LAHORE, May 8: The International Thalassaemia Day was observed on Monday with a conviction to eradicate the disease by creating awareness and ensuring thalassaemia carrier tests before entering into marriages. The disease spreads through marriages within families as the incidence of virus in families, which have thalassaemia major patients, runs at around 23 per cent. While, the thalassaemia incidence in the overall population is five to six per cent.

In order to celebrate the day with the affected children, the Thalassaemia Society of Pakistan (TSP) organised a function at Children’s Library Complex.

Speaking on the occasion, Punjab Information Technology Minister Abdul Aleem Khan announced that the government would provide jobs to the thalassaemia patients, who complete their education despite all hardships of lengthy treatment in their lives.

He said TSP should write an application to the chief minister and he would get it approved for the benefit of thalassaemia patients. Saying that thalassaemia children have a lot of courage to fight hardships in life, he said, the government would surely help them to get accommodated in public sector so that they could earn livelihood for themselves and their families.

Mr Khan said the chief minister would also be requested to establish independent thalassaemia units in each major hospital in the province. He asked patients to muster up courage and keep on working hard.

He also called upon philanthropists and NGOs to come forward and participate in activities against the deadly disease.

The IT minister announced a donation of Rs600,000 for provision of medicines to thalassaemia patients getting treatment from the TSP centre. Saying that he had increased Rs100,000 from the last year’s Rs500,000 donation, Mr Khan said he would continue to enhance the amount by Rs100,000 every year.

Earlier, TSP president Prof Joveria Mannan stressed that parents must find thalassaemia carriers in their families through simple blood tests. She said parents of thalassaemia carrier children must get the other partner tested for the virus before tying their matrimonial knot. If two thalassaemia carriers get married, they deliver children suffering from the disease, she said.

Prof Mannan said the NWFP had launched a thalassaemia prevention programme and it was a dire need that this programme should also be launched in Punjab.

She said TSP was running a thalassaemia centre at Ganga Ram Hospital’s paeds department and catering to over 1,000 patients. She said all patients were being provided medicines free of cost.

TSP secretary-general Prof Yasmin Rashid said the government had assured to launch a national programme, under which independent thalassaemia departments would be opened in all hospitals. In this connection, she said, a national workshop for thalassaemia experts would be organised next month.

Thalassaemia patients also presented skits and performance on different songs.