A Malawian patient with sickle cell disease is battling pain due to delayed operation to be carried out on his upper hip as he has no funds for the operation.
Tamala Chibweya, 24, has been battling bone marrow pains for decades and has health complications. His last operation took place in 2005 and he has been on medication for 17 years.
He said in an interview that currently he is running out of medication to ease the pains.
Tamala received the operation treatment before and is supposed to have his spleen removed and his hips replaced. Every month he goes to hospital for blood transfusion to dilute his defective blood, a situation that costs his family millions of kwacha a year.
“My blood circulation is not normal, I am supposed to go for another operation but there are no funds. Pain killers like pethidin, morphin, tramado and dynapa cost fifty thousand Malawi kwacha every month.”
I am pleading for support to undergo another operation which has been delayed due to funds. The operation is costing three million kwacha to have my hip bone which is now dry removed and replaced. The blood circulation is not normal, blood is not flowing, it’s causing a lot of the pains and I cants sleep. My last operation at Beit Cure has so far helped but I need to go for another one immediately,” narrated Tamala to Malawi24.
Sickle cell disease causes normally round red blood cells, which carry oxygen around the body, to become shaped like a sickle.
These deformed cells lock together to block the flow of blood around the body. This causes intense pain, organ damage and can be fatal.
The disease is caused by a typo in the instructions for making the protein haemoglobin, which is densely packed into red blood cells.
“I am supposed to go for another operation of the same therapy to ease the pains in my body. I need my life back through the support I can get from individuals and the corporate world out there. The operation is very significant, essential for me to have my life back. I believe that people can help and it’s my hope to get the support I need at this time of pains,” Tamala added in an interview.
Those who want to help Tamala should call these numbers: (+265) 880 696 293 and 0888 347 859.
