Igenomix India- Specializing in Reproductive genetic Services- Welcomes the New Draft Policy by the Decision-Makers
The estimated global prevalence of genetic disorders in 10 out of every 1,000 live births as per WHO. As per global research by Igenomix:
- About 20 per cent of couples in cases of consanguineous marriages have been at high risk of having a child affected by genetic disorders
- 82 per cent of individuals are carriers of at least one condition
- Every person has an average of 2 genetic mutations.
- Close to 8 per cent of couples are incompatible and at a high risk of having an affected child.
Most of the genetic disorders occur due to mutations in one of many genes. Hence knowing your genes is crucial. While the carriers maybe healthy people, they are at an increased risk of having a child affected by genetic disorders.
Recently, the centre has crafted a draft policy proposing compulsory genetic screening of to prevent inherited disorders such as thalassemia and sickle cell anaemia, along with putting in place advanced facilities for a comprehensive care of such patients.
Mr. Vikram Ganju, Sales Head, Igenomix India commented on this new development “One should understand that the carriers are usually healthy people, but when both parents are carriers of a mutation in the same gene, the risk of having an affected child is escalated to 25 per cent. Due to lack of awareness, and the fact that carriers do not demonstrate any symptom of the genetic disorder, couples are often shocked by the birth of an affected child.”
Now with the new development, women will be encouraged to get the screening done before marriage or before conception to have a healthy baby in future.
Also, with advances in reproductive science fertility experts, embryologists and physicians are persistently experimenting and coming up with newer methods to enable families to have healthy pregnancies and healthy babies.
Pioneers in reproductive genetics, IGENOMIX’s advanced Carrier Genetic Test (CGT) can be conducted prior to conception to understand if the baby will stand the risk of having any of the serious diseases. Hence once identified in advance, measures can be taken to prevent the disorder in the child to be born.
Moreover, in the cases where both members of the couple are established to be a carrier of the same genetic mutation, they can consult their specialist about the option of Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) to conceive a healthy child.
Furthermore, according to the draft note, it is estimated that there are almost 3.6 to 3.9 crore carriers of thalassemia in India, and about 10,000 to 15,000 babies with thalassemia major are born each year. For sickle cell disease, there are about 25,00,000 carriers of the gene (Hemoglobin AS) and about 1,25,000 patients of sickle cell disease.
“The draft policy has brought in light alarming numbers and we are soon hoping that it will be in action and people will further benefit with our genetic screening test based on Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS).” said Mr. Vikram Ganju, Sales Head, Igenomix India.
By Igenomix India
