L A H O R E : Participants at a seminar called for an effective awareness campaign to control thalassemia and also a compulsory premarriage blood screening test of couple.

The seminar was organised on Wednesday by the Government College University Lahore`s Blood Donor Society in collaboration with the Kashif Iqbal Thalassemia Care Centre (KITCC).

`Thalassemia carrier normally does not require any medical treatment, but when one carrier marries another, they could have a chance of having an offspring with thalassemia major which is dreadful and fatal,` said KITCC Punjab coordinator Asif Hameed Butt.

According to a report, Mr Butt said, there were more than 17.6 million thalassemia carriers in Pakistan, but only a handful of them had knowledge about this genetic disorder in them.

He added that they had conducted a survey in a leading university in Pakistan, and it was really astonishing for them to know that out of 800 students, only one student had got his blood screened for thalassemia.

`The ratio of thalassemia carriers is high in families where cousin marriages are common, he added.

To a question, the KITCC coordinator saidthat about 6,000 to 7,000 new cases of children with thalassemia major were reported every year in Pakistan.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Hassan Amir Shah said prevention was the best solution, as with an average life expectancy of 12 to 16 years in Pakistan, a thalassemia major child had a very difficult and painful life to live.

`In order to survive, these children require regular monthly blood transfusions and chelation therapy to withdraw excessive iron from their bodies. An estimated Rs180,000 is required for each child per annum, whereas bone marrow transplant, which is the only permanent treatment and has low success rate, costs millions of rupees, he added.

The vice-chancellor asked the students to raise awareness in their families and areas about this genetic disorder. `Students must use social media for spreading such positive messages,` he added.

Society adviser Dr Babar Naseem Assi encouraged the students to go for blood screening test for thalassemia. He said that many sportsmen and celebrities in the world, including Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan and Pakistani singer Abrarul Haq were thalassemia carriers.

The seminar was followed by a camp where students were screened for thalassemia minor.