LAHORE: Children suffering from thalassemia on Friday spent a memorable day at the Government College University Lahore by visiting library, classes and academic departments, besides leading an on-campus awareness walk along with the vice chancellor, faculty members and students to highlight the importance of blood donation and parental diagnosis of the disease. A group of physically-challenged students also participated in the walk, which was organised by the university’s Blood Donors Society (BDS) and Fatimid Foundation in connection with the upcoming World Thalassemia Day tomorrow (Sunday). Speaking on the occasion, GCU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Hassan Amir Shah paid glowing tributes to the courage and strong faith of these thalassemia patients and their parents for the life of their children. He said GCU had a very active blood donation society, which arranged blood for hundreds of thalassemia patients every year. The vice chancellor highlighted need for mass awareness campaigns against the blood disorder across the country, saying that it is highly unfortunate that thalassemia is the most prevalent genetically transmitted blood disorder in Pakistan despite the fact it could be prevented by a simple thalassemia test before marriage. GCU BDS Advisor Dr Babr Assi also said that screening to identify thalassemia carriers, genetic counselling and prenatal diagnosis could greatly reduce the growth rate of thalassemia. Talking to media, a seven-year-old thalassemia patient, Madiha Sajid, said that her biggest fear was unviability of blood, which she required twice a month for transfusion. She called upon the students to donate blood regularly, so that she and her hospital friends (thalassemia patients) could become doctors. A ten-year-old, Amna Arif, requested the government to launch awareness campaigns to promote voluntary blood donation by the young and healthy people. Thalassemia patients Sajid Iqbal, Zoya Tariq, Mubashar Arshad, Salman Maqsood, Rimsha Munawar and Zaka Mujahid also participated in the walk.