Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao launches Project Chandana

Mysuru, NT Bureau: Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dinesh Gundu Rao on Wednesday launched 'Project Chandana', initiated by the state government for the elimination of sickle cell anaemia, which is prevalent among vulnerable tribal communities of Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Kodagu and other districts.

He spoke about the matter after launching the programme organised jointly by the District Administration, Zilla Panchayat, Department of Tribal Affairs, and Health and Family Welfare Department as part of the state-level sickle cell mission held at the Zilla Panchayat auditorium here.

He said that sickle cell disease is a genetic condition that affects haemoglobin, responsible for carrying oxygen in the body in red blood cells.

Anaemia, debilitating acute and chronic pain, infection, acute chest syndrome, stroke, and renal failure are among the problems it causes.

This hereditary disorder primarily affects Indian tribes. It has the world's second-highest prevalence, as noted by the Centre for Training, Research, and Innovation in Tribal Health (CTRITH), he said.

The state government launched a large-scale screening for vulnerable tribal communities for the detection of this disease in Mysuru division districts last year.

It has screened 55,503 such tribal people in Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Kodagu, Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, and Chikmagalur districts. A total of 2,018 vulnerable tribal community members were found to have the disease in these districts.

Among them, 86 cases were detected in Mysuru, 75 in Chamarajanagar, and 31 in Kodagu. The intention of the Chandana project is to help such patients recover from the disease, he added.

Dinesh said that the state government has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) for two years for screening, raising awareness, reducing the prevalence, and enhancing the care of patients, including meeting their transportation expenses.

'Will achieve target before 2047 deadline'

Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao also said that his government has taken up all measures for the complete eradication of the disease even before the 2047 set target by the Centre.

The state has also decided to rid Karnataka of anaemia, and launched the statewide screening of all women.

IISc develops screening instrument

Prof Sambashivamurthy said that IISc has developed an instrument to screen the disease, and generate a report within 15 minutes of conducting the blood test of the affected patient.

This equipment can be carried to houses of vulnerable tribal communities easily for screening.