'Targeted' screenings of ST, SC members for sickle cell anaemia need to be stopped: Dr Abhay Bang

Nagpur: Noted social activist Dr Abhay Bang on Wednesday wrote a letter to President Droupadi Murmu, urging that "targeted screening" of members belonging to the Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Scheduled Castes (SC) communities for sickle cell anaemia need to be stopped as they "stigmatise" them.

President Murmu is on a visit to Gadchiroli on Wednesday. She attended the 10th convocation of the Gondwana University in Gadchiroli.

In view of her visit, Dr Bang, who is recipient of Padma Shri and Maharashtra Bhushan awards, wrote the letter to highlight the healthcare issues faced by tribals in the state.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission from Madhya Pradesh on July 1. The mission, which aims to address the pressing health challenges posed by sickle cell disease, particularly among the tribal population, was announced in the Union Budget 2023.

In his letter to president Murmu, Dr Bang also sought implementation of the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act and the Forest Rights Act.

"Tribal people have often expressed their anguish by way of violence, such as the Naxalite movement in Gadchiroli or the current violence in Manipur. The PESA Act and the Forest Rights Act have been very potent and effective solutions to tribal unrest," he said.

Gadchiroli has led the country in the implementation of these two. Will the president ensure that these two solutions are effectively implemented nationally, Dr Bang asked in the letter.

"The Expert Committee on Tribal Health, constituted by the Government of India, and chaired by me, concluded in the first ever national report on tribal health that the tribal people have the worst health status but they receive the worst healthcare in India," he said.

A roadmap for the future, recommending a Tribal Health Mission and annual allocation of nearly Rs 30,000 crore have been recommended. Five years of inaction have passed. Tribal people continue to suffer the highest rates of malaria, malnutrition and child mortality. Will the honourable president play her role to protect the tribal lives, he asked.

Dr Bang raised the issue of targeted screening of members of ST and SC communities for the sickle cell anaemia.

"The Union government and the state governments are conducting population screening in nearly 200 districts for a genetic disease called sickle cell anaemia. This gene is found among 10 to 20 per cent of the tribal and Dalit population. Those found to have a single gene (the trait) are given the sickle cards, with instructions not to marry with a sickle partner," he said.

Moreover, those who have sickle gene inherited from both parents – (about one per cent probability), and severe symptoms certainly need and deserve special attention at the health centres. But population screening is a futile exercise because those detected to have sickle traits usually hide that 'defect' in the marriage market, defeating the original purpose.

Dr Bang said that it stigmatizes the STs and SCs in India to be genetically inferior as evidenced by the nature's stamp of sickle. In reality, sickle originated as a nature's boon to the original people to protect them from malaria.

A natural gift is turned by this programme into a 'curse', befalling certain castes – thus turning the already existing social discrimination into an excuse for genetically 'proven' racial discrimination, he said.

"Will the honourable president stop this targeted population screening that has disastrous potential consequences to the tribal people and the Dalits in India?" he asked.