We would like to congratulate the National Institute of Blood Diseases, Karachi, on their achievement to find a treatment for Thalassemia wherein 80 percent of the patients would not need either blood transfusions or it to be reduced to half of the earlier transfusion frequency. Thalassemia is a heredity disorder that affects a person’ ability to produce hemoglobin (red blood cells); means the patient would require lifelong extensive and very expensive treatment including regular blood transfusions.
In Pakistan alone, 5000-8000 patients are born every year with this blood disorder while around 10 million people (carriers) are there who may cause the disease to others. It took ten years to research and identify an already available medicine for treatment of Thalassemia patients. Research details were recently published in a US medical journal – the Journal of Pediatric Hematology and in the British journal – Lancet.
Though this research is yet to be recognized by the international medical agencies/institutes and till that time this medication could only be used for further research under the supervision of doctors specialized in blood disorder disease, however, it’s a great news for millions of child patients and their parents all across the world that we are not far away from finding an effective treatment for this complicated blood disease.
MASOOD KHAN
Jubail, Saudi Arabia