Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Aiming at the prevention of birth of children with severe haemoglobin disorders, Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College has planned to collaborate with the NGO Sankalp India Foundation (SIF) to set up a programme for screening all expectant mothers in the first trimester of pregnancy.
One of the prominent NGOs working for the prevention, management and cure of children suffering from thalassaemia and related haemoglobin disorders in the country, Sankalp, has expressed interest in setting up a programme at MTH Hospital to screen the expectant mother, and also the father if the mother is found positive for thalassaemia and sickle cell anaemia trait.
Dean of MGM Medical College Dr Sanjay Dixit said that they received a proposal from Sankalp Foundation in this regard.
“The programme will help diagnose the mother, father, and the foetus so that the birth of children with such disorders can be prevented. It would be a good step to prevent the disease. However, we are sending the proposal to the Ethics Committee of the college and a final decision would be taken by the committee,” Dr Dixit said.
Informing about the proposed programme, HoD of paediatrics Dr Preeti Malpani said that Sankalp Foundation has proposed to set up the programme in which they will provide free of cost screening of all antenatal screening to all pregnant women in their first trimester.
“The foundation will conduct screening of pregnant mothers in their first trimester of pregnancy for a haemoglobin disorder trait. If we find such a trait, we screen the husband and subsequently the foetus. If the husband, as well as the foetus, is affected, the couple will be counselled on the risks and encouraged to terminate the pregnancy,” Dr Malpani said.
She added that early diagnoses will help in the birth of children with thalassaemia and prevent the baby as well as the parents to bear the pain of the disease.
Sankalp Foundation has helped the medical college to develop and establish the bone marrow transplant unit and also trained the staff along with providing technical support in organising HLA matching camps.
Sankalp to carry out screeting MGM to provide space
SIF will provide the technology platform i.e. an online application -Stopthal - which will help to monitor the result of the screening and track the progress. It will also bear the cost of HPLC tests and antenatal and screening tests. SIF will also train the staff and provide support in screening.
Meanwhile, MGM Medical College is expected to provide space for the daycare coordinator, ensure the availability of nursing/technicians for drawing, labelling, and packaging of the sample and medical officers to conduct medical counselling.
Findings of programme runs by SIF in other states
As part of the programme, so far 9,937 families have been screened. Among these, 450 (~4.53%) women were found to be carriers of haemoglobinopathies. Husbands were successfully screened for 410 of 450 women (91%). Of the 410 men evaluated, 50 were found to be carriers of haemoglobinopathies as well. Among the 39 families needing foetal screening, 11 families did not consent to screening the foetus, 23 foetuses were determined to be normal, 5 were affected and 4 pregnancies were terminated while 9 foetuses are yet to be screened.
