International Thalassaemia Day

Okay, so International Thalassaemia Day was on 8th May. But i just stumbled across this on MMR.

Just to quote.. (from The Star)

Health authorities are taking bold measures to combat thalassaemia by urging couples who carry the faulty gene either not to marry or have children.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said battling the hereditary disease on all fronts began with discouraging couples who are both thalassaemia gene carriers from getting married, as there was a high risk of their children contracting the gene.

“Love is blind, (but) sometimes we cannot be blind to the risks involved, so it is important that such couples are properly counselled,” he said when launching the national-level International Thalassaemia Day.

Dr Chua said that if such couples decided to go ahead with the marriage, then the authorities would advise them to avoid having children.

In cases where a child is conceived, the authorities would recommend abortion, although a final decision lay with the couple themselves, taking into consideration their religious practices, he added.

Malaysia currently has 800,000 to 1.2 million thalassaemia carriers nationwide.

We just had this discussion in Gombak with Dr Sasi about whether 2 thalassaemia carrier parents should abort their child. The chances of their kids being thalassaemic is 25%, being carrier is 50%. Don't think we come to a unanimous conclusion on whether they should go ahead with abortion.