Bhubaneswar: City-based Institute of Life Sciences (BRICS-ILS) will start a new project in Nabarangpur district for screening pregnant women and newborns for congenital and hereditary genetic diseases. A laboratory will be set up for this work under Centre's Unique Methods of Inherited Disorders (UMMID) initiative.
Currently, setting up of the laboratory and process of appointing staff is under way. The project will start in three months. It will also conduct counselling for expecting women carrying foetuses with a high risk of genetic disorders, said official sources.
Rajeeb Swain, senior scientist at ILS, said congenital and hereditary genetic diseases are a significant health burden on the country. "To reduce this burden, the Centre is taking steps for genetic testing and counselling services in several aspirational districts of India. Department of biotechnology (DBT) of the Centre will carry out this initiative in Nabarangpur," he added.
He said the laboratory will be established at the district headquarters hospital, Nabarangpur. "For genome sequencing of any case, the lab can send the sample to ILS's central laboratory. After three years, state govt hospitals can handle the project. Meanwhile, we will train manpower for carrying out the diagnosis," he added.
He said the high-end testing facilities are available at SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack. "We will make this facility available in Nabarangpur district," he added.
The laboratory can conduct pre-natal tests for genetic disorders like beta thalassaemia, sickle cell disease and other haemoglobinopathy, Down syndrome and other aneuploidy, congenital malformations such as neural tube defects, and other genetic disorders more prevalent in the region.
The lab will also carry out screening of newborns for relatively common treatable genetic metabolic disorders, including congenital hypothyroidism, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, galactosemia, biotinidase deficiency, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency, among others.