Sickle cell hub in Middle East urged

The Middle East is in need of a hub in the area of research and treatment of sickle cell disease, according to Bahrain Society for Sickle Cell and Anaemia care President Zakareya Al Kadhem, who played up Bahrain’s potential to fulfil such a role. 

Lack of a regional hub has caused inconvenience for doctors, patients and families of patients in the region, he said. 

The nearest centre of this kind is in India, Al Khadem noted, as he called for a regional centre that will be designed to cater to the research and treatment of the disease in the Middle East because this region has different challenges compared to India. 

He praised Bahrain’s recent move to create a database for sickle cell patients as a step in the right direction. The database was compiled by the Genetic Blood Disease Centre at Salmaniya Medical Complex.

“The database will help in research, decision-making and in assessing our weakness and strengths when its comes to sickle cell treatment. I believe that we can learn from this experience and work with colleagues from the GCC and the Middle East and create a database for the region. Bahrain can become the hub for the data and training for sickle cell disease treatment. The region needs this, the nearest centre, what we can call as a hub, is in India. It helps but it is not enough, the Middle East has different challenges as compared to India,” he said.