Donate bone marrow and save lives

KARACHI – The absence of a bone marrow donation culture in the country has diminished the survival chances of thousands of patients suffering from different blood disorders, said haematologists and bone marrow recipients at a ceremony organised to observe the International Bone Marrow Transplant Day.
They that said despite the 90 percent survival rate among bone marrow recipients in the country, many lives are lost due to the absence of donors. “Around 3,000 patients suffering from leukaemia, or lymphoma or thalassaemia or aplastic anaemia in Karachi are in urgent need of bone marrow donation,” said Dr Tahir Shamsi of the National Institute of Blood Diseases.
“The majority of donors are siblings, however, in case of poor tissue matching, the patients need to have alternative donors,” he added. The haematologist and bone marrow surgeon said that efforts are under way to establish an umbilical cord blood bank in the country with due attention to educate the masses that bone marrow donors are neither at any risk, nor do they have to go through any surgery.
Dr Shamsi appreciated that more than 200 bone marrow recipients gathered in Karachi to host the Thanks Giving Ceremony to express their gratitude to their donors and also to make people realise the importance of the volunteer blood donation-cum-bone marrow donation culture. Dr Saqib Ansari, a paediatric surgeon representing the Sana Omair Foundation for Thalassaemic Children said that blood cancer and other disorder sufferers in the country, as old as 69 years and as young as 28 days old, have not only managed to survive but also showed marked improvement in their quality of life following a bone marrow transplantation.
“Bone marrow transplantation that was introduced in our country in 2007 initially had 70 percent survival rate and over the period of time, this has improved to 90 percent,” he said. Dr Ansari urged people to inculcate among themselves the culture to share and contribute towards the survival of thousands. He said thalassaemic children need early transplantation – before the age of five years – otherwise they often develop the problem of heavy iron load in their blood due to the use of essential medicines.
“We prefer not to administer the procedure among such individuals as they hold high risk of heart or kidney failure,” he said. Haematologist Dr Mohsin Anvery, show-biz personality Moin Akhter and cricketer Shoaib Mohammad also addressed the hosts of the ceremony and vowed to support their cause of raising public awareness about the urgency for establishing an umbilical cord blood bank in the country.
The bone marrow recipients also performed skits and presented a tableau highlighting plight of the people in need of bone marrow transplantation. They urged the authorities concerned to play their due role towards prevention of diseases that could be averted through proper public awareness and adequate diagnostic facilities.