PESHAWAR, Nov 9: Lack of staff has been hampering work on a project which was launched to create awareness about prevention of thalassaemia in the North-West Frontier Province, according to officials.

The project — characterised as the first of its kind to be launched in the public sector — was inaugurated by former health minister Inayatullah Khan in June 2005.

The government had allocated Rs30 million for the project that was supposed to be completed in three years. However, there were now indications that the scheme would not be completed within the stipulated period, said the officials.

The government has released only Rs5 million for the project since its inauguration. As a result, the authorities concerned are unable to implement their plans fully.

The officials of the finance and health departments were creating bureaucratic hurdles for the people running the project, claimed the officials.

First, the accountant-general’s office put forth the condition that before the release of funds a copy of the audit report must be produced. Even after this condition was met the finance department was dragging its feet over the sanctioning of the staff needed, said the sources.

The government had appointed as the project director Prof Dr Abdul Hameed, head of the child health department in the Khyber Teaching Hospital, while Dr Zahoorullah of the Pakistan Medical Research Council and Dr Fazle Raziq of the Lady Reading Hospital were made members of the monitoring group.

The three academics told Dawn that in the first phase of the project they had planned to conduct a study to ascertain the prevalence of the ailment in the province. Thalassaemia was a genetic disease and awareness about it among the people could play a vital role in its eradication, they said.

They said that 25 per cent of the children whose fathers and mothers were carriers of thalassaemia major were at risk of being inflicted with the ailment, which was avoidable.

They planned a crash programme that included preparation of a directory of index cases, to be followed by screening of 60 members from the families of the patients’ fathers and 60 from their mothers’ families.

Once the staff was made available, a provincial screening centre would be established on the premises of the Khyber Medical College. Similar programmes would be launched in the districts where the prevalence of the ailment was high, they added.

The project envisaged the training and education of the carriers of thalassaemia major, they said. The longest surviving person suffering from thalassaemia in the province was 26 years old, whose brother took extreme care of him due to which he survived longer than expected.

They said that bone marrow transplantation was a permanent solution to the condition but it cost Rs1.20 million, with Rs10,000 per month needed for the subsequent treatment.

They added that the only way to save children from the disease was through awareness regarding the causative agents of the ailment.

Iran and Saudi Arabia had eliminated the disease by linking registration of marriages to screening of the couples.

They said: “After the availability of the staff, mobile teams would be constituted for screening of high-risk families.” At a later stage, the programme could be strengthened by involving gynaecologists in it.

The project was also aimed at paving the way for legislation for termination of pregnancies in cases where the babies suffered from thalassaemia. They said that gynaecologists and paediatricians at the teaching hospitals of the city would be trained and a thalassaemia and genetic disease centre would be established.

“But, we need staff to implement all our plans,” they added.