HAEMOGLOBIN ESTIMATION – A WAY TO AVOID WRONG PRACTICE
When the haemoglobin estimation of a patient is low it is said that the patient has anaemia (lack of blood).
Anaemia is very prevalent in our society. Majority of people when tested are found to be anaemic (have less than 10g% or 70% haemoglobin estimation). The incidence of anaemia is worse among those who are sick as many of them do not have appetite for food and so are unable to take enough proteins, vegetables, vitamins and minerals
which are raw materials for the formation of Heamoglobin. Heamoglobin carries oxygen from the lungs to the various organs and tissues of the body. Heamoglobin is present in red blood cells found in the blood stream. Oxygen is needed by the cells of the body to release energy trapped in the food we eat. Energy is required for the metabolic processes of the body. That is why people who are anaemic complain of tiredness and difficulty in breathing. They also complain of lack of appetite which worsens the anaemia as they are unable to eat food that can give them blood. They look pale and can have swollen leys and face.
When people who are anaemic are given drugs to treat some other ailments like malaria or typhoid fever they don’t recover fast or can even get worse.
This is because energy is needed to metabolize or handle the drugs given and when such energy is in short supply on account of anaemia, the drugs given are unable to work as the body does not have the capacity to handle the drugs. It is very important that health care providers should have the habit of checking the heamoglobin (HB) or packed cell volume (PCV) of people they are treating.
The patients that are very anaemic such as people with haemoglobin that is 6g% or (42%) or less should be given blood transfusion before treating the other problems they have. Those that reject blood on religious or personal grounds can be given erythropoietin injection to boost their haemoglobin levels. Those who are not very anaemic can be treated with haematinics (drugs that improve haemoglobin). These include:
Folic acid
Iron tablets like fersolate, ferrous gluconate etc
B. Complex tablets
Multivites
Vitamin C. This helps the patient absorb iron from the stomach and intestines. Such patients can also be encouraged to take a lot of green leavy vegetables, fruits and food high in protein like fish, meat, beans, periwinkles, crayfish, snails, oysters, etc.
Such people can also be given treatment for the illness for which they came. It is wrong practice to be giving people drugs and injections when they are anaemic without treating the anaemia first or together with the other treatments. It is difficult to know who is anaemic except haemoglobin estimation is done. The use of blotted paper where a little blood of the patient is put and checked against a chart is not a reliable way to know those who are anaemic. Collecting the patient’s blood and doing a haemoglobin estimation and/or packed cell volume (PCV) is the standard way to rule out anaemia.
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