Have You Tested For Thalasemia Minor?

This video is a talk by Mr. Vinay Shetty at HELP on 9th July, 11. Topic \" Have You Tested For Thalasemia Minor \". Mr. Vinay Shetty can be contacted at 9820146448. This is part of the HELP Talk series at HELP,Health Education Library for People, the worlds largest free patient education librarywww.healthlibrary.com

Thalassemia is a blood disorder passed down through families (inherited) in which the body makes an abnormal form of haemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. The disorder results in excessive destruction of red blood cells, which leads to anemia.Thalassemia minor occurs if you receive the defective gene from only one parent. Persons with this form of the disorder are carriers of the disease and usually do not have symptoms.Thalasemia major may cause death of the unborn baby during birth or the late stages of pregnancy.

Most people think that Thalassaemia is about a child who needs lifelong blood transfusions. While this is true Thalassaemia is more importantly about healthy youngsters. A Thalassaemia Major child, who needs lifelong blood transfusions, is born only if both parents are Thalassaemia Minor. The parents do not know that they are Thalassaemia Minor because there is nothing wrong with them. The birth of their thalassaemic child comes as a rude shock to them. But there is nothing that they can do about it now. Had they known that they were both Thalassaemia Minor, they could have prevented this tragedy.

40 million Indians are Thalassaemia Minor, and most of them, being healthy, do not know of it. It is important for every youngsters to do a blood test for Thalassaemia Minor. And if one is a Thalassaemia Minor, one must get one\'s spouse/future spouse also tested. The test needs to be done just once in one\'s lifetime. But this one test can save your future child from a lifetime of misery.

Thalassaemia, therefore, is about anybody who is going to have a child in the future.

Speaker's Bio

Mr. Vinay Shetty

Name: Vinay Shetty
Designation: Vice President
Organization: Think Foundation
Address: A-101, Valmiki Apartments, Sunder Nagar, Kalina, Santacruz(E), Mumbai 400 098.
Tel. No.: +91 22 6518 1341/6518 1343
Mobile No.: +91 98201 46448
e-mail: vinay@thinkfoundation.org
website: www.thinkfoundation.org

Educational Qualification:
B.E. (Civil) from V.J.T.I., Mumbai University,
M.M.S. (Mktg) from S.P. Jain Inst. of Mgmt. & Research, Mumbai University.

Award:
Recipient of the A.N. Kashyap Award - 2010 from the Indian Society of Blood Transfusion & Immunohaematology - for outstanding contribution to the cause of voluntary blood donation in the country.

Area of Work:
Think Foundation is a non-profit organization, which works for the causes of Blood Donation and Thalassaemia. On the Blood Donation front, we believe that the search for blood should not begin after the patient is admitted to the hospital. Blood donation is a planned management exercise, which aims at ensuring a positive balance of blood units in blood banks in the city at all times. We therefore organize blood donation drives, almost every day.

With respect to Thalassaemia, we have the twin objectives of :
a. bringing normalcy and happiness in the lives of children suffering from Thalassaemia Major.
b. creating awareness about Thalassaemia Minor so as to prevent the tragedy of  Thalassaemia Major.

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