Affordable treatment, more awareness and a treatment facility, those are the main objectives of the recently established Surinamese Foundation for Hemophilia Patients (SSHP). Our country often lacks knowledge about inherited bleeding disorders. Most patients require treatment from an early age, but the treatment is often much too expensive.

Suriname has an estimated number of 50 hemophilia patients. Sometimes the patients are unaware of the disease, untill they suffer an accident. Bleedings often cannot be stopped, sometimes the patients resort to nature products or local remedies that often do not work. Severe bleedings can cause larger problems. Suriname faces a number of problems in healthcare. Keeping knowledge up-to-date can be challenging. “The doctors usually have had excellent training, but are lacking the more recent developments in for example hemophilia treatment.”,says Tjong Tjin Joe, pharmacist in the Netherlands.

‘The foundation is a tool for achieving our goals’ say initiators Lou van Beetz and John Tjong Tjin Joe, a hemophilia A patient himself.