The government is to enable free bone marrow transplants in their efforts to broaden the services offered to Thalassemia patients.

This decision was announced by President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu following a meeting with his Cabinet of Ministers on Sunday.

During deliberations on a paper submitted by the Ministry of Health on Sunday, the cabinet recommended to facilitate free bone marrow transplants and strengthen and expand services for Thalassemia patients, which was approved by the president.

The administration’s ‘Hafthaa 14’ roadmap offers key components such as enhancing healthcare services offered to Thalassemia patients as well as facilitating government sponsorship for bone marrow transplants of eligible Thalassemia patients.

The cabinet on Sunday thoroughly reviewed the proposal submitted by the Ministry of Health and reached the decision to instruct the State Trading Organization (STO) to ensure the availability of essential medicines and consumables for Thalassemia patients and facilitate coverage via the Aasandha health insurance scheme.

Further, the cabinet approved a short-term expedited assessment process for finalizing Thalassemia patients requiring bone marrow transplants as part of a strategic initiative to establish a sustainable framework for government-sponsored transplants.

As such the cabinet has set a number of eligible Thalassemia patients that would be sponsored for overseas transplant procedures annually, and to support ten patients annually by 2028.

President Muizzu decided to establish a specialized hospital exclusively for treating Thalassemia patients following approval from the cabinet and it was also resolved to incorporate additional facilities within this hospital.

In addition to this, these facilities will include 'T2*' testing services, a critical diagnostic tool patients previously had to seek from private hospitals.

The president also decided to include DNA testing under the approved list of treatments covered under the Aasandha Scheme, after considering the peripheral issues related to the increase of Thalassemia patients.

DNA testing is a carrier screening process used to identify Thalassemia inheritance.

Sunday’s meeting also saw the cabinet approving the implementation of Thalassemia awareness programmes, enhancing testing and screening of Thalassemia in the Maldives.