The UK's National Health Service (NHS) has become the first healthcare system in the world to provide a new blood group genotyping test for people with
rare inherited blood disorders.
From Monday (22 January), thousands of patients suffering from sickle cell disorder and thalassaemia will get access to the world-first 'blood matching'
genetic test, which will help reduce their risk of transfusion side effects while offering more personalised care.
In England, it is estimated that around 17,000 people are living with sickle cell disorder, with 250 new cases reported each year, and there are about 800
thalassaemia patients, with less than 50 new cases a year.
Health Minister Andrea Leadsom said: "Thousands of people living with sickle cell disease and thalassaemia will be eligible for this new world-first blood
test which is set to transform their care.
A pharmacy assistant has been jailed for three years and seven months for stealing £330,000 worth of diabetes-testing kits from his workplace.
Abdul Nargoliya stole the products while working as a pharmacy assistant at a Lloydspharmacy counter inside a Sainsbury's supermarket in Fosse Park, Leicester
where we was employed since 2012.
The 30-year-old from Woodboy Street in Leicester was sentenced on Friday (May 26) after pleading guilty at Leicester Crown Court "to theft by an employee and
concealing, transferring, converting criminal property".
According to police an internal investigation launched at the pharmacy branch in July 2018 revealed that more than 22,000 test kits had been ordered since January
2017.
Leicester Police said they identified Nargoliya as a suspect due to the time of the orders being placed matching up to his shift patterns. They arrested him in July
2018.
Orders for the products were placed by telephone and CCTV footage showed Nargoliya handling them.
It was noticed that during his shifts, the defendant would move the deliveries into a private consultation room and later leave with full carrier bags.