It said that the proposed centre will carry out advanced research based on the needs of the region while it will also provide training and education for human resource development in the area. “Land has already been acquired for setting up the centre and the process has been initiated for construction of the building,” the statement said.
It said that since the setting up of a permanent centre may take time, ICMR has acquired a portion of the district TB hospital to start research activities and this portion of the hospital is being developed as an interim centre of the proposed satellite centre. “A budget of Rs 4.59 crore has been sanctioned for an initial period of five years,” it said.
ICMR said that tribals constitute nearly 20 per cent of the total population of the district and a large portion of the tribal population is suffering from blood related disorders such as sickle cell anaemia (about 10 per cent) and Thalassemia. “An ICMR team of experts surveyed this region and recommended that need based research studies should be undertaken in this region for early detection, management and control of these disorders,” the statement said. PTI
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