Screening for Thalassaemia must before marriage

Screening for Thalassaemia should be made compulsory before marriage, said Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva.

The Minister was speaking at a special program to eradicate Thalassaemia from the North Western Province.

“Thalassaemia is a genetic disease. It has no permanent treatment. But it is preventable. After the marriage of two Thalassaemia carriers, 25 percent of their off-spring get Thalassaemia,” he said.

“Therefore, we have to decide to submit a special Cabinet paper to make screening of Thalassaemia compulsory before marriage of every youth in the country.

I decided to submit this a year ago. But there is no upgrading of facilities to screen blood for Thalassaemia in our hospital system. Then Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry has given three Thalassaemia screening machines to Anuradhapura, Badulla and Kurunegala Teaching Hospitals.

Ragama Teaching Hospital was provided Thalassaemia screening facilities from the beginning. We spent Rs. 100 million to buy those three machines,” the Minister added.

The Thalassaemia drug called Dexperioxamine is produced by only one company in the wold, Minister de Silva said.

“We have decided to issue two green and pink cards to identify Thalassaemia traits. After the screening, if a person is diagnosed positive for Thalassaemia, we issue a pink card and we warn them not to contract marriage with other Thalassaemia carriers.

But, if someone is negative, we issue green card to them, the Minister said.

The couples with pink cards are at high risk. But couples with a green card don’t have trouble, he said.