Availability of top class treatment for blood disorders in southern districts is all set to get a fillip as Madurai will have a Bone Marrow Transplantation centre by coming July.
With the professional help of a leading Italy-based paediatric haematologist and oncologist, the Meenakshi Mission Hospital and Research Centre (MMHRC) here is establishing a facility for bone marrow transplant with special focus on thalassemia-affected children.
Inputs given
Lawrence Faulkner, Italy's well-known expert on thalassemia treatment, had a preliminary meeting with the MMHRC doctors here on Saturday where he gave his inputs for setting up the facility. Cure2Children Foundation in Italy which has been extensively supporting children with cancer and blood disorders will extend its support for the centre coming up in Madurai.
“Bone marrow transplantation can be done at affordable cost in a cost-effective way. In Islamabad, we had successfully done in a Government hospital. We don't need a fancy environment to start bone marrow transplantation centre,” Dr. Faulkner told The Hindu before an awareness symposium conducted for physicians and parents of children with thalassemia.
Plan of action
The Italy expert, who has also played a key role in starting bone marrow transplantation unit at Jaipur, had worked out a plan of action during his discussion with S.Jayabose, Director, Division of Paediatric Haematology-Oncology at Meenakshi Misison Hospital, A.Kannan, Head, Department of Paediatrics and Nirmala Vijayakumar, consultant, Reproductive Medicine.
“Huge investment is not needed to start a bone marrow transplantation centre. We are also confident that transplantation can be done at low cost for patient. In the Madurai centre, it will not cost more than Rs.six lakh (Rs.6 lakh) for a patient,” Dr. Faulkner said.
He said that referral cases for BMT can be sent to Madurai centre and it need not necessarily confine to patients in this region. For a child undergoing the transplantation with on otherwise generally good parameters, there can be a permanent cure from thalassemia.
“Our Foundation (Cure2Children Foundation) will bear a share of the transplantation cost. Needy people should benefit out of the Madurai facility. Besides, I will also help Dr. Jayabose and his team with my experience in this area. In the first stage, our objective is to do bone marrow transplant for thalassemia and later on it can be done for other requirements,” he said.
Dr.Jayabose has said that there are more than one lakh children living in India with thalassemia major, which is a dreadful blood disorder. Every year, more than 9,000 babies are born with this disease which is a disorder where haemoglobin within red blood cells is either markedly reduced or absent.
“We will get going with bone marrow transplantation from July this year. If liver functioning is normal, it can be done and success rate too will be high. We want to see more children benefit from this facility in Madurai. The support from Foundation of Dr.Faulkner along with other donors besides the family's contribution should see the transplantation through for an affected patient. Here, it will cost around Rs.6 lakh whereas in some hospitals it is almost Rs.15 lakh,” Dr.Jayabose who has 14 years of experience in this field at a New York medical institution has said.
Dr.Kannan and Dr.Nirmala have said that prenatal diagnosis plays a vital role in prevention of thalassemia. “Transplantation has to be done as early as possible for affected children because blood transfusion cannot go on for ever,” they said. Those who want to know more about the bone marrow transplantation centre in Madurai and philanthropists who want to support the affected families can get in touch with Dr.Faulkner through e-mail Lawrence.faulkner@ cure2children.org.
They can also contact Dr.Jayabose on his e-mail address: jayabose1845@yahoo.com or dr.priya79@gmail.com. Mobile: 98654-81111. Phone: 0452-4263000 or 4263370.
