HEALTH

WFH sweats blood to help patients of haemophilia 
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 16
April 17 is celebrated as the World Haemophilia Day. The day being the birthday of Frank Schnabel who formed the World Federation of Haemophilia (WFH) in 1963 and was its first president and chief executive officer. Himself suffering from haemophilia, Schnabel carried on a lifelong struggle to make a better life for people suffering from haemophilia.

WFH has grown from 6 to 106 National Member Organisations. From Canada to Albania to India, the WFH and its members like Haemophilia Federation (India) are doing their best to improve the quality of life of people suffering from haemophilia.

Haemophilia is a bleeding disorder in which a person bleeds excessively. It is incurable and lifelong. Frequent bleeds inside the joints and muscles eventually result in deformities in the joints. By the time a person with haemophilia (PWH) steps into his teens, he is disabled if not treated properly. There are an estimated 60,000 pwhs in India. Of the 9000 identified by HFI, 39 per cent are below the age of twenty. Haemophilia is treated with blood or a blood product.

Hence pwhs are at a great risk of contracting viral diseases like HIV, hepatitis A, B and C etc. The ideal treatment is using Anti-Haemophilic Factor (AHF) injections whenever a bleed occurs. AHF is extracted from human blood. It is not manufactured in India and is very expensive.

Haemophilia affects only the males, while the females act as carriers. If the family has even one boy with haemophilia, the whole family is financially wrecked and the pwh feels that he is a burden on the family and society. It is excruciatingly painful and crippling in more than just the physical sense.

Haemophilia Federation (India) was established in 1983 by a small group of persons with haemophilia, their friends and a few doctors. It is a registered non-profit organisation with four regional offices and networks vide 61 Chapters all over the country. It represents India as a National Member of Organisation in the World Federation of Haemophilia which has its office at Montreal in Canada.

HFI’s aims are to identify and diagnose persons with haemophilia in India to educate and provide information about proper haemophilia care to the medical community, pwhs and their families and to make haemophilia treatment available at an affordable cost.

SPORTS

Akash Malhotra guides FCI to victory
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, April 16
An excellent all-round performance by Akash Malhotra, who, in a devastating bowling spell, claimed five wickets for 23 runs off just seven overs and then struck an unbeaten 52 off 82 balls with two fours guided Food Corporation of India (FCI) to a five-wicket victory against Rohtak Road Gymkhana in the 13th Om Nath Sood Memorial Cricket Tournament at the Khalsa College ground on Wednesday.

Akash Malhotra was presented the Pepsi man of the match award by chief guest Darshan Khurana.

The FCI won the toss and gave the first use of the wicket to R R Gymkhana. Despite a brave 52 by Chetan Sharma and a defiant 27 by Abhinav Bali, Rohtak Road Gymkhana could not hold out for long in the face of sustained hostile bowling by Akash Malhotra, and they were eventually shot out for 171 in 37 overs.

The FCI, powered by the unbeaten half century knock of Akash Malhotra, then raced to victory in 38 overs, with five wickets to spare.

Scores: Rohtak Road Gymkhana: 171 in 37 overs (Chetan Sharma 52, Abhinav Bali 27, Akash Malhotra 5 for 23, Puru Singh 2 for 41). FCI: 175 for 5 in 38 overs (Akash Malhotra 52 n o, Navin Negi 41, Pankaj Thakur 30 n o).

Lal Bahadur Shastri Club post big victory

New Delhi, April 16
Lal Bahadur Shastri Club trounced Delhi Blues by 81 runs in a Super A Division match of the DDCA League at the Bharat Nagar ground.

Young Cricketers: 159 for 4 in 35 overs (Vartik Tihara 54 n o, Vineet Sharma 25 n o).

Gyan Bharti Academy win

An unbeaten 96 by Shivam Gupta and a deadly spell of 3 for 34 by Arjun Juneja helped Gyan Bharti South Delhi Cricket Academy beat National High School by two wickets during the team’s tour of Kolkata.

Scores: National School: 201 all out in 29.2 overs (Manik Mukherjee 45, Nilesh Mukherjee 25, Arjun Juneja 3 for 34, Deepak Aggarwal 2 for 24, Manav Sharma 2 for 29).

Gyan Bharti Academy: 204 for 8 in 27.3 overs (Shivam Gupta 96 n o, Kushal Sthapak 28, Abhishek Mukherjee 2 for 31).

National Roller Skating

The National Roller Skating Championship will be held in Kolkata from May 4 to 9. A camp will be held at the Talkatora Stadium skating ring on April 22 from 9 am to 5 pm to select the Delhi team. Desired players can contact co-ordinator Naresh Sharma on phone at 23643052 for detailed information. OSR

ADMINISTRATION

Licences of 3 arhtias to be cancelled 
Our Correspondent

Sonepat, April 16
The District Food and Supplies Controller (DFSC), Mr P.K. Sharma is reported to have recommended the cancellation of the licences of three arhtias of Biswan Meel purchasing centre in this district, following the detection of irregularities and malpractices in the packing of gunny bags with the procured wheat.

According to a report, this action followed reports received by him and the officials of the Sonepat market committee that some arhtias were filling the procured wheat in the gunny bags without clearing it.

The DFSC along with the officials of the market committee conducted the surprise raid at the purchasing centre last night and found three arhtias engaged in filling the procured wheat in the gunny bags without clearing it.

Even though one of the arhtias is associated with a legislator of the ruling party, he has declined to help him and warned the arhtias that the state government would deal sternly with them if they commit any irregularity and harass the farmers.

Meanwhile, the official agencies have been facing an acute shortage of gunny bags, which has hampered the procurement of wheat from the farmers.

Many farmers alleged that they have to stay in the markets ‘for days together’ for selling the produce to the procurement agencies, whose officials are creating ‘all kinds of obstacles on some pretext or the other’.

They alleged that almost all the markets and the purchasing centres are overcrowded with wheat stock due to the delay in lifting the procured wheat by the agencies in this district. Representatives of various farmers organisations have urged the state government to take a serious note of the problems faced by them and take action against those responsible for it.