LAHORE: The government should make blood screening and thalassemia tests compulsory before marriage, as the lack of implementation was causing an increase in the number thalassemia cases.
Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) President Kashif Anwar said in a media statement here that thalassemia was a serious blood disorder and people with this disease need blood transfusions every three to eight weeks to maintain hemoglobin level.
The LCCI President said that test for thalassemia and blood screening were a must as if two people carrying thalassemia get married, there was categorical chance that their children would have the dangerous thalassemia disease.
Kashif Anwar said that if a law was made, it should be implemented. He said that under the thalassemia law, the associations who were providing blood should be screened for the facility of the patients. He suggested that no official document should be issued to masses without certificate of thalassemia test.
Meanwhile, the LCCI and Jehad for Zero Thalassemia inked a Memorandum of Understanding to make joint efforts to eradicate thalassemia in the country.
The LCCI president and Chairperson/Founder of Jehad for Zero Thalassemia inked the Memorandum of Understanding on behalf of their respective organizations.
According to the MoU, LCCI agreed to adopt this cause for Thalassemia Free Pakistan. Both JZT Pakistan and LCCI in their capacity would persuade the government to declare medical emergency about Thalassemia prevention on the same lines as was done for polio eradication.
LCCI may organize family festivals of inter-cultural fairs for this purpose. LCCI in their meetings with executive members and partner organizations and companies would encourage all such bodies to adopt this cause. This would include promoting messages about thalassemia in all the promotional medium which might range from hoarding to pamphlets, from social media to newspapers and every other such mean from their own platform.
All such collaborations under the auspice of LCCI would be appreciated. “We as Pakistani should work on selfless and voluntary basis in collaboration with local and international organizations as well as government departments and renowned universities,” he suggested.