Sickle Cell Disease is a disease that impacts tribal sections of societies significantly. The government is committed to eliminate the disease before India celebrates it’s Amrit Kaal in 2047.” This was stated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi as he launched the National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission (NSCEM) in Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh today. Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Shri Mangubhai C. Patel, Governor of Madhya Pradesh, Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar, Union Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare, Prof. SP Singh Baghel, Union Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare, Shri Faggan Singh Kulaste, Union Minister of State for Rural Development and Steel, Smt Renuka Singh Saruta, Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs, and Shri Bishweswar Tudu, Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs, were also present at the event.
Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister said that today marked a landmark in Shahdol, as with the initiative of NSCEM, and the distribution of Ayushman Bharat cards, the country comes closer to prioritizing the health of tribal communities. The Prime Minister said that he had been working with tribal communities since before he became the Chief Minister of Gujarat, and understands the debilitating impact the disease has on the human body.
The Prime Minister stressed the need for everyone to contribute to eliminate the disease, whether it is the government, the health worker, or the citizens themselves, He further said, “The National Sickle Cell Anemia Elimination Mission takes a comprehensive approach towards combating sickle cell disease as the impact of a disease is not felt by the patient alone, but by the whole family. NSCEM combines both screening and awareness strategies to ensure early detection and treatment while promoting education about the disease as people may not be aware that they suffer from this diseases, and may unintentionally transfer it to the next generation, hence the role of screening becomes even more important in this regard.”
The Prime Minister highlighted the efforts taken by the government to reduce the impact of diseases in the country, whether it was bringing down numbers of Kalaazar from 11,000 in 2013, to under 1000 today, or bringing down malaria cases from 10 lakh in 2013 to under 2 lakh today. Similarly, leprosy cases have come down from 1.25 lakh to 70-75 thousand. In this he also highlighted how his government is determined to eliminate the spread of tuberculosis by 2025. He further said, “These are not just numbers, when the impact of illnesses reduce, the pain, struggle, fear, and death that people otherwise face is also reduced.”