The state health department is planning to start thalassemia screening for pregnant women, who will have to undergo high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) at district hospitals across Maharashtra. Officials said there are 11,000 thalassemia patients in the state.
Objective of Thalassemia Screening: Early Diagnosis and Treatment
The department is also planning to conduct screening for children and newborns, who account for approximately 25% cases in the state. The main objective to start thalassemia screening is early diagnosis and treatment.
Thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder transmitted from both parents to children, resulting in reduced haemoglobin, due to which the body’s red blood cells, which carry oxygen to all the cells of the body, are not able to function properly. This leads to anaemia, which makes the patient feel tired or short of breath. Severe anaemia can damage the organs of the body. Additionally, repeated blood transfusions lead to iron overload that can cause organ damage if not managed adequately.
Need for More Awareness and Testing
A senior health official said a child suffering from thalassemia needs transfusion every 20 days, further impacting their mental health. “Though tests are done at private hospitals, many pregnant women do not get tested for thalassemia at the civic and state-run hospitals. We have therefore taken the initiative to start screening pregnant women at the doorstep and everyone will be undergoing HPCL examination at the respective district hospital,” he said.
India has the largest number of children with thalassemia major in the world at 1-1.5 lakh, and about 10,000-15,000 such children are born every year in India.
Dr Mamta Mangalani, Director, Thalassemia Treatment Centre, said, “If one of the two genes in parents is defective and both the defective genes are passed on to the baby, then the baby is born with thalassemia. But if both the mother and the father are not aware of thalassemia before the baby is born, a blood test is done on the foetus.”
