Two children recently underwent bone marrow transplant at the Kanchi Kamakoti CHILDS Trust Hospital (KKCTH) here.
The children, aged 3 and 7, suffered from Thalassemia Major and required frequent blood transfusion.
The children, who hailed from poor families, had been referred to paediatric haematologist M. Deenadayalan at Dr. Rela Institute and Medical Centre. One child was from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh and another is from Tamil Nadu.
For both children, their elder sibling was the donor.
The three-year-old received bone marrow from his 7-year-old brother. For the six-year-old girl her 10-year-old sister was the donor.
The surgeries were done with financial support from online funding platforms such as Ketto and Milaap, besides the hospital’s trustees, said S. Balasubramanian, Medical Director of KKCTH.
Dr. Deenadayalan said such families spend ₹1.7 lakh annually on medical treatment. Bone marrow transplant would give such children better quality of life.
Mohamed Rela, chairman of Dr. Rela Institute, said the association between the Institute and the hospital helped as in institutions such as the KKCTH, the treatment cost was low.
KKCTH chief executive officer S. Chandramohan said each surgery cost over ₹18 lakh.
For the children in Tamil Nadu, post-surgery medical support was offered free of cost for a year, he added.
