Ranchi became the first district in Jharkhand to get the latest thalassemia pumps and medicines at a day-care integrated centre for thalassemia, sickle cell anaemia and haemophilia at the Sadar hospital after Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) funded Rs 16 lakh to set up a Thalassemia Wellness Centre.

The Wishing Factory, an NGO set-up by 24-year-old youth Partth Thakur from Mumbai, who is a patient of thalassemia, is executing the project on behalf of IRCTC.

State health secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni, IRCTC deputy general manager Tarum Kumar and Partth Thakur inaugurated the advanced centre with the pump library.

“This is the third centre funded by IRCTC in the country after Pune and Jaipur. This will come as a great help for thalassemia patients. These pumps, also called iron chelation pumps, are used to maintain iron level and remove additional iron from the body in a way increasing their life span. I have asked Sadar hospital to submit a requisition of medicines and equipment to IRCTC for the future. The state government would also launch a special drive across Jharkhand to identify patients of thalassemia and sickle cell so that they can be given proper treatment,” said Kulkarni.

Deputy general manager of IRCTC informed that besides eight pumps, 4,000 vile of Desferal, 200 leucocyte filters and 2,000 butterfly needles have been provided.

“We will sustain the centre for at least one year and during this period we will provide financial support to the centre. This is the third centre IRCTC has funded and we are going to open some more in other states,” said Tarum.

Sabana, who had come to the day-care centre for the treatment of her 11-year-old child Irfan Ansari who is suffering from thalassemia, said: “My younger son Jisan died last year because of thalassemia. My husband works at a bicycle shop and we can’t afford the cost of the treatment. Somebody told me that my son can get good treatment here,” she said.