The World Thalassemia Day was celebrated at the Thal Day Care at Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health on 8th May 2012. A drawing competition was organised for the children at the Day Care Centre followed by a function which was presided over by the Dr Shivananda, the Director of IGICH. There was a round of educational talks which was followed bylunch for the patients and the staff working for thalassemia at the hospital. The day concluded with the cutting of a cake.
While on one side we were celebrating the thalassemia day to ensure that the spirit of the children is kept high and more people get to know about the disorder, the challenge taken up by the team of doctors and volunteers running the Day Care is to celebrate the occasion by completing the mandatory annual tests for all children. Most of the children coming to the centre are from the poor section of society and the parents are unable to bear the expense of these tests. Then Director of IGICH was kind enough to wave off the charges for several investigations which are available in-house at IGICH. For the remaining tests, Sankalp is partnering with external organisations which are willing to do the tests at subsidized rates. We plan to make the World Thalassemia Day, the marker of quality treatment for every single child suffering from thalassemia year after year.