before marriage
Dr. Hoda Al-Faraidi stresses the importance of conducting a medical examination before marriage. The pediatric hematology consultant at the Armed Forces Hospital in Riyadh, Dr. Hoda Al-Faraidi, revealed that the Ministry of Health recently registered about 3 million people with genetic blood diseases, and the eastern region topped the list by 30 percent, followed by Makkah Al-Mukarramah B - 14 percent, indicating that there is a plan to combat these diseases by providing rehabilitative and curative services.
She added in a lecture she gave at the conclusion of the sixth conference of the Armed Forces Medical Services yesterday, sponsored by Princess Al-Bandari Bint Sultan, that statistics indicate that one child has a genetic disease out of 25 children resulting from a defect in genes, or a disease with genetic factors during his 25 years of age, It is expected that one child will have a severe congenital defect for every 33 births of a live child, and 9 of these injured people die early or need to stay in hospitals for a long time, stressing the importance of conducting a medical examination before marriage, to know many genetic diseases, and treat them before the start of married life And the integrity of the tests does not indicate a complete absence of genetic diseases, but a family member can be infected.
He mentioned that the pre-marital medical examination was applied to 488 thousand young men and women from the beginning of the program in 1424 AH until the end of 142 AH, and the tests resulted in the safety of 447 thousand tests, a rate of 92 percent, and the number of carriers of sickle cell disease 20 thousand, and those affected by it 1251 people, and 15 Alef is a carrier of thalassemia, and those infected with it are 384, pointing out that he advised and prevented 5860 young men and women from completing their marriage from the total of those tested. She emphasized that prenuptial examination is limited in prevalence, and people are reluctant to conduct it due to fear of knowing their pregnancy for a specific genetic disease, as the ministerial circular for pre-marital screening will be associated with the integrity and confidentiality of those in charge of it, demanding to review medical advice clinics, conduct analyzes, and clarify Dangers to the family from the medical staff.
She showed a photo report on the suffering of a Saudi woman who has 10 children, 4 of whom suffer from sickle cell anemia, and 6 carriers of the disease as a result of ignorance of the pre-marital examination, the exorbitant material costs of medication, her psychological poor condition, and one of that woman''s children being hospitalized for three months, and her daughter''s inability to marry And her reluctance to the hospital.
For her part, the head of the chest unit at the King Fahd Military Hospital in Jeddah, Dr. Maha al-Dabbagh, confirmed in a working paper on "Bronchial Asthma ... Methods of Control and Prevention" that the total state spends about two billion annually on treating asthma, and the number of visits to asthma patients in Saudi hospitals In recent years, there have been 11 million visits, 2 million of them in emergency departments.
She stated that moving from the village to the city increases asthma cases, lack of commitment to treatment, which affects their job performance, and the difficulty of performing any sporting activity.
