Treatment centers for bleeding disorders needed

CEBU CITY – The Hemophilia Advocacy Association of the Philippines, Inc. (HAPI) chapter in Cebu is calling on the public health sector and lawmakers to support the establishment of hemophilia treatment centers in public hospitals and to spread awareness about the disease.

Edwardson Co, vice president of HAPI Cebu, said hemophilia is a rare disease, commonly referred to as a “bleeding disorder,” where the blood loses the ability to clot. It affects 10,000 Filipinos and about one million others with von Willebrand Disease (VWD), another type of bleeding disorder.

Co, himself a hemophiliac, said only around 1,500 Filipinos with bleeding disorders have so far been identified, with 180 of them in Central Visayas.

Hemophilia is a lifelong disorder and could be inherited. There are many instances when several members of a family suffer from it.

“My mother and I are hemophiliac. Many are unaware of the disease for lack of information and awareness and many patients with hemophilia died without ever being diagnosed or treated,” Co said.

Hemophilia is the more severe type of bleeding disorder. Symptoms usually start with the appearance of bruises that take longer to heal especially among children, he said.

Andrea Trinidad-Echavez, president of Hemophilia Advocates-Philippines (HAP), said people with bleeding disorders lack a certain protein in the blood called a factor. There are 13 factors in the blood and when one of it is missing, it results in a bleeding disorder.

Echavez told Manila Bulletin that thousands of persons with bleeding disorders lack of access to treatment. At least five hemophiliacs died last year either because of the unavailability of medicines or lack of knowledge of medical practitioners in handling their condition.

Echavez said four patients died in government hospitals in Manila and in Davao, while one hemophiliac patient from Bohol died while on the way to Cebu to seek treatment.