Blood disorders cover a wide spectrum of illnesses ranging from the commonly encountered anemias to rarely seen conditions such as congenital coagulation disorders. Diseases affecting other systems can also affect the hematopoietic functions, making their study an integral part of the assessment of any medical diseases.

The objective of this course therefore aims at giving the students a general overview of hematopoietic functions and diseases affecting these functions. This should be achieved in the following aspects: (1) composition of blood: plasma and blood cells; physiology of blood, blood cells and clotting; (2) hematopoiesis: bone marrow structure, stem cell; (3) clinical manifestations of blood diseases; (4) investigation of diseases of blood; (5) anemias; (6) myeloproliferative disorders; (7) leukemias; (8) lymphomas and myeloma; (9) bleeding disorders; (10) venous thrombosis; (11) blood transfusion; and (12) clinical case studies.