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Free Thalassemia Screening Camp & Guest Lecture was held on 16th October 2025 at BGS Global Broadcasting center , AIMS, jointly organized by the Department of pediatrics and Sparsh Hospital, Bangalore.
The event began with an inaugural session, graced by Dr. M. G. Shivaramu, Dean, Faculty of Medical & Allied Health Sciences, Adichunchanagiri University & Principal AIMS who emphasized the importance of preventive screening and genetic counseling in reducing the burden of Thalassemia in the community. Dr.M G Shivaramu highlighted about creating awareness among the public about the care of these children and prevention of Thalassemia in future. Dr Shivakumar K M ,Chief of hospital AH&RC was the guest oh honour. Dr Shivakumar addressed the gathering highlighting the management and future of these children with thalassemia major.
Dr Mahendrappa professor & HOD of Pediatrics department AIMS, welcomed the gathering & in his introductory remarks he said thalassemia major is one of the genetic diseases wherein child’s bone marrow can not synthesize his own normal Hemoglobin & the child is dependent on the Blood transfusion once in 3 to 4 weeks. Even though there is a permanent cure for Thalassemia this disease with Bone marrow transplantation, not all the children with Thalassemia are lucky enough to get the HLA Matched Donor for Bone marrow transplantation.
Dr Mahendrappa highlighted the magnitude of Thalassemia in India. India has highest number of Thalassemia cases compared to any other country in the world, amounting to 25% of all the Thalassemia cases in the world & India is considered as the capital of Thalassemia in the world similar to Diabetes.
As of now India has more than 2 Lakhs of Thalassemia major patients & 10 to 15 thousand new cases are being diagnosed every year. The incidence is highest in Punjab & Gujarat.
India has almost 5 crores Carriers of Beta Thalassemia trait. Treatment cost of Thalassemia child is around 2 Lakhs/ child/ year.
Dr Mahendrappa asked Can we prevent Thalassemia ? Answer is Yes. Thalassemia can be irradicated like small pox & polio. For example: Cyprus is the first country to be declared Thalassemia free in the world now. If people are determined & strict measures are followed , Thalassemia can be completely prevented in the next 10 years.
Govt of India has taken many steps to address this issue
– Govt has Declared May 8th as National Thalassemia day to create awareness among the public.
– In Gujarat – launched a state level Thalassemia screening program
– Central govt has strengthened the infrastructure like Blood Bank & Stem cell Registry.
– Research activities are going on to explore Genetic Screening Methods & their effectiveness in detecting the carriers
– Gene therapy is useful in correcting mutations directly in the patients.
– Antenatal Screening for HbA2 in all the pregnant women in the 1st trimester is to considered.
– Early intervention: screening program in school & community to detect the Thalassemia carriers
– Prevention program: Implementing genetic counselling to reduce the number of marriages between carriers. Avoiding marriage of a Thalassemia carrier girl with a Thalassemia carrier boy is very effective in preventing the birth of Thalassemia baby.
Dr Mahendrappa welcomed the team of DKMS delegates from Germany & appreciated the services being done by DKMS in doing Free HLA test for thalassemia children, maintaining the data base of HLA donors & assisting bone marrow transplantation. Team from DKMS foundation Bangalore, Mrs. Kavitha, Mrs.Jyothi and Mrs. Katiya incharge of DKMS foundation Germany participated in the event. They spoke on screening of the thalassemia patients and procedure of bone marrow transplantation for thalassemia patients. Team of DKMS invited the audience to register themselves in the HLA Registry under DKMS & help the children by donating Hematopoitic Stem Cells for those who needs HSCT/ Bone marrow transfusion. During this event, few children with thalassemia major were tested for HLA typing free of cost.
Following the inauguration there was a guest lecture on “Approach to a child with Thrombocytopenia- A case based approach” by Dr. Anand kumar, Consultant Hemato oncologist, Sparsh Hoapital yashwanthpur Bangalore, The lecture was highly informative and provided valuable insights into the current understanding of thrombocytopenia in children.
The program concluded with an interactive discussion session, during which participants shared their experiences and raised relevant clinical queries. The program received excellent feedback from attendees, appreciating both the academic content and the social relevance of the initiative.
Overall, the event successfully achieved its objectives of spreading awareness, promoting preventive strategies, and enhancing professional knowledge on Thalassemia management and prevention.
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