By Asma’u Ahmad
The House of Representatives have called on the Federal Government to subsidise the costs of treating patients with Sickle Cell anaemia. The house also mandated its Committee on Healthcare Services to interface with relevant government agencies to engage in continuous campaigns and education of the public on the disease.
The development followed a motion by Mr. Saheed Akinade-Fijabi (APC-Oyo) under ‘Matter of Urgent National Importance’.
Moving the motion, Mr. Akinade-Fijabi said Nigeria have five million patients, explaining that Sickle Cell was a disorder of the blood caused by inherited abnormal haemoglobin.
He lamented that with the high rate of illiteracy, little was known about the disease, a situation that had led to a high rate of sickle cell patients in the country and Africa.
The lawmaker added that more still needed to be done in terms of educating and orientating the public on the need for the cost of treatment to be subsidised as some families could not afford the money.
The motion was unanimously adopted by the members, who called on the government to urgently enunciate a policy on subsidy for cost of treatment of the disease.
