Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences professor Dr Salma Shaikh called for thalassaemia tests for women who are in their third month of pregnancy.
“There is a 25 per cent chance of hereditary thalassaemia in the child if both parents are carriers,” she explained. Shaikh said that with the spotlight on diseases, such as hepatitis, there is a general tendency in the country to ignore the dangers of thalassaemia - an inherited and potentially fatal blood disorder. “There has been little effort to educate people on the dangers of thalassaemia,” she lamented.
An estimated 6,000 children are born in the country with thalassaemia and they run a much higher risk of contacting infectious diseases as they require regular blood transfusions, the professor added.
While a cure is possible in a few cases through bone marrow transplant, the treatment is expensive and hence cannot be afforded by everyone. “Thalassaemia tests should be available to the general public at subsidised rates in government hospitals,” Shaikh suggested.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 4th, 2014.
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