LAHORE: Intra-family marriages in which bleeding disorders are prevailing are the biggest cause of hemophilia therefore a campaign should be launched to overcome the disease.

This was the upshot of the speeches delivered at a function arranged by Sundas Foundation in collaboration with the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry in connection with International Hemophilia Day on Thursday.

Sundas Foundation chairman Monnoo Bhai, LCCI President Engineer Sohail Lashari, Sundas Foundation President Yasin Khan and Prof Dr Asad Aslam Khan were prominent among the speakers.

The LCCI president said the government should ensure that the citizens were provided with free-of-charge blood screening facility. He stressed the need for public awareness campaign to make the country free from hemophilia.

He said that today millions of children across the world were suffering from this disease, which needed immediate attention of the nations individually and collectively. He further said the LCCI would continue to extend every possible support to Sundas Foundation towards this noble cause.

He said the Western countries had controlled the disease to a large extent through innovative methodologies and the Pakistan government should also follow the same methods to overcome the challenge.

Monnoo Bhai said a lack of awareness among the masses was the main cause behind the increase in hemophilia in the country. He said the disease was a genetically-transmitted blood disorder, which had affected millions of people around the world and its further proliferation could only be slashed down by avoiding intra-family marriages.

Yasin Khan appealed to the people, non-government organisations and philanthropists to generously donate so that the deserving hemophilia patients could undergo clinical care besides having free blood transfusion services. He also called upon the media to create awareness among the masses to stop further proliferation of the blood disorder.