With the aim to raise awareness about Thalassemia, its prevention, complications, treatment and importance of premarital screening and to set up free screening camps for Thalassemia trait, the Multan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) in collaboration with Hadia Foundation , organized a walk entitled “Thalassemia free Multan " on Saturday.
President of Multan Chamber of Commerce ^ Industry (MCCI) Mian Rashid Iqbal, Senior Vice President Nadeem Ahmed Sheikh, Vice President Sh. Muhammad Asim Saeed Convener of CRS Committee Mian Fazal Elahi Sheikh , Vice Chancellor of Nishtar University Dr.Rana Altaf Ahmed, Director General MDA Qaiser Salim, Assistant Commissioner (City) Khawaja Umair, Khawaja Muhammad Yousaf, Sheikh Faisalo Saeed,Khawaja Muhammad Hussain, Hadia Foundation's Managing Director Hafiz Umair Saeed, Muhammad Ahmed Ahmed Chughtai of Al-Khidmat ,Ch.Altaf Shahid, Adnan Chughtai,Shaikh Muhammad Amjad,Sheikh Faheem Sattar, Mirza Shahid, Farah Saeed, Begum Erum Iqbal, Saleha Hassan ,Sana Khan , and Zahida Hameed Qureshi were prominent among the participants.
Mian Rashid Iqbal President of MCCI gave a welcoming note and applauded the efforts of Civil society, Hadia foundation Society for special persons , management of Nishtar Medical Universit for encouraging and providing full support to the event. Later, he expressed his gratitude and shared his experience regarding blood donation for thalassemia patients.
Mian Rashid Iqbal discussed the importance of blood donation and said, “It’s a myth that females cannot donate blood, they can donate if their HB level is above 13”. He presented a vote of thanks and expressed that such activities would be helpful in reducing Thalassemia disease burden in Pakistan.He vowed to make" Thalassemia free Multan"
Prof Dr. Rana Altaf ,Vice Chancellor talked about the causes and treatment of Thalassemia and communicated that it is a genetic blood disorder in which a child has a defect in hemoglobin (Hb) gene which is responsible for low viable HB production. He further expounded that in Pakistan, Beta Thalassemia is the predominant type which is further classified into Thalassemia Minor and Major and approximately 6% of Pakistani population is Thalassemia minor. “The lack of awareness about disease, consanguinity, delayed introduction of preventive measures are the root causes of increasing number of patients and prevention is the only practicable solution”, he added.
