… as the family pleads with Government and well-wishers to help them seek medical care
By Bennie Mundando
THREE people of the same family in Sijuwa area of Sinazongwe District in Southern Province have called on Government and the general public to come to their aid and facilitate for the treatment for three of its members who were born with hemophilia and have failed to find treatment so far.
Hemophilia is usually an inherited bleeding disorder in which the blood does not clot properly. This can lead to spontaneous bleeding as well as bleeding following injuries or surgery.
The trio are 34 year-old Evans Muntanga, 16 year-old Franco Mweela, and 19 year-old Brian Muleya and among them, Franco is said to be suffering the most.
Family representative, Abigail Mujuta, told The Scoop that the trio were leading life-threatening lives adding that despite them having an interest in education, they could not go to school because they had always been sick.
Ms. Mujuta said the family’s economic situation compounded the problem as they could not get quality medical care from the village where they stay as it could not afford to move them to better health facilities which were capable of treating the ailment.
She said having three people in the family suffering with hemophilia was not easy and that the family was now looking to well-wishers, including Government, as a last resort after trying all they could within their limited resources to find cure for them.
“I am asking you to help me take this message to the Ministry of Health on the issue of drugs and management for such patients. They are people who have lived their whole lives in pain which may lead to permanent damage in some parts of their bodies. I have no doubt that if Government or the Ministry of Health come to know about their predicament, they can still be helped,” Ms. Mujuta said.
She said the little resources the family could afford were mainly spent on buying the trio pain killers to suppress the pain and that this too was not sustainable hence the family’s plea for a possible permanent solution.
“The family is financially unstable. The little money they find is mostly kept to buy pain killers as they expect them to be ill any time. They can’t walk long distances and so, they could not go to school because schools are very far away from home. They get this attack at any time. Their predicament comes with traumatic scenes.
“If they have an injury or a cut on the skin, they bleed helplessly even on a small bruise. They tend to have permanent clots of blood in the joints of the limbs which causes numbness of the tendons and lead to disability. The parents can be reached on 0978-574050 for those who would like to help,” she said.
