India spends Rs 1,000 cr on thalassemia

India spends nearly Rs 1000 crore per annum in the treatment of thalassemia patients. According to the honorary general secretary of Indian Red Cross Society (Gujarat State Branch) Dr Madhuben R Naik, there are approximately 100,000 thalassemia patients in the country. Awareness was key to preventing the disease, she said.

According to experts, the only way to prevent the occurrence of the disease is to avoid marriage between the carrier of thalassemic minor genes. If both have genes carrying thalassemic minor, then there is a greater chance of having babies with thalassemic major disease.

Therefore, the experts advised that the awareness must be created amongst the masses and they must be a compulsory testing of thalessemic test for both bride and groom before marriage, thereby avoiding the incidence of thalassemic major disease amongst the offsprings of the couples.

Thalassemia is a genetic blood disorder. In thalassemia, the genetic defect results in reduced rate of synthesis of one of the globin chains that make up heaemoglobin.

Reduced synthesis of one of the globin chains causes the formation of abnormal heaemoglobin molecules, and this in turn causes anaemia which is a characteristic of thalassemia.

There is no cure for thalassemia, and the best treatment available today consists of frequent blood transfusions (every two to three weeks) with iron chelation therapy administered by doctors.

Bone marrow transplants (hematopoietic stem cell transplantations) and cord blood transplantation with pre-operative myeloablation are potentially curative, though the latter requires further investigation.

In Gujarat, there are about 6,000 thalassemic children and in Ahmedabad alone the number of cases are about 1,000.

According to the experts, the disease has economic implication on the nation as well as psychological and social on the society. The couple having children with thalassemia face financial problems, suffers depression and even it leads to divorce.

Dr Anil Khatri, an expert on thalassemia and organising secretary of two-days regional conference on Thalassemia in Ahmedabad, believes that awareness is the need of the hour.

InCyprus, students in all the schools and university are tested for the disease, he said.

"Thalassemia and hemoglobinopathies are major health problem in the country. Hereditary disorders receive little attention and are often regarded as incurable and they are expensive to treat," adds Khatri.