‘Pre-marital medical check up to test for sickle-cell anaemia’

AMMAN — A new test will be added to the pre-marital medical examination in Jordan, addressing the sickle-cell anaemia genetic blood disorder, according to officials at the Health Ministry.

The Pre-Marital Blood Test By-law, which obliges couples wishing to get married to carry out blood tests to ensure they are not afflicted with thalassemia, will be amended to include this additional condition.

“The prevalence rate of sickle-cell anaemia among Jordanians is 1 per cent. We are in the process of preparing the amendment of the by-law, which will most probably be ready in June,” Aktham Hadaddin, director of the ministry’s laboratories, told The Jordan Times on Monday.

He noted that the regulations will include specific laboratory techniques to ensure better accuracy.

Thalassemia is a genetically determined defect in haemoglobin synthesis that leads to stunted growth and can in some cases be fatal.

Hadaddin noted that the prevalence rate of thalassemia among Jordanians stands at 4 per cent.

Asia Odwan, a specialist in blood diseases at the Health Ministry, praised the decision to include sickle-cell anaemia in the pre-marital examination.

“This is a fatal heredity disease that cannot be detected without tests. It is true that its prevalence rate is around 1 per cent in Jordan, but it increases in the Jordan Valley region,” she told The Jordan Times.

The doctor explained that in this type of anaemia, a mutated form of haemoglobin distorts the red blood cell into a crescent shape, blocking blood flow.

However, Odwan noted that the ministry cannot stop couples from getting married even when the tests show that they are carriers of thalassemia or sickle-cell anaemia.

“We explain to them the nature of the diseases and show them the condition of children who contracted them and how this could have been prevented if the marriage was not consummated. However, some of them insist on getting married,” Odwan noted.