• Urges parents to educate children about genetic conditions, check children’s blood before horoscopes, for married couples to check before pregnancy 

State Minister of Women and Child Affairs Geetha Kumarasinghe is to bring a proposal to Parliament with regard to implementing a free blood test for couples or newly married couples to determine whether they have thalassaemia, specifically before having children.

Thalassaemia is a genetic condition caused by a deficiency in the production of haemoglobin in red blood cells.

Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (13), Kumarasinghe said that there are about 5,000 children and parents who were diagnosed with thalassaemia between 2022-2023 so far. “Some people diagnosed with thalassaemia are required to seek medical treatments and undergo blood transfusions. Therefore, the Health Ministry has to spend a lot of money on this. Parents must also take action against such marriages and couples. They must educate children about these genetic conditions, as otherwise, their own children will experience serious difficulties in the future. Rather than checking the blood through a test before marriage, parents are involved in matching the horoscope before marriage. I have therefore decided to bring a proposal to Parliament to implement a free blood test for every couple or newly married couple, as it will be useful to check their genetic conditions before marriage or at least prior to having children. This is the only way to reduce thalassaemia patients in the country,” she claimed. 

Currently, the rate of thalassaemia patients and children with thalassaemia is increasing rapidly in the country. Earlier, Professor of Pediatrics at the Medical Faculty of Kelaniya University Sachith Mettananda stated that only approximately 3% of thalassaemia carriers have been identified in Sri Lanka.