Why Do Experts Advise Premarital Thalassemia Tests?

News Desk

Hyderabad: The medical practitioners urged the government to make a thalassemia test mandatory for a couple before solemnising marriage.

They were speaking at a seminar organised by Pakistan Baitul Mal and Liaquat University Hospital (LUH) on Saturday.

The experts further asked that the thalassemia test reports be mentioned in the marriage registration certificate.

“If we want to stop thalassemia, the couples tying the marital knot should undergo thalassemia tests before their marriages, and reports of the tests should be mentioned in ‘Nikkah Namah’,” Additional Medical Superintendent (AMS) Dr Muneer Ahmed Shaikh stated.

According to him, even if such couples went ahead with their marriage plans, the treatment of the unborn child could be started during pregnancy.

Over 1,600 children affected by thalassemia are registered in the LUH’s concerned ward, Dr Muneer said, adding that the hospital is providing free medical treatment, medicines and blood to those children in addition to food.

AMS Dr Muhammad Ali said seminars and awareness campaigns should be organised across the province to spread awareness among the masses.

The speakers also emphasised the need to take care of the poor and orphan children, saying that it is the responsibility of the government and society to make provisions for their well-being and education.

According to the research conducted in 2022, there are more than 10 million carriers ofβ-thalassemia (β-thal)in Pakistan, where the prevalence of the trait is between 5.0 and 7.0 percent. Each year, about 5000 children are diagnosed as carriers of β-thal major (β-TM) in the country.

Blood transfusions continue to be the cornerstone of management because there are no standard management protocols. The majority of the population is from lower socioeconomic groups and because family sizes are large, they cannot afford to pay for their thalassaemic child’s treatment.

There is currently not a single national thalassemia prevention programme available in Pakistan to combat this illness. Premarital screening legislation has been enacted in Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan; however, implementation is still a problem at the provincial level despite some of these measures. Additional input from APP