No minor issue
A joint meeting of multiple Senate Standing Committees including panels on law and justice and religious affairs failed to reach an agreement over the bill to make pre-marital blood testing mandatory to avoid cases of Thalassemia in new born children.
Thalassemia major is a genetically inherited blood disorder that occurs in children if both parents are positive for Thalassemia minor. A simple blood test of both parents can determine if they carry the Thalassemia minor gene. Such testing pre-marriage is often skipped resulting in children with a debilitating disease that requires expensive blood transfusions every month for the rest of their lives.
Similar bills have been passed in three provincial assemblies and the KP government has even increased their budget for Thalassemia prevention. At the federal level however things are quite different and the reasons are all too familiar.
Senator Hafiz Hamdullah who co-chaired the meeting as chairman of the panel on religious affairs stated that the testing should not be made mandatory and a single column in the marriage certificate stating the positive result of the disease is sufficient. He was citing a recommendation made by the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) in 2010.
Over 6,000 children are affected by Thalassemia major annually, the monthly blood transfusions that last 10 – 15 years – expected life expectancy of a child with the disease – costs more than Rs180,000 annually and the only cure is a bone marrow transplant costing Rs 2 million given a viable match is present.
Apart from the financial aspect of treatment there is the mental and physical anguish that the parents and children go through during the short life of their child. Unfortunately practicality and logic often fall victim to self-serving backward thinking that is personified by institutions like the CII and individuals like Hafiz Hamdullah who represent them.
The bill should be passed as soon as possible so that work on implementation can begin. After all if an Islamic theocracy like Saudi Arabia and a quasi-monarchy like Turkey can pass a similar bill then why not us?
