The authorities are finding ways to address the severe shortage
of medication needed by hemophiliacs across the country, an
official said on Wednesday.
There is currently an insufficient supply of blood plasma from
which the medication, clotting factor VIII, is made, Yan Jiangying
of the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) said.
Official figures show that nationwide supplies of plasma fell by
50 percent last year.
Hemophilia is an affliction in which the ability of the blood to
clot is severely reduced, causing severe bleeding from even the
slightest injury.
Chu Yuguang, a hemophiliac from Beijing and director of the
Hemophilia Home of China, a volunteer civil society with more than
3,000 members, said: "The current supplies are enough to help just
5 percent of the country's 100,000 hemophiliacs."
Yan said: "Realizing the severe situation, we have taken a slew
of countermeasures."
These include policies and other forms of support to help
manufacturers use plasma more effectively, she said.
Currently, only three of China's 30 blood product manufacturers
can and are making the clotting factor VIII, Yan said.
"We have launched a trial to try and find new ways of maximizing
the yield of limited sources," Yan said.
The three firms, which are in Shanghai, Henan and Anhui, have
been told to give priority to making factor VIII.
"To ease pressure on production and help redress the shortfall,
we have worked with the Ministry of Health to provide the firms
with additional supplies of plasma," Yan said.
(China Daily December 14, 2007)