Out of the 1.59 lakh people screened for sickle cell anaemia in Mysuru district, 1,353 have been identified as carriers and 178 as patients with the disease.

These details were shared by Mysuru District Health and Family Welfare Officer P.C. Kumaraswamy while inaugurating the World Sickle Cell Anaemia Day programme and a review meeting on the Health Department’s activities at the Abdul Nazeer Sab Auditorium in the Zilla Panchayat premises in Mysuru on Saturday.

Speaking about the disease, Dr. Kumaraswamy said sickle cell anaemia is a hereditary disorder that is passed from one generation to the next. He also noted that K.R. Hospital in Mysuru has been declared Karnataka’s Centre of Excellence for the treatment of sickle cell disease.

Dr. Kumaraswamy expressed satisfaction with the progress of the sickle cell anaemia screening programme in Mysuru district. He noted that the district has been implementing the initiative for the past three years and commended the efforts of ASHA workers, whose grassroots involvement has played a key role in the programme’s success.

“Mysuru district has a population of around 40 lakh. Achieving this level of progress in such a populous district is a matter of pride,” he said, urging officials at the taluk level to continue with regular meetings and workshops to sustain the initiative’s momentum.

JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research Vice-Chancellor Basavanagowdappa said sickle cell anaemia is more prevalent among people living in hilly and forest-fringe regions. Though the disease is particularly common in parts of North Karnataka, its prevalence in Mysuru district has been reported in H.D. Kote, Hunsur and Periyapatna taluks.

While reviewing the activities and programmes of the Health Department, Mysuru District Family Welfare Officer Gopinath said that Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and Community Health Centres (CHCs) should improve their performance under the Kayakalp scheme. Several hospitals in the district have received low scores due to poor performance, which in turn affects the district’s ranking at the State level, he noted.

District Surveillance Officer Nagaraj said that Gruha Arogya, the doorstep healthcare programme, is one of the Karnataka government’s flagship initiatives and urged doctors to pay greater attention to it, noting that it has been in operation for the past seven months.

He observed that the progress of PHCs and CHCs under the scheme has been unsatisfactory. ASHA workers should visit households, create awareness among people above 30 years of age about health issues, update their health records, and report cases involving any of the nine diseases identified under the programme, he said.

He further said that free treatment for heart diseases is provided under the Dr. Puneeth Rajkumar Hrudaya Sanjeevini Scheme. ECG tests are conducted when symptoms indicating cardiac problems are detected.

Among those present were Deputy Director of Health and Family Welfare, Mysuru, Prakash; District Leprosy Control Officer Brinda; Sickle Cell Anaemia Nodal Officer Siraj Ahmed; District Malaria Officer Suvarna; and JSS Medical College principal M. Narayanappa.