Hoshiarpur- World Thalassemia Day is celebrated every year on 8 May. It provides an opportunity to empower people suffering from this condition and help them live healthier, longer and more productive lives. As per the orders of Health Department Punjab and the instructions of Civil Surgeon Dr. Pawan Kumar Shagotra, awareness campaign related to Thalassemia Day was conducted and IEC activities were conducted across the district.
On this occasion, District Immunization Officer Dr. Seema Garg addressed the nursing students and general public regarding this day at Civil Hospital Mahilpur and said that the theme of this year is 'Uniting communities for thalassemia, giving priority to patients'.
The main objective of this day is to share knowledge about thalassemia, exchange information and provide quality thalassemia education. He said
Awareness about thalassemia disease is important in its treatment but people are very less aware about thalassemia, due to which a small life unknowingly becomes a victim of this disease. Therefore, there is a need to make people more aware about this disease so that newborns can be saved from this dreaded disease.
Due to this disease, blood production in the newborn is greatly reduced, due to which he needs blood transfusion every 10 or 15 days. This disease is transmitted from parents to children from generation to generation. He told about the symptoms of this disease that initially the child looks normal, but with increasing age, there is a lack of blood in him and later the child becomes weak, the body becomes light, the heart rate increases, the child is unable to participate in sports. During this time, the throat and eyes of the child start swelling. The child remains sick continuously and his weight does not increase.
He said that this disease can be prevented with information and awareness. He said that more and more people should join the blood donation campaign to fulfill the blood requirement of such children and other needy people. Senior Medical Officer Dr. Jaswant Singh Thind, entire hospital staff and others were present on this occasion.