And the imminent conversion of the Division of Human Genetics at Vadodara Medical College into a full-fledged DNA Diagnostic Centre promises to be the first, big, step in this direction for people in Gujarat.

The centre, for which Rs 45 lakhs has already been earmarked, will take shape over the next six months or so, State Health Minister Ashok Bhatt told Express Newsline. It will enable studies on molecular levels to pinpoint any defective gene, so allowing parents-to-be to prevent the diseases in their offspring.

The significance of the problem is explained by a recent survey carried out in Vadodara, New Delhi and Mumbai by experts including Dr D C Master, head of the Human Genetics Division in the Vadodara Medical College. Of 33,000 new-borns in and around Vadodara, 170 infants were diagnosed with three or more genetic defects; 30 were found to be afflicted with Down's syndrome, three with Turner's syndrome and four with ambiguous genitalia. The survey was conducted by the Bhabha Medical Research Centre, Trombay.

There's been good news and bad news since the division opened, says Master. The good news is that, after years of low patient turnout, the current rate is six patients a week. That is also bad news, indicating as it does how the problem has grown. Master, though, sees the positive side: ``I am happy people are now becoming aware and thus ready for the right diagnosis.''

More than 100 patients have, in consultation with the college and the associated SSG Hospital and some private experts, undergone reconstructive surgeries advised following genotype and phenotype studies.

SSG Hospital superintendent Dr Kamal Pathak also sees the bright side of the increase in number of patients, saying, ``The next century is going to be the age of genetics.'' Haematologist Bhardwaj Desai, who has been treating and advising about 80-odd thalassaemia cases in city alone says if the cases are many, it is only because of the increased awareness.

Desai analyses how the new gene therapy could affect his field. Thalassaemia major is incurable, unless a bone marrow transplant is carried out (at a cost of about 10 lakh, in a few places outside Gujarat), while thalassaemia minor requires a blood transplant every month or two, yet the life span is less as a patients constantly gets anaemic. A couple already having a child suffering from thalassaemia could engineer the genes of their unborn child to eliminate the `sick' gene, as it were. Renowned gyaeno-endocrinologist Rohit Bhatt says that though public awareness of genetic disorders is gradually increasing, the onus lay with the medical community to spread it around faster. The irony, he says, is that couples prefer to check their unborn child for its gender rather than for its health.