World Thalassaemia Day Today
3.5 lakh people affected in country
Bangladesh will observe World Thalassaemia Day today as elsewhere across the globe with the theme “Equal Chance to Life”.
Bangladesh Thalassaemia Foundation and Shandhani Sir Salimullah Medical College unit jointly organised a seminar at Birdem auditorium in the city yesterday marking the day.
Experts at the seminar said thalassaemia is a hereditary blood disorder where patients have to undergo repeated blood transfusions, as the body cannot produce enough haemoglobin.
They said an estimated 3.5 lakh people in the country are suffering from thalassaemia while seven percent of the total population are its carriers.
The foundation Secretary General Dr Mohammad Abdur Rahim said if both parents are the carriers, then one or two of their children can be affected with thalassaemia.
So thalassaemia must be tested before marriage to prevent it from spreading, said the experts.
Prime minister's Health Adviser Prof Modasser Ali said thalassaemia would get priority in the 2011-16 five-year plan of the health ministry and the government's Health Education Bureau would work to raise awareness in this regard.
Modasser launched “Guideline for Clinical Management of Thalassaemia” jointly published by Thalassemia International Federation and the foundation while Eastern Bank provided five computers to the foundation.
Prof Sharfuddin Ahmed, secretary general of Bangladesh Medical Association; Prof Iqbal Arslan, general secretary of Bangladesh Swadhinata Chikitshak Parishad; and Dr Habib e Millat, director of Bangladesh Medical Research Council; also spoke.
They were joined by Golam Sarwar Shuvo, general secretary of Sandhani Central Committee; and Dr Jamshed Haider Siddiqui, chairman of the foundation.
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