Ranchi: Health experts on the eve of World Sickle Cell Awareness Day on Thursday have stressed the need for universal antenatal screening of pregnant women during the first trimester to curb the spread of genetic blood disorders such as sickle cell anaemia and thalassemia.Experts said that early identification of carrier parents through antenatal screening can help prevent the birth of children with these inherited disorders, helping the state producing healthy human resources and unburdening it in terms huge sums of medical expenditure spent on the patients.Dr Abhishek Ranjan, haematologist at Ranchi Sadar Hospital, said sickle cell anaemia affects an estimated 8-10% of Jharkhand’s population and carries a high mortality risk.“About 25% of patients die before the age of five, while nearly half do not survive beyond 30 and survival beyond 50 years remains extremely rare in India. As a hereditary disorder often affecting multiple siblings, it causes immense emotional and financial distress for families, particularly when they have invested years in treatment and care” he said.He added that, to completely eradicate sickle cell anaemia and unburden the families from economic distresses, there is an urgent need to make it mandatory for expecting mothers to undergo complete blood test and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) tests .“If the mother tests positive as a carrier of a deformed gene causing sickle cell and other blood disorders to the child in the future. Then, the same tests are repeated on the father as well. In cases of the couple testing positive as carriers, few tests of the foetuses are done to check for genetic anomalies. If the foetus too tests as a carrier then the expecting couple can be advised for medical termination of pregnancy, unburdening them from lifelong heavy medical expenses,” Ranjan added.Ranchi-based genetic expert Dr Ajay Kumar Mahalka said that the antenatal test is very essential for pregnant women as in Jharkhand prevalence of genetic blood disorders is very high among the marginalised tribal population, who hardly can afford costly treatments for the diseases.“If both parents are carriers, genetic counselling can help them make informed reproductive choices. The government must also set up a genetic lab and appoint a genetic expert at the state-level, to stop occurrence of various genetic disorders including Autism, Alzheimer and various others,” he added.
