LUDHIANA, Oct 23 — To create awareness against thalassaemia, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has planned a new project in community control of thalassaemia in the Christian Medical College and Hospital. The project was inaugurated by Dr Silas J. Charles, Director, CMC.
The project had also been started in Assam, Maharashtra, Gujarat, West Bengal, Haryana and Karnataka.
It has been estimated that the of country's one billion population with a birth rate of 33.8 per thousand, there would be about 25 million of carriers of these disorders and about 10,000 to I5,000 affected children would be born every year. In Punjab there was no study on the carrier rate among adult population. However, several children were suspected to be untraced victims.
Head of the Department of Pathology in the CMC Sheela Das said that children suffering from thalassaemia required regular blood transfusion from the age of six months to make up for the deficiency of the blood. They also require iron chelation therapy. The cost of the treatment was approximately Rs one lakh per year per child, explained Dr Das, stressing the need for early detection of carrier and prevention through genetic counselling of disease. Bone marrow transplantation was the only cure, available which costs between Rs four to seven lakh.
CMC will contribute major share in the project. D. Silas Charles, Director, CMC, clarified, "All diagnostics tests related to thalassaemia will be free as the cost is borne by the ICMR whereas in routine course such tests even exceed Rs 2000,." he added.
