Thalassaemia Patients Get Govt Attention, Says Chua

PUTRAJAYA, Oct 12 (Bernama) -- The government has started to bear in stages the cost of thalassaemia-related treatment, including the procurement of chelating agent needed by patients to remove excessive iron due to continuous blood transfusion.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said that previously it was the patients and their families who had to bear the expensive cost of treatment.
He said that the ministry, in collaboration with the Federation of Malaysian Thalassaemia Societies, had started a thalassaemia prevention programme which included free blood screening and educational campaign.
"All of these will cost the government RM25 million annually," he told reporters after launching a thalassaemia awareness campaign here.
The minister said that a pilot blood screening scheme was being conducted in Penang, Melaka and Sabah targeting groups like secondary school children, relatives of known thalassaemia patients and couples intending to get married.
For thalassaemia carriers wishing to get married, he said, they would be given counselling on the risk of their children becoming thalassaemia major cases.
Dr Chua said that Malaysia had about 3,000 thalassaemia patients with between 120 and 350 thalassaemia major babies being born each year.
Thalassaemia major cases happen when both father and mother are thalassaemia carriers.
Dr Chua said an estimated one million Malaysians were carriers of thalassaemia.
To get a clearer picture of the situation nationwide, he said that the ministry was in the process of setting up a national thalassaemia registry.
Thalassaemia is a hereditary disorder where there is insufficient haemoglobin in the red blood cells, leading to a condition known as anaemia. Patients need to undergo continuous blood transfusion on a monthly basis.