Andhra Medical College launches Project to screen children from tribal areas

Written by MD Bureau Published On 2021-11-11T10:00:33+05:30 | Updated On 11 Nov 2021 10:00 AM IST

Andhra Medical College launches Project to screen children from tribal areas

Vishakhapatnam: In an applaudable move, the Andhra Medical College has initiated a pilot project to test children in remote regions and tribal pockets of the Vishakhapatnam district for Thalassemia.

The disease has is a genetically transferred hemoglobinopathy, prevalent in the Agency area of Visakhapatnam. Consanguineous marriages are the most commonly implicated cause.

The mega-project is aimed at controlling thalassemia and was sanctioned to the Andhra Medical College under the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram. Andhra Medical College has procured specialised diagnostic equipment with about Rs 20 lakh for this pilot project to screen children aged between five and eight years.

Dr PV Sudhakar, Andhra Medical College principal, in a candid conversation with Times of India, said, "While the pathology department will take care of screening of the kids, the community medicine department of the college will pitch in for conducting the awareness programmes. These are aimed at improving health-seeking behaviour and to accept the screening and management of thalassemia. For instance, thalassemia in the Visakhapatnam tribal areas is closely associated with consanguineous marriages. The awareness programmes will discourage consanguineous marriages."

Principal investigator of the project and head of the department of pathology Dr A Bhagyalakshmi said about 2,000 children, aged between five and eight, will be screened for thalassemia under the project.

"Initially the kids will be tested through haemoglobin estimation and other primary tests. If there is any abnormality in these tests, the child will be referred for a high-performance liquid chromatography test. However, even if the primary tests turn out to be negative, some kids will be referred for the HPLC tests based on their signs and symptomatology. This will help in early detection of the cases, which will in turn help identify the cases in siblings of patients. A medical register will be maintained for the screened children," said Dr Bhagyalakshmi.

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Source : With inputs

MD Bureau

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