A four-day training on treatment of Haemophilia was held for 15 nurses at Baylor College in Maseru from Monday to Thursday (25 – 28/03/2019) this week.
According to the Principal Medical Officer in the Ministry of Health, Sejojo Phaaroe the nurses learnt how to deal with patients suffering from Haemophilia- a hereditary disease which causes a patient to bleed internally and externally through organs such as nose, eyes, joints and fingers. They are expected to further train other nurses in health facilities around the country.
He also stated that Haemophilia affected one person out of 1000 in the world while Lesotho has had 23 cases of the illness. He said not many people knew about the disease and some have died because of lack of knowledge on how to treat it. He therefore reiterated the significance of people knowing symptoms of the disease which include swelling of the joints, excessive bleeding when a person has cuts, nose bleeding without a known cause and blood in urine, adding that the illness is caused by lack of a clotting system in the body.
He pointed out that the nurses were trained on how to take care of the patients and be able to advise them on taking their medication, depending on the severity of the disease, adding that some people suffer mildly, others moderately while others suffer severely therefore it is important to know the right dosage to take.
Phaaroe also stated that the training was going to be extended to pharmacists, dentists and other health workers so that they could be able to administer treatment accordingly. “A person can be in danger of contracting other diseases if they have bled too much. When the person is given blood it could happen that the blood might have been contaminated and cause more health problems to someone suffering from haemophilia after accidents. People who are suffering from this disease are therefore advised not to drink alcohol as it causes too much bleeding,” he advised.
The training was conducted by experts from South African Haemophilia Foundation under the support of the World Federation of Haemophilia.
