Although it has been around for a long time, diagnosis of haemophilia still defeats doctors at times, with the result that some die with the condition undetected. It's not without reason that the medical fraternity is now beginning to feel that more awareness needs to be created about the rare disease, which strangely affects only men, while women remain carriers.

A bleeding disorder that doesn't allow the blood to clot normally, it means trouble for haemophiliacs, who need to extremely careful if they are injured as they may bleed for a longer time than others.

They could also suffer internal bleeding especially in the knees, ankles, and elbows , which may damage the organs, tissues and become life threatening.

Blood transfusion is usually a solution, but the cost is proving a deterrent. And so now the Haemophilia Society is requesting the state government to make blood factors 8 and 9 freely available to haemophiliacs as is being being done in Tamil Nadu and Delhi.

Its general secretary, Ranjana Ramachander says transfusion of blood clod factors costs anywhere between Rs.20,000 to Rs.1 lakh a month, and as of now only BPL card-holders are given the treatment free of cost in Karnataka.

The high cost of treatment clearly adds to the stress that patients and their families undergo, which by itself is quite distressing. "Once the father of a haemophilic child carried him straight out of the hospital with all the tubes attached to his body, to bring him to us and demand that we poison him using the same tubes as he couldn't see his son suffering," recalls Ms Ramachander.

The society is also concerned about the problems with diagnosis of the disease. "We still see cases of people dying of bleeding because doctors were not able to recognise that they were haemophilic and did not give them the right kind of treatment," says Dr Cecil Ross, haematologist, St. John's Hospital, admitting that there is still low awareness about the disorder even in the medical fraternity.

The Haemophilia Society ,which currently has around 700 registered members in the city and around 2,000 in the state, feels there could be many more out there who are not using its services to receive financial assistance and psycho social counselling, so essential in dealing with the disease. It would like to reach out to such people and tell them they are not alone.