Sickle Cell Killer

Manama

Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) deprived a family of its third member this week, when 37-year-old Ruqayya Marhoon was found dead at her apartment in Ma’ameer on Wednesday.

The mother of three is the third person in her family to succumb to the disease, after it snatched away her sister Fatima last March and her brother Hassan in June 2013.

In a statement issued by Bahrain Society for SCD Patients Care, the husband of the deceased said that Ruqayya was already dead when discovered by her three children.

“She was not feeling well the night before. She had suffered a SCD seizure,” said the distressed husband. 

“I took her to the nearby Isa Town Health Centre, after reaching home from my late-night shift. She was given the medications, but she refused to remain there... she was concerned about the kids and her duties at home.” 

“I was woken up the next day by the children, who found her lying down motionless in the bed,” said the husband.

The statement quoted the husband stating, “Ruqayya suffered a lot from the deteriorated health care services allocated for SCD patients in Bahrain.” The husband also complained about not receiving the owed allowance for SCD patients from Social Development Ministry.

Ruqayya was the 22nd Bahraini to die due to SCD this year.