Plea to end plight of female sickle cell patients, most female SCD patients made to wait for over eight hours before seeing a doctor

The waiting hours of female Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) patients for a bed at the Kingdom’s only public hospital has alarmingly increased from a couple of hours to one week, Tribune has learnt.

Patients and activists say that the issue has remained without an efficient solution for years and has worsened in recent months. They demanded an immediate and effective solution to end female SCD patients’ plight.

According to recent statistics, the average time to begin receiving treatment by male SCD patients at Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC) is 25 minutes, while women have to wait up to eight hours to see a doctor.

In 2014 and under the patronage of the Prime Minister HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Hereditary Blood Disorder Centre was opened within SMC campus. The centre contributed to ending the suffering of thousands of SCD patients who had to previously wait for long hours before receiving treatment at the Accident and Emergency Department at SMC.

However, the centre only receives male patients, while females have no choice but to continue waiting at the Accident and Emergency Department whenever the painful seizures of the disease hit. Tribune on Monday spoke to Bahrain Society for SCD Patients Care President Zakariya Al Kadhim, who explained when and how the issue emerged.