ThalMeet 2018, the meeting of thalassemia centre who aim at harmonising Thalassemia Care and strengthen last mile delivery was organised on 21 and 22 May 2018 in Bangalore. Eight centers including Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health - Bangalore, Project Samraksha - Bangalore, Wenlock Hospital - Mangalore, Jai Shivshakti Centre for Thalassemia Management KLE Hospitals - Belagavi, Rural Development Trust - Ananthpur, Thalassemia Sickle Cell Society - Hyderabad, Gujarat Adani Institute of Medical Science - Bhuj and Indian Red Cross Society - Rajkot participated in the event.
In-spite of the fact that these centers are connected electronically and meet frequently online to discuss patient specific matters and learn from each other, ThalMeet is an event which helps brainstorm idea, gain clarity, receive training on newer technologies and not to forget - to meet each other and develop connections which go a long way in building a strong network.
The event also introduced the teams to Dr Neema Bhat, Paediatric Hematologist Oncologist who recently joined our team with the specific intention of strengthening care and management of thalassemia across the centers where Sankalp is involved. With ThalCare and BMTPlus, we have the technology to ensure that the complete set of medical records of the patients are available for the consultants. Dr Neema is working to strengthen care and management at a grassroot level, provide patient specific advice to the local doctors, nurses and coordinators and oversee the progress of all the kids across the centres.
Working together with Mr Santhosh Hegde, the Project Manager of Sankalp Program for Thalassemia Management, the two of them are providing the much needed support to the teams to take care for thalassemia at a whole new level.
The main focus of this meeting was to build the capacity of our teams. There was a whole day dedicated for the training of nurses and coordinators while the second day was spent harmonising the medical management across the centers. This specific