Staff Reporter :
Family foundation organized an awareness discussion ceremony at ‘Cloud Bistro’ restaurant of the capital to observe the ‘World Thalassemia Day 2015’ on Thursday.
The honourable guests of the program were Professor Dr. Rezaul Karim Kajal, Assistant Professor, Delivery and Gynaecology Department of Bangobandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Sheikh Ruhul Amin Joy, General Secretary, Family Foundation, Dr. Saima Akhtar Chowdhury, Interventional Radiologist.
In the program, there were prominent women who had previously given birth to infants with
thalassemia and later had given birth to normal children after DNA of child was tested while in mother’s wombs. The mother spoke about the terrible fate of having children with Thalassemia in the family.
Dr. Rezaul Karim Kajal said every day the number of patients with Thalassemia are increasing in the country as people are not aware of the terrible family blood disease Thalassemia. If the parents are carrier of this disease, then children can be born with this disorder. The carriers does not have any symptoms of this disease. So, they are not aware that they are carrying this disease.
At present, about 10 pc of the population, that is, almost one and a half crore of men and women are carrying the genetic disease, Thalassemia. Every year thousands of children in our country are born with Thalassemia.
A huge amount of blood is required to keep alive children with thalassemia by blood transfusion. To meet this huge cost, the parents suffer from emotional trauma and financial crisis. Not only that, most patients with thalassemia who fall in the age group of 10 to 15 die in front of their parents.
Thalassemia is a silent killer in Bangladesh causing death of thousands of children. The parents dreams are being destroyed in this process. Prior to marriage, a medical check up should be done to ensure if the bride or groom are carriers of Thalassemia. It has become mandatory to do this type of medical check up in countries like Cyprus, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan before marriage.
Parents can take the decision if to continue with a pregnancy by doing a DNA test of the infant in mother’s womb if both parents are carriers of this genetic disease. Thalassemia cannot be prevented alone by speaking about treatment of this disease. Every one has to cautious about preventing this disease. They have to stop the birth of children with this disease by abortion if required.
Dr. Saima Akhtar Chowdhury, Interventional Radiologist, said that at present collecting DNA of infants from mother’s womb by detection of abnormality through an advanced technique of ultrasonography has become a safe medical procedure. By this technique, Thalassemia and all relevant genetic diseases can be identified. The pregnant mother does not have to travel abroad for this procedure.
Sheikh RuhulAmin Joy, General Secretary of Family Foundation said, ‘We desire the birth of children free of thalassemia. Family Foundation are the pioneer of detecting Thalassemia in mother’s womb in the country at a record 11 weeks of pregnancy. In the last four years, a record three hundred normal children were born in the country by this technique. Many mothers are in que of giving birth with the assurance that the child born will not have this disease. Our target is to raise awareness about Thalassemia disease and its prevention and to detect this disease in mother’s womb so that healthy and bright children are born and happy families are created.’
Thalassemia basically means anemia, a genetic blood disease which the child could inherit if one or both of his/her parents is carrying the disease gene. The risk is higher if both parents have this disease. Symptoms are not visible, but it can be identified through medical tests. The World Health Organization set the 8th of May each year as the World Thalassemia Day in order to raise awareness of this disease, how to avoid it, and how it is transmitted.
The Ministry of Health released statistics which indicate that 19% of the population carry the Thalassemia gene in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Therefore, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia carries out several preventive programs to decrease the spread of this disease and other genetic diseases, such as the promotion of Pre-Marriage Test, which is mandatory before marriage in order to reduce genetic problems caused by marriages within families.
Family foundation organized an awareness discussion ceremony at ‘Cloud Bistro’ restaurant of the capital to observe the ‘World Thalassemia Day 2015’ on Thursday.
The honourable guests of the program were Professor Dr. Rezaul Karim Kajal, Assistant Professor, Delivery and Gynaecology Department of Bangobandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Sheikh Ruhul Amin Joy, General Secretary, Family Foundation, Dr. Saima Akhtar Chowdhury, Interventional Radiologist.
In the program, there were prominent women who had previously given birth to infants with
thalassemia and later had given birth to normal children after DNA of child was tested while in mother’s wombs. The mother spoke about the terrible fate of having children with Thalassemia in the family.
Dr. Rezaul Karim Kajal said every day the number of patients with Thalassemia are increasing in the country as people are not aware of the terrible family blood disease Thalassemia. If the parents are carrier of this disease, then children can be born with this disorder. The carriers does not have any symptoms of this disease. So, they are not aware that they are carrying this disease.
At present, about 10 pc of the population, that is, almost one and a half crore of men and women are carrying the genetic disease, Thalassemia. Every year thousands of children in our country are born with Thalassemia.
A huge amount of blood is required to keep alive children with thalassemia by blood transfusion. To meet this huge cost, the parents suffer from emotional trauma and financial crisis. Not only that, most patients with thalassemia who fall in the age group of 10 to 15 die in front of their parents.
Thalassemia is a silent killer in Bangladesh causing death of thousands of children. The parents dreams are being destroyed in this process. Prior to marriage, a medical check up should be done to ensure if the bride or groom are carriers of Thalassemia. It has become mandatory to do this type of medical check up in countries like Cyprus, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan before marriage.
Parents can take the decision if to continue with a pregnancy by doing a DNA test of the infant in mother’s womb if both parents are carriers of this genetic disease. Thalassemia cannot be prevented alone by speaking about treatment of this disease. Every one has to cautious about preventing this disease. They have to stop the birth of children with this disease by abortion if required.
Dr. Saima Akhtar Chowdhury, Interventional Radiologist, said that at present collecting DNA of infants from mother’s womb by detection of abnormality through an advanced technique of ultrasonography has become a safe medical procedure. By this technique, Thalassemia and all relevant genetic diseases can be identified. The pregnant mother does not have to travel abroad for this procedure.
Sheikh RuhulAmin Joy, General Secretary of Family Foundation said, ‘We desire the birth of children free of thalassemia. Family Foundation are the pioneer of detecting Thalassemia in mother’s womb in the country at a record 11 weeks of pregnancy. In the last four years, a record three hundred normal children were born in the country by this technique. Many mothers are in que of giving birth with the assurance that the child born will not have this disease. Our target is to raise awareness about Thalassemia disease and its prevention and to detect this disease in mother’s womb so that healthy and bright children are born and happy families are created.’
Thalassemia basically means anemia, a genetic blood disease which the child could inherit if one or both of his/her parents is carrying the disease gene. The risk is higher if both parents have this disease. Symptoms are not visible, but it can be identified through medical tests. The World Health Organization set the 8th of May each year as the World Thalassemia Day in order to raise awareness of this disease, how to avoid it, and how it is transmitted.
The Ministry of Health released statistics which indicate that 19% of the population carry the Thalassemia gene in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Therefore, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia carries out several preventive programs to decrease the spread of this disease and other genetic diseases, such as the promotion of Pre-Marriage Test, which is mandatory before marriage in order to reduce genetic problems caused by marriages within families.
