PESHAWAR: The Thalassaemia Federation of Pakistan has expressed concern about the growing incidence of the inherited blood disorder in the country and asked the government to establish a ward in every district hospital to handle such cases under the supervision of specialist doctors.

“We must ensure safe blood transfusion and iron chelation therapy besides increasing the people’s awareness of causative agents of thalassaemia,” TFP secretary general Dr Yasmin Raashid told the two-day 11th conference at the Khyber Medical College on Saturday.

Dr Yasmin said the prevalence of the disease in Balochistan was eight per cent, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata 5.5 per cent, Punjab five per cent and Sindh one per cent.

She said prevention was the best care against thalassaemia as the treatment of the disease cost Rs25,000 every month, which was not affordable for most patients.

Experts demand special wards in all district hospitals to handle cases of blood disorder

“There are 60,000 thalassaemia patients in the country. The only cure is bone marrow transplant, which costs from Rs2 million to Rs4 million. We should focus on prevention, including awareness, target screening, prenatal diagnosis and termination of affected pregnancies,” she said.

TFP president Moeenuddin Haider said the organisation established in 2004 was striving to implement the prevention strategy with the help of 44 NGOs to help thalassaemics become a valued and productive part of society.

“The TFP is carrying research in the field of thalassaemia and has introduced uniform treatment protocol for which a handbook has been developed,” he said.

Mr Haider called for the promotion of voluntary blood donation to ensure provision of safe blood to thalassaemia patients.

“We request the KP government to start programme for the prevention and treatment of thalassaemia to put brakes on the growing blood-borne disease,” he said.

Health minister Shahram Tarakai, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said a programme covering HIV, hepatitis and thalassaemia had been launched in the province at the cost of Rs500 million to provide patients with free treatment and related facilities.

“We are spending funds on human beings instead of roads as the people’s lives are important for us,” he said.

The minister highlighted free cancer and diabetes treatment and health reforms saying they will lead to improvement of the province’s health indicators.

Coordinator of Punjab thalassaemia prevention programme Dr Yasmeen Ehsan called for thalassaemia prevention, management and treatment with the informed consent of parents.

“The most common factor for the growing thalassaemia incidence is genetic disorders. This disease brings a lot of problems for parents and children,” she said.

The expert said the carrier rate of beta thalassaemia in Pakistan was 5.4 per cent as around 6,000 children were born with the disorder every year.

She said prevention helped reduce infant mortality rate under one year in undiagnosed population.

“To reduce the ordeals of parents who lose their children due to thalassaemia, we need better awareness, extended family screening, prenatal diagnosis, genetic counseling, pre-marital and general population screening to effectively address this problem,” she said.

TFP vice president Sarfraz Jaffery, KMC principal Ijaz Hassan Khattak, and experts Dr. Saqib Hussain Ansari, Dr. Shabnam Bashir and Mian Mohammad Atiq also spoke on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2016