Bone Marrow Transplantation ops a godsend for thalassemia patients

Rajendranagar: Determined to fight against Thalassemia and work towards making the country free from the disease by 2022, the Thalassemia Sickle Cell Society (TSCS) is making significant strides by helping five patients get "free from the disease forever."

Considering that the bone marrow transplantation (BMT) would be a better way to provide complete cure for the blood-sucking disease, the TSCS has teamed up with Sankalp India Foundation (SIF), Bangalore, to conduct bone marrow transplantations for the needy – the initiative has started yielding good results.

In a first instance, five patients have successfully overcome the disease after they were counselled and operated upon for bone marrow transplantations and the convalescent children are responding well after the transplantations.

After teaming up with Sankalp Foundation, the Society has started reaching out patients by counselling their parents. "We have 37 patients ready with matched HLA typing, who will be sent one after another for BMT by the end of this month. Dr Stalin & Rakesh, the CEO of Sankalp India Foundation, has visited TSCS and counselled the parents of prospective Thalassemia patients who are now willing to let their wards undergo BMT," said Ratnavali Kottapalli, founder vice-president of TSCS, at their office in Shivrampally.

Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing is used to match patients and donors for bone marrow or cord blood transplants. HLA are proteins -- or markers -- found on most cells in your body. Your immune system uses these markers to recognize which cells belong in your body and which do not, according to bethematch.org.

"We have already sent five children for BMT to the aforementioned centre and all the five patients are now completely Thalassemia-free. Beside this, the society also organised free HLA typing camp on November 2-3 at KAMLA Hospital & Research Centre, Shivrampalli. During the camp, almost 189 buccal swabs from patients and 222 from siblings and mothers (in case of no siblings) were collected."

She explained. TSCS has established a comprehensive care, cure and counselling facility to serve the people suffering from Thalassemia and Sickle Cell disease. Recently, the facility was extended further with diagnostic lab, blood bank and transfusion centre under one roof. Presently, around 40 blood transfusions are carried on a daily basis. The centre has enrolled around 440 patients with different health issues under Aarogyashri to make them eligible for free treatment.