Response to rumour: Thalassemia patients to be screened

LAHORE: No evidence has been found to corroborate a report of some children suffering from thalassemia contracting AIDs through blood transfusion, Health Services Director General Dr Zahid Pervez said on Thursday. The provincial government announced that it would screen all registered thalassemia patients in the city. A team of four doctors led by Prof Dr Mehfoozur Rehman visited Thalassemia Centre in Ganga Ram Hospital and the Directorate of Blood Transfusions on Thursday. They checked records of all patients. The doctors will visit Fatimid and Sundas Foundations on Friday. He said blood was screened prior to transfusion. “Doctors have not found any evidence to support the claim made by a media outlet.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2014.