Before the vows: Public health experts suggest thalassemia test be made compulsory

Say disease can be eliminated with pre-marriage screening

PESHAWAR: Thalassemia can be eradicated from the country in a year if the government makes the screening test compulsory for marriage.

This was said by Pakistan Institute of Public Health (PIPH) Research Wing head Dr Ehsan. Talking to the media after a meeting on Saturday, he said the government has been injecting money in the tertiary care sector but doing nothing for disease prevention.

The meeting was convened to go over preparations for a new Master’s in Public Health (MPA) programme. Ehsan said the first year of the degree will include general courses while students will specialise during the second.

Experts present at the meeting said public health education includes little practical work and focuses on theoretical studies only. They said things might have been different in the presence of a regulatory body for public health education along the lines of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) which regulates medical colleges.

At the meeting, Assistant Professor Dr Saeed Anwar said PIPH carried out a survey of 24 institutions across the country. The data will soon be published in a journal and the new MPH programme will be designed accordingly. “We have collected all the relevant material and have devised a course on findings of the survey,” Anwar told the media, adding students will now be bound to do two internships in the two-year programme.

Assistant Professor Dr Usman Raza said the findings revealed 75% of the programmes in the field do not have practical components which is a basic requirement. “Different institutions follow different course guidelines. This needs to be streamlined.” Raza said most of the courses taught at the moment are strictly focused on class-based study.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2015.