The country’s first thalassemia mobile van has been inaugurated.
While addressing the ceremony held in Karachi, Federal Minister for Health Mustafa Kamal said that the growing trend of thalassemia in Pakistan is alarming, and that thalassemia patients are emerging due to the negligence of the government and the nation.
He said that only the boy’s test should be made mandatory before marriage. When two carriers marry, a child with thalassemia major is born. Everyone knows this, but no one gets tested.
Mustafa Kamal said that he learned a few days ago that there is a separate institution for organ transplantation, and that bone marrow has also been included in it. He said that the treatment for thalassemia is blood transfusion and bone marrow transplant, and that out of 50,000 people, only one may be a bone marrow match.
He also said that the requirement for prior permission before bone marrow transplantation has been removed, and that efforts are being made to make thalassemia testing mandatory before marriage.
Speaking about polio, the Federal Minister said that in Pakistan, police have to accompany polio vaccination teams and other initiatives, as vaccines are labeled as agents of Jews and foreign conspiracies. He said that today, only the parents are responsible for children suffering from thalassemia.
