Kathmandu, August 26

Blood sample collection of the people from Tharu community of Bardiya district for sickle cell anaemia test has been affected due to lack of proper laboratory and required human resources.

With the delay in sample collection Nepal Health Research Council, which is conducting a research on sickle cell anaemia among the people of Tharu community of Bardiya, is likely to miss the deadline to submit report on the disease. Senior research officer of Nepal Health Research Council Meghnath Dhimal said research on ‘Population-based Screening of Sickle Cell Disorder in Tharu Community of Bardiya’ started last year with the aim of completing the research within two years.

“We are facing resource constraints — low capacity of laboratory and shortage of human resources. We have been testing blood samples at Bir Hospital as only few government hospitals have genomic lab,” said Dhimal. NHRC has collected 10,670 blood samples so far. Shristi Priyadarshinee, research officer at NHRC, said cross sectional research had been conducted based on population census of 2011. “Because of rainy season, people got busy in their fields, which caused delay in blood sample collection. Before rainy season, we were able to collect 140 blood samples per day, while we were able to collect only 70 samples a day during monsoon,” Dhimal said. Blood samples should be sent for complete blood count test to determine the value of red blood cells within four hours.

“We have only one laboratory for CBC test in Bardiya. The blood samples are then airlifted to Bir hospital for HPCT (High Performance Chromatography test),” she informed,