Haemoglobin SH disease in a Bahraini women detected at pregnancy

A rare combination of haemoglobin-S and haemoglobin-H disease was observed in a Bahraini woman during her pregnancy. She had presented with anaemia not responding to usual haematenics. The haematological and genetic studies suggested haemoglobin-H most likely to be due to non deletional type of alpha thalassemia, which is different from deletional variants present in other parts of the world

Over-utilization of pathology services by accident and emergency department

The over utilization of laboratory services by the accident and emergency [A/E] department at Salmaniya Medical Center is reported. 12583 test procedures ordered for the month of November 1992 for 14607 patients were analysed. BD. 488,484 estimated as yearly test expenditure. A proforma to curtail unnecessary tests is proposed which will reduce the expense by 6.1%

Incidence of genetic disorders of haemoglobins in the hospital population of Bahrain

In a retrospective study, blood samples of 56198 Bahraini nationals received at the Pathology Department in Salmaniya Medical Centre over the six-year period 1982-1987 were analysed. Of the total, 5503 were neonatal samples and the rest non-neonatal. Amongst the latter, 68.82% showed abnormal haemoglobin, 56.56% showed sickle cell trait, 10.44% showed sickle cell disease and 1.82% showed other forms of abnormal haemoglobins including rarer ones. Amongst the neonatal samples, abnormal haemoglobin were detected in 44.35%: 24.2% were alph-thalassaemia cases, 18.10% were sickle cell traits, and 2.1% were sickle cell disease. The highly variable concentration of the abnormal haemoglobin in both groups was also studied and analysed. Such high incidence of abnormal haemoglobin gene necessitates a prospective detailed study of the problem in general population followed by genetic counseling