Relief for haemophilia patients as agency donates Sh4.2m equipment to KNH

Haemophilia patients at the Kenyatta National Hospital will now have access to state-of-the-art physiotherapy equipment as they undergo care at the facility.

This is after the Kenya Haemophilia Association on Monday made the donation to the hospital estimated to cost Sh4.2 million.

Haemophilia is usually an inherited medical condition in which the ability of the blood to clot is severely reduced, causing the patient to bleed severely from even a slight injury.

The equipment includes a state-of-the-art treadmill, a hydro collator and a spinning bike, cuff weights, a stability exercise ball and other machines.

The equipment was handed over to the Physiotherapy Department by a delegation from the association led by the chairman Dr Kibet Shikuku and board chairman Prof Karanja Njoroge.

“I believe that KNH will be the best in haemophilia treatment globally. We plan to bring more equipment for checking bleeding in real-time, and also hope KNH can become a centre for training and research in matters of haemophilia,” Kibet said.

The KNH CEO Dr Evanson Kamuri while receiving the equipment expressed delight at the move and said the equipment will go a long way in ensuring patients get better care.

“We are more than delighted as our patients are going to get better care which is our core business," Kamuri said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), haemophilia is caused by a mutation or change in one of the genes that provide instructions for making the clotting factor proteins needed to form a blood clot.

This change or mutation can prevent the clotting protein from working properly or being missing altogether.

Even though haemophilia runs in families, some families have no prior history of members with haemophilia.

Sometimes there are carrier females in the family but no affected boys just by chance.

“Haemophilia can result in bleeding in the head and sometimes in the brain which can cause long-term problems such as seizures and paralysis,” CDC warns.

Last year, the government disclosed that a total of Sh500 million will be set aside to go towards awareness creation for blood disorders in the country including sickle cell and haemophilia.

The amount is expected to support the Kenya Haemophilia Association in its operations as the various stakeholders try to reach more people who might otherwise be unaware of the conditions.

Shikuku who is also a lecturer at the University of Nairobi says bleeding is not equivalent to having haemophilia, but haemophilia is just one of the bleeding disorders.

“In Kenya, haemophilia affects more men than women because it is brought by X-Chromosome,” he said.

Data shows that 14,000 children are born with sickle cell in Kenya every year, while there are 5,000 people living with haemophilia.