New Delhi, May 12:  Actor Jackie Shroff today urged the government to reduce the cost of medicines for thalassemia and take active steps towards prevention of the disease.

Shroff, the brand ambassador of Thalassemics India, visited the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital here and met the patients suffering from thalassemia, an inherited blood disorder in which the body makes an abnormal form of haemoglobin, also interacted with the doctors.

"This subject is very close to my heart as my younger daughter Krishna was prevented from being thalassemic due to awareness and tests," he said.

"I appeal to the government to reduce the charges of medicines and take active steps towards prevention of this disease as it is a preventable disease," Shroff said.

Dr V K Khanna, the chairman, Department of Pediatrics and Head of Thalassemia Unit at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, said that thalassemia broadly can be classified into major and minor.

Thalassemia major is an autosomal recessive blood disorder which gets transferred from parents to the children through the genes, he said.

Those who are affected with thalassemia major need regular blood transfusions, continuous monitoring and medications to survive, Khanna said.

"Approximate 3.4 per cent of the people are carriers of thalassemia and around 7,000 to 10,000 children are born with thalassemia major every year in India," he said.

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