PESHAWAR, April 22: Pakistan has an estimated 250,000 thalasaemia major patients but the disease could be controlled through pre-marriage tests, doctors say.

Experts at a three-day medical conference on Saturday also stressed the need for discouraging marriages between cousins coupled with mass screening for the ailment and an awareness campaign.

Dr Khalid Hasan of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences Islamabad (Pims) said that the disease was present among 0.6 per cent anaemic children in the country. Citing studies published in international journals, he said Balochistan was the worst hit with a prevalence of eight per cent, followed by the NWFP with seven per cent, Punjab 5.2 per cent and Sindh 4.3 per cent.

He said that most of the blood transfusion facilities were concentrated in the cities and were inaccessible to patients in rural areas, adding that most private blood banks did not have screening facilities, resulting in more complications.

“More than half of the country’s population is settled in rural areas, who are unaware about the disease. Screening of families with thalassaemia incidence is more important,” said Dr Suhaib Ahmad of the Pakistan Institute of Armed Forces at the third National Thalassaemia Conference at the Khyber Medical College here.

Highlighting the short life expectancy period of thalassaemia patients, he said that they rarely lived for more than 10 years but the treatment was difficult and expensive, he said.

Citing different studies, he said that the disease had almost been eliminated in the UK, Italy, Greece, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Cyprus through awareness regarding preventive measures.

In Pakistan, 5,000 children are added to the thalassaemia club every year, he added.

He said that Islam did not prohibit terminating pregnancies before the 120th day if a woman was found to be positive for the blood disease. “About 90 per cent of the couples agree to terminate such pregnancies, while the rest were unwilling because of other reasons,” he said.

He proposed setting up mobile screening, legislation aimed at making pre-marriage tests obligatory and utilisation of resources in an organised and rational manner.

Prof Dr Abdul Hameed, head of the child health department in the Khyber Teaching Hospital, said the government has allocated Rs30 million for a three-year public awareness project on thalassaemia in the province.

“The NWFP has about 4,000 registered patients. During the past 50 year, the problem was not officially recognised. The government’s move to launch the first-ever public awareness project in the country is commendable, he said.

He said a screening centre would be established at the Pakistan Medical and Research Council at the Khyber Medical College while similar programmes would also be started at district level.