There has been a major call from the Northern part of Nigeria for the establishment of more bone marrow transplant centres.
“These bone marrow transplant centres are needed in view of the increase in the number of sickle cell carriers in the area,” says Garba Datti Muhammed.
Honourable Garba Datti Muhammed, a representative of Sabon Federal Constituency of Kaduna State, as at last year supported this call by sponsoring a motion on the floor of the House of Representatives on the issue.
However, he disclosed to Daily Trust that ever since the motion was passed, nothing had been done in the area of execution.
He said that if more centres were planted in the North, it would debug the hardship and stress some sickle cell carriers undergo in making sure they have quality access to centres that far away from their abode.
“We’ve done everything because of the growing population of sickle cell carriers, especially among the children, which has resulted in the high mortality rate of children. Since there is no known measure to cure this, the only thing that we have now is the stem cell marrow transplant, which is a remedy. It’s not a total or complete cure, but it’s a remedy to sickle cell patients.
“You’ll find out that most of the patients are from the Northern part of the country, in fact, more than 65 percent of them. It’s more strategic to look at the critical places where these cases are prevalent. It will be more important. Here in the North, we need additional centres,” he said.
In addition to this, Datti also mentioned that he had personally spent a huge sum of money assisting a good number of his constituents who are actually carriers of the sickle cell in getting medication.
Can the government alone win the war against sickle cell? Are the other ways sickle cell can be tackled in Nigeria?
Please share your thoughts in the comment box below…
Lets’ join hands and fight against sickle cell disease…
