INTRODUCTION: Haemoglobinopathy is a major genetic public health problems in India, responsible for significant  morbidity and mortality.Individuals with trait (carriers) are healthy and unaware of their carrier status unless specifically screened.If a couple carry a  significant haemoglobinopathy trait there is a 1 in 4 chance with each pregnancy that their child will inherit a major haemoglobinopathy.The most effective approach to reduce the burden in the society is to reduce the incidence by implementation of a carrier screening programme.This study is done to know the prevalence of haemoglobinopthies and variant of haemoglobin using cation exchange HPLC.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES:

• To identify the pregnant woman at risk of having homozygous or heterozygous  child with a severe haemoglobinopathies in  tertiary level hospital of south Gujarat.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

• The present study was carried out in a tertiary care hospital for a period of 1 month . 100 Antenatal patients attending Obstetric-out patient department for routine check-up were included in the study.
• 2 ml EDTA venous blood from pregnant mothers after informed consent .This blood is subjected for complete haemogram, peripheral blood smear and HPLC using Biorad  testing system.Descriptive analysis is done and data is presented innumbers and  in %.

RESULT: Out of a total of 100 pregnant women 20% were having haemoglobinopathies, whereas 80% had normal haemoglobin. Out of 20 cases, maximum number of cases i.e. Sickle cell trait cases i.e. 10 % followed byβ –Thalassemia trait7 % followed by Other haemoglobinopathies are also found i.e. sickle cell disease 2% HbE homozygous 1%.

CONCLUSION: This study shows a high prevalence of haemoglobinopathies in antenatal mothers necessitating  an appropriate screening stratergy for antenatal mothers.We should concluded that HPLC is a sensitive technique for studying haemoglobinopathies during pregnancy.