The authorities are finding ways to address the severe shortage of medication needed by hemophiliacs across the country, an official said on Wednesday.

There is currently an insufficient supply of blood plasma from which the medication, clotting factor VIII, is made, Yan Jiangying of the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) said.

Official figures show that nationwide supplies of plasma fell by 50 percent last year.

Hemophilia is an affliction in which the ability of the blood to clot is severely reduced, causing severe bleeding from even the slightest injury.

Chu Yuguang, a hemophiliac from Beijing and director of the Hemophilia Home of China, a volunteer civil society with more than 3,000 members, said: "The current supplies are enough to help just 5 percent of the country's 100,000 hemophiliacs."

Yan said: "Realizing the severe situation, we have taken a slew of countermeasures."

These include policies and other forms of support to help manufacturers use plasma more effectively, she said.

Currently, only three of China's 30 blood product manufacturers can and are making the clotting factor VIII, Yan said.

"We have launched a trial to try and find new ways of maximizing the yield of limited sources," Yan said.

The three firms, which are in Shanghai, Henan and Anhui, have been told to give priority to making factor VIII.

"To ease pressure on production and help redress the shortfall, we have worked with the Ministry of Health to provide the firms with additional supplies of plasma," Yan said.

(China Daily December 14, 2007)