Comparison Of Knowledge Among Millennials Studying In Non-Medical Universities Regarding Premarital And Prenatal Thalassemia Screening Policies In Pakistan.

Thalassemia awareness among the youth is vital for policy- making to reduce the disease burden in our country. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted via simple random sampling technique for which data was collected from May 2020 to May 2021 through Google forms. Results showed that out of a total of 394 non-medical university students, the majority, i.e. 265 (67.3%), were not aware of prenatal screening. Majority, i.e. 117 (29.7%), agreed that the couple should be screened before marriage, and 190 (48.2%) strongly agreed, while 46 (11.7%) had no knowledge. Students, however, believed premarital screening was either unavailable, not possible, or expensive. Other reasons included custom and culture of arranged marriages and religious reasons. The query that if both the parents are carriers and the foetus has thalassemia major should they have an abortion, showed mixed results. The key to controlling thalassemia is awareness of future parents.

Trends and outcomes of admissions in the Paediatrics ward at a tertiary care hospital of urban Karachi.

In order to improve the health care system in Pakistan, the first step is to assess which diseases are the most prevalent and to what extent among children and lead to hospital admissions. This would help to improve the facilities and management and thus reduce the duration of hospital stay. This study aimed to determine the spectrum of disease presentation and the outcome and duration of hospital stay of patients presenting to the paediatric ward of a tertiary care hospital. A cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted in the paediatric ward of a semi-private hospital PNS SHIFA in Karachi. The duration of the study was six months (March 2019 to August 2019) and the sample size was 431. Non probability convenience sampling was done and p-value =/< 0.05 was taken as significant. Data was analysed through SPSS version 22. The study showed that gastroenterological diseases were the most common (138 [32%]), and all patients with these problems were discharged after treatment. Out of the 96 (22%) patients presenting with pulmonary diseases all were discharged except 2/96 patients (2%) who died as they had some co-morbidity (congenital heart disease and measles, respectively). One was referred (congenital heart disease). Seventy-five (17.5%) had infectious diseases with good outcome, 2 out of 19 (4.9%) had cardiac related illnesses. One neurological patient died, while the rest of 41 were discharged. The study concluded that the most common cause of admission in children is gastroenterological, pulmonary and infectious diseases; almost all except a few with co-morbidities were discharged after a short hospital stay.