President Ersin Tatar's Message on May 8 World Thalassaemia Day
Non-governmental organizations, state officials and individuals have great responsibilities for the increasing development of voluntary blood donation.
In our country, a change in family laws was made in 1980, making it compulsory to perform a Thalassaemia test before marriage. As a result of this, while the birth of sick children has been prevented in the TRNC since 2001, pregnant screenings have been interrupted especially during the pandemic process and we have sadly witnessed that babies with thalassaemia and sickle cell disease have been born in recent years.
Therefore, it is clear that it is necessary to bring strength and momentum to the ongoing struggle by making the necessary new arrangements to prevent similar births.
As it is known, the TRNC is known as one of the best examples in the world about thalassaemia, and referred as the first country to reset thalassaemia. This achievement should not be forgotten.
Community education and awareness play an important role in the fight against thalassaemia. The important point to know is to prevent the birth of a sick child by screening pregnant women from ethnic origins with high thalassaemia who have not passed such tests.
Unfortunately, the blood problem in our country regarding thalassaemia still remains. For this reason, I would like to underline that we need to solve the blood problem by intensifying the studies that will increase the awareness of blood donation.
I would like to take this opportunity to call for blood donation and wish healthy days to our people.