Odisha’s first allo-BMT carried out at SCBMCH

By Express News Service
CUTTACK:  “I want to live. Don’t give up on me. Do anything. I am ready for all risks.” These very phrases of  Abhiram Jena of Bedhapal village in Dhenkanal district proved to be the driving pressure for the docs of the Clinical Haematology division of SCB Medical College and Hospital to set yet one more milestone by conducting Odisha’s first allogenic bone marrow transfusion (BMT).

The group on Saturday efficiently carried out the process utilizing stem cells from a donor, Abhiram’s sister Laxmipriya (19), giving hope of a brand new life to the 21-year-old youth affected by a relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a sort of blood most cancers. While the premier State-run hospital has been conducting autologous BMT since 2014, the allogenic BMT process marks a major development in healthcare system of Odisha.

In autologous BMT, a affected person’s personal stem cells are used, whereas the allogenic BMT makes use of stem cells from an identical donor, who could be a relative or a volunteer. Completely funded by the State authorities, the allogenic BMT carried out at choose hospitals within the nation will now be accessible at low prices for the sufferers affected by blood most cancers or different critical blood problems.

State’s first allo-BMT carried out at SCBMCHThe similar process prices round Rs 30 lakh exterior the State with ready interval of no less than one yr.“Abhiram suffered a relapse of his cancer. But, he did not lose hope and continued to push us to attempt allogenic BMT, which he himself researched on the internet. We were actually inspired by his will to take up the challenge. Fortunately, his sister’s human leukocyte antigen (HLA) matched 100 per cent and we decided to go ahead,” stated head of Clinical Haematology dept Prof RK Jena.

The group included Prof Jena, Dr S Sethy, Dr RK Nayak, Dr M Biswal, Dr D Prusty and the paramedical unit with assist from different departments like transfusion drugs, pulmonary drugs, anaesthesiology, nephrology and cardiology, and so forth.

“This landmark BMT will create opportunity for cure of many blood and other diseases like thalassemia, sickle cell disease, aplastic anaemia, various blood cancers, other cancer and diseases. These diseases taken together are huge in number with significant socio-economic burden in our State,”  Prof Jena stated.Since the beginning of BMT unit at SCBMCH, as many as 85 circumstances of autologous BMT have been efficiently carried out and greater than 90 per cent are doing wonderful.

With full funding by the State authorities, the price of the BMT, which was once round Rs 10-15 lakh, is nearly free for the sufferers. Even the non-public hospitals have introduced down their fees to Rs 2-5 lakh below its influence. Several states have additionally adopted the Odisha mannequin.

“This achievement is in line with the vision of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to transform SCBMCH into a world-class Centre of Excellence and provide best healthcare to the people of our State. We have received complete support of the State Health department, SCBMCH authorities including Dean Prof Datteswar Hota to take this forward,” Prof Jena stated.