Pilot Projects For Thalassaemia Screening Next Year

PUTRAJAYA, Oct 4 (Bernama) -- The Health Ministry plans to do pilot projects in Melaka, Penang and Sabah sometime next year to screen Form Four students for Thalassaemia.
Its Family Health Development Director Datuk Dr Narimah Awin said for this to happen, the Education Ministry would be consulted.
She said Form Four students were at the best age to be screened under the pilot project as the ministry would not want to disturb those in Form Three or Form Five since they would be busy with their studies and examinations.
This would be preceded by efforts to educate the public on what the disease was all about through various means, including print and electronic media as well as public forums, posters and billboards.
She told reporters this after attending a meeting of the steering committee on Thalassaemia prevention and control programme chaired by Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek, here Tuesday.
"We will go to schools and do it in schools sometime in 2006. I really can't give you the date right now because I want to be ready with the public knowing about this disease in full.
"I don't want to screen the children if their parents don't know what it is all about," she said.
Thalassaemia is a hereditary disorder where there is insufficient haemoglobin in the red blood cells. Patients need to undergo continuous blood transfusion on a monthly basis.
Thalassaemia carriers don't show any sign of abnormalities or health problems and there is every possibility that a carrier will hand down his or her genetic traits of Thalassaemia to their children.
It is for this reason that marriages among Thalassaemia carriers should be avoided, hence the need for couples intending to get married to go for screening.
She said other people, including university students and couples, would also be screened for Thalassaemia if they so wished. The screening would be done for free, she added.
"Currently, there is no national screening programme, but if people go to hospital, I am sure the hospital can do screening for them on request.
"But very few people do so because they are not aware of the disease," she said.
Earlier, Dr Chua said the Cabinet had approved RM29.5 million to fight the disease.
Between three and five per cent of Malaysians are carriers of Thalassaemia and every year up to 2,600 Malaysians will be on blood transfusion due to the disease.