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Services at Thalassemia Center in Azerbaijan become free of charge

31 January 2018 17:25 (UTC+04:00)
Services at Thalassemia Center in Azerbaijan become free of charge

By Aygul Salmanova

The Center of Thalassemia in Azerbaijan has become a public legal entity, and for patients receiving treatment at the center, the services will be free of charge, the director of the center, Valeh Huseynov said.

He noted that the assignment of the status of a public legal entity is aimed at further improving the material and technical base of the center.

However, for other patients, the use of other services will be chargeable. "For example, for those wishing to conduct a laboratory examination services will be paid, it will concern the insured persons," Huseynov said.

Huseynov also noted that there are more than one million carriers of thalassemia in Azerbaijan.

The increase in the number of thalassemia patients in recent years is mainly due to the marriage of the carriers of this disease, he said. “At the moment, there are 3,105 patients with hereditary blood diseases, including thalassemia patients, registered in the country. Recently, thanks to a medical examination of persons wishing to marry, there have been fewer cases of the birth of children who are carriers of thalassemia.”

The director of the center also said that thanks to the measures taken, most of those having thalassemia are adults. “Now most patients are over 20 years old. Considering newborns, about 100 patients under the age of 18 are registered at the center,” Huseynov said.

As the specialist said, from 2013 to the present day 55 patients underwent bone marrow transplantation in the center. “Most of them, approximately 43-44 people, were sick with hereditary blood disease and thalassemia, and ten patients with thalassemia are scheduled to undergo this operation by the end of this year,” Huseynov said.

It should be noted that in the “List of organizations that are not part of the structure of the Ministry of Health of Azerbaijan but under its jurisdiction”, the Cabinet of Ministers has excluded the name of the Thalassemia Center from the part “Medical centers and associations” of the section “Institutions financed from the budget”.

Earlier, by the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers the center also received the status of a public legal entity.

A state program for the fight against thalassemia for 2015 - 2020 years in Azerbaijan aims to strengthen measures to prevent thalassemia, increase the decease awareness among the population and improve medical care to patients suffering from thalassemia.

Over the last 10 years significant reforms have been carried out in the country to combat such a wide-spread decease as thalassemia. A number of projects were sanctioned for the treatment and diagnosis of the disease and improvement of the health of future generations.

In this regard, citizens have to pass a medical examination before marriage. However, doctors say that the presence of thalassemia gene in those wishing to marry does not mean that they should abandon their decision and should avoid having children. New couples get expert advice and find out what additional tests they should pass to keep their children healthy.

Moreover, the Center for Thalassemia, built upon the initiative of President of Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva, has become a chance for many children to get good treatment.

The center has the latest diagnostic, treatment, and support units, available space and qualified personnel for the treatment of patients.

Since its establishment in 2007, the Thalassemia Center in Baku has offered all conditions both scientific and practical for studying thalassemia.

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