Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, released the Standard Treatment Workflow for Sickle Cell Disease on the occasion of World Thalassemia Day, on 8th May. This has been developed by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). 

The Union Minister further highlighted the need to take advantage of various initiatives of the Union Government for treatment of diseases like sickle cell anaemia such as the e-Raktkosh portal for blood transfusion requirements and the network of over 1.5 lakh Health and Wellness Centres for treatment and diagnostic care.

She also launched the third phase of Thalassemia Bal Sewa Yojana (TBSY) of the Health Ministry which is being supported by Coal India Limited (CIL) as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative to commemorate World Thalassemia Day, on 8th May. She also launched the Thalassemia Bal Sewa Yojana Portal.  

The third phase of the Thalassemia Bal Sewa Yojana will continue to provide financial assistance for a package cost of 10 lakhs per Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (HSCT), directly transferred from CIL to the institutions performing HSCT. The programme will benefit underprivileged thalassemia patients and those with aplastic anemia, which is an irreversible condition that can be life-threatening without treatment. The programme has empaneled 10 reputed hospitals across India, including AIIMS, New Delhi; CMC Vellore; Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, Mumbai; MCGM Hospital, Mumbai; PGIMER, Chandigarh; Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute, New Delhi; SGPGI, Lucknow; Narayana Hrudayalaya, Bangalore; CMC, Ludhiana and Tata Medical Centre, Kolkata among others.