(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) A medical expert attending the Gulf Iron Summit which concluded on Saturday has said that close to eight per cent of Omanis are carriers of haemoglobinopathy gene responsible for blood disorder diseases.
Nearly 2.2 per cent of Omani population have beta thalassaemia genes while 5.7 per cent have sickle cell disease genes said Dr Shahina Daar associate professor in the Department of Haematology in SQU's College of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Every year around 30 babies in Oman are born with thalassemia while 100-150 have sickle cell disease Dr Shahina said adding that the remedy was awareness counselling and having blood tests for potential marriage partners.
Dr Shahina added 'A child born with beta thalassaemia major needs blood transfusion every month because of severe anaemia. It is a strenuous lifelong process that starts at the age of six months.'
Dr Shahina said that another problem associated with blood transfusion is the accumulation of excess iron in the body over a period of time.
'This excess iron causes problems and affects other body parts and organs. Hence to counter this additional problem the patient needs to take iron-removing medications every day'
Dr Shahina added that previously the process to take out the excess iron took many hours and involved giving the patient medication through an injection. This helped expel the iron through stools and urine.
'However those long and painful processes have been now replaced with oral drugs that do the same task of removing excess iron from the body' she said.
If both parents carry the haemoglobinopathy gene each pregnancy has a 25 per cent risk of the child having a blood disorder.
'If there is prevention now we can also save resources like medicines manpower and finances to treat patients' said Dr Shahina.
She also added that a volunteer pre-marital blood test for haemoglobinopathy gene have been available throughout the sultanate for many years and people should take advantage of it. Dr Ali Ahmed al Madhani executive director at Sohar Hospital said 'The best way is prevention. Both partners carrying the haemoglobinopathy gene are at risk of having a child born with thalassaemia. We have been encouraging partners to go for tests for a safe future.'
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