A key meeting will be held next week to discuss the sickle cell protocol and the measures undertaken to treat patients suffering from this hereditary blood disease.
The death of three sickle cell patients over the last two days prompted Health Minister Sadiq bin Abdulkarim Al-Shehabi to convene the meeting.
Health ministry officials, consultant doctors and sickle cell disease specialists will attend the session.
In a statement issued, the ministry deplored the sad demise of the sickle patients.
“The meeting will review the current therapeutic measures in light of international standards and assess their efficiency in treating Bahraini sickle cell patients”, Public and International relations director Abdulaziz Al-Reffai said.
The session will discuss the possibility of benefiting from international experts specialized in hereditary blood diseases in treating Bahraini sickle cell patients.
The ministry has already turned the 44-bed Ibrahim Khalil Kanoo Centre into a temporary facility for the treatment of sickle cell patients.
A new four-storey hereditary blood disease centre compromising 90 beds is expected to be operational late this year.
Al-Shehabi called on all civil society institutions, particularly Bahrain Sickle Cell Care Society to join ranks with the ministry to avert intermarriage between families with a history of hereditary blood diseases.
The ministry is planning to launch a media campaign in cooperation with government departments and civil society institutions to enhance people’s awareness and reduce the incidence of sickle cell disease in Bahrain.