Parimal Chandra Debnath remembers the day in December 2002 when a car hit the rickshaw carrying him home from work. The 32-year-old mathematician suffered a broken knee and complications from his severe hemophilia A threatened his future ability to walk and work.
“The WFH provided an emergency supply of factor concentrate,” says Debnath. “I could not walk. The donated factor saved my leg. The WFH also supplied emergency factor another time when I broke my shoulder in an accident.”
Debnath grew up in a remote fishing village on the Bay of Bengal and had no access to treatment products before moving to Dacca to study at university. “As a young boy, I went to hospital several times with severe bleeding.
The only available treatment was the use of ice to relieve pain. I was lucky to live in a fishing village with ice factories, as ice is not available in many other parts of the country. I also remember taking lots of painkillers.”
Debnath and his brother were born with hemophilia out of a family of four boys. Their schoolteacher father was determined that all four would complete their education, no matter what the odds. “I inherited that determination from my father,” says Debnath. “Although I often had to stay home, I still managed to finish school with good results.”
Debnath is now vice president of the Hemophilia Society of Bangladesh, an organization he helped form in 1994. “People with hemophilia in Bangladesh were suffering. We realized we had to do something.”
The high cost of treatment products makes them inaccessible to many people in Bangladesh. One infusion may cost the equivalent of a month’s salary or more. Product supply is also a problem says Debnath.
“One of our members recently injured his eye and couldn’t see. He was admitted to hospital but no factor was available. Luckily, the WFH was able to supply product within three days and now he can see again.”
What is Humanitarian Aid
Last Updated June 2005
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