Background: Sankalp India Foundation has been exploring the possibility of setting up a bone marrow transplantation(BMT) centre at Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health(IGICH) for a while now. Cure2Children is an organisation committed to offering the option of world class BMT at affordable cost to every child who suffers from Thalassemia. The organisation has been supporting Sankalp's attempts to try and set up non-profit BMT facility in Bangalore. The skepticism and lack of clarity surrounding the BMT procedure which is still considered rocket science in our nation was preventing things from progressing. There was a need to have a clear scientific discussion on the possibility of setting up a BMT unit locally in IGICH. With this intent, SIF facilitated a workshop at IGICH.
17th June 2013:
A workshop on 'Bone Marrow Transplantation' was organised by IGICH where Dr Lawrence, the Medical Director of Cure2Children Foundation, Italy was the guest speaker. The program as attended by the specialists involved in BMT from the following institutions in Bangalore:
- IGICH
- St Johns Medical College
- Narayana Hrudayalaya
- Kidwai Institute of Oncology
- BGS Global Hospital
- HCG Hospital
- MVJ MEdical College
There were three topics which were discussed in detail:
- "BMT as a curative option for Thalassemia Major in Developing World".
- "Setting up and Running a BMT Centre"
- "International Standards for Cellular Therapy, including BMT".
For each one of these topics, Dr Lawrence shared his knowledge and experience and the experts discussed the various issues which relate to setting up of a unit in IGICH. The discussion was restricted to using BMT for Thalassemia cure. After a daylong great discussion it was great to see all the experts on the same page. They all agreed to the fact that for a BMT unit to be setup (in a specific to treat thalassemia), IGICH was the ideal place and the experience of Cure2Children invaluable.
With this, SIF is hoping that soon we will be able to see a BMT unit in IGICH offering the much needed hope and cure for the children suffering from thalassemia We thank Dr Premalatha, the Director of IGICH for organising the workshop and Dr Lawrence to spare from his valuable time to share his experience.