Thalassaemia centre for Northern Emirates

Dubai: A fully-dedicated thalassaemia centre in the Northern Emirates is in the works, part of the Health Ministry's strategy to unify treatment and preventive measures for the common blood disorder and other genetic disorders.

Thalassaemia care and treatment in the five emirates, which fall under the Health Ministry, are fragmented and lagging behind services offered in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Many people with thalassaemia are forced to seek treatment at Dubai's Thalassaemia Centre at Al Wasl Hospital, run by the Dubai Department of Health and Medical Services, stretching the centre's resources to the limit.

Dr. Mohammad Naveed, consultant geneticist for the National Thalassaemia Committee under the ministry, told Gulf News the aim was to set up a similar centre for the Northern Emirates and ease the burden of cases at Dubai's Thalassaemia Centre.

“(Dubai's centre) is overcrowded because the ministry doesn't have any facilities. If the patients (from the Northern Emirates) had an alternative, they would not come to Dubai;
they'd rather stay closer to home,'' he said.

He said the centre would cater for 150 patients, who have not been able to access treatment facilities in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. He spoke to Gulf News on the sidelines of the Pan-Arab Human Genetics Conference.

The Northern Emirates thalassaemia centre will provide thalassaemia treatment and care, including blood transfusion, iron chelation treatment, medicines and counselling services, free of charge to UAE nationals and expatriates.

The committee hopes the centre will be up and running after two years. No location has been picked out.

In the meantime, the committee is focusing on training and preparing medical staff at ministry hospitals and primary healthcare centres on how to treat, care and advise thalassaemia cases, hoping to upgrade the services within a year.

“We want to go to the grassroots so these cases will not be missed,'' said Dr. Naveed.

He also said the ministry would fully implement the pre-marital genetic screening programme in the Northern Emirates beginning next year, as well as screening of students in UAE colleges and universities.

He added implementing the screening programmes was important as the ministry expected “about 50 thalassaemia babies to be born annually in the UAE'', based on current prevalence data.

Breast cancer screening next
A Breast cancer genetic screening programme is next on the Health Ministry's genetic screening programme, once thalassaemia screening is fully implemented nationwide.

Dr. Mohammad Naveed, consultant geneticist for UAE Genetic Disease Association, told Gulf News that the organisation, responsible for pushing pre-marital genetic screening into legislation, planned to tackle breast cancer next.

“After reaching a stage (where thalassaemia screening is fully established), we will check for the breast cancer gene mutation,'' he said.

Women with a mutation on their BRCA I or II gene are three to seven times more likely develop breast cancer and ovarian cancer. Breast cancer is the No. 1 killer cancer of women in the UAE, according to ministry statistics.