Al-Shahrani Mohammad
Department of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Riyadh Military Hospital, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Hemoglobin. 2009;33 Suppl 1:S21-4. doi: 10.3109/03630260903346437.
Saudi Arabia is known to have high prevalence of hereditary blood disorder similar to neighboring Mediterranean countries, in particular sickle-cell disease and thalassemia. With increasing number of affected individual (Saadallah AA, Rashed MS. J Inherit Metab Dis. 2007;30:482-489), the Ministry of Health (MOH) had implemented a mandatory premarital testing for hemoglobinopathies (sickle-cell disease and thalassemia). Since November 2003, all Saudi couples planning for marriage are required to perform the test (Alhamdan NA, Almazrou YY, Alswaidi FM, Coudhry AJ. Genet Med. 2007;9(6):372-377). Besides its preventive efforts, the MOH had also increased its efforts to improve the health care given to affected hereditary blood disease patients. To that effect, a plan to increase the number of specialized hereditary blood disease centers in different regions is existing. In addition, a Consultation Board, Hereditary Blood Disease Advisory Committee, was formed in January 2008. This committee, under the directorate of MOH, took the responsibility of laying down the foundation for internationally high standard of medical care given in treatment center dealing with patients with hereditary blood disorders. In this report, we will shed some light on such accomplishment.
众所周知，沙特阿拉伯与邻近的地中海国家一样，遗传性血液疾病的患病率很高，尤其是镰状细胞病和地中海贫血。随着受影响个体数量的增加（萨达拉赫·AA，拉希德·MS。《遗传代谢病杂志》。2007年；30：482 - 489），卫生部实施了针对血红蛋白病（镰状细胞病和地中海贫血）的强制性婚前检测。自2003年11月起，所有计划结婚的沙特夫妇都必须进行此项检测（阿勒哈姆丹·NA，阿尔马兹鲁伊·YY，阿尔斯瓦迪·FM，库德里·AJ。《遗传医学》。2007年；9(6)：372 - 377）。除了预防措施外，卫生部还加大了力度，改善对受影响的遗传性血液病患者的医疗护理。为此，一项增加不同地区专门遗传性血液病中心数量的计划正在实施。此外，2008年1月成立了一个咨询委员会，即遗传性血液病咨询委员会。该委员会在卫生部的领导下，负责为治疗遗传性血液病患者的治疗中心制定国际高标准医疗护理奠定基础。在本报告中，我们将阐述这方面的成就。
