A new hope, a new silver lining has surfaced for little children suffering from the pain and burden of thalassemia. A new Bone Marrow Transplantation unit (BMT) with an exclusive focus towards treating thalassemia children has been jointly established by Sankalp India Foundation, Cure2Children and People Tree Hospitals at Bengaluru. This unit is the one of the two centers in the country and first of its kind in South India, that has an exclusive focus on thalassemia and is setup on a Not For Profit basis.
The unit was inaugurated on the 27th of August 2015 by Dr Vamanadeva, Director of Health and Family Welfare Services, Giovernment of Karnataka. The event was attended by several dignitaries treating thalassemia patients from across the country. Parents, families of thalassemia affected children were also present. Speaking at the occasion, Dr Vamanadeva highlighted the need for such centres that offer quality care and yet be affordable. He expressed delight that the facility is looking to cater to patients from all over the state and hoped that the pain and burden of thalassemia will be wiped out for several children.
The 4-bed unit is one of the two centers in the country that has an exclusive focus on thalassemia. The unit is being setup with philanthropic contributions from several individuals and organizations. Dr Lawrence Faulkner from Cure2Children Italy is the consultant physician on board. Cure2Children, headed by Dr Lawrence is spearheading thalassemia care and management in several parts of Europe and Asia. Being a pediatric oncologist, he has taken special focus on thalassemia and has overseen several successful transplants at associated centres all over the world. He says “every child, suffering from thalassemia, must get an affordable and reliable cure”. Under his able guidance, the team at People Tree Hospitals led by Dr Chetan Ginigeri is all geared up to Give Life A Better Chance to several children who are queued up for transplants.
“This joint venture is a conglomeration of three organizations, who believe in delivering high quality care to each & everyone. We are taking every measure to make sure that, subsidized cost does not mean compromised care” says Dr.Chandrasekar Chikkamuniyappa, CEO and Senior Joint Replacement Surgeon, People Tree Hospitals. ‘In 3 years’ time we would like this center to become JCI Accredited, hence all the processes are accordingly being set and followed’, he adds.
Every Bone Marrow transplantation done at this centre is highly subsidized. Regular cost of Bone Marrow transplantation elsewhere is genrally over and above 15 lakhs. However, this joint venture is going to bring down the cost to around 8.5Lakhs to 10 Lakhs for needy children. To our knowledge this is going to be the lowest cost for Bone Marrow Transplantation in the country. Sankalp is taking care of the financial, socio-economic aspects and patient management aspects at the centre. Sankalp has forged relationships with several partners to be able to set up the unit at minimal cost and yet offer quality care. “No child with thalassemia should die, either because of lack funds or facilities, that’s our mission. Our aim is to work towards effective prevention, management and cure for thalassemia and thereby ease the pain and suffering of children” says Lalith & Rajat from Sankalp India Foundation. A powerful and well-designed web based application, BMT Plus, developed by Sankalp’s technology partner – Jagriti Innovations is being used as the platform where patient’s daily treatment routines are tracked by all concerned.
The first set of patients have already been admitted and are on their treatment course. It is being planned that over the next one year more than 20 children will have been cured. It is also expected that in due course of time patients from several other centres in the country may be benefitted by the services offered by the centre.
The unit was inaugurated on the 27th of August 2015 by Dr Vamanadeva, Director of Health and Family Welfare Services, Giovernment of Karnataka. The event was attended by several dignitaries treating thalassemia patients from across the country. Parents, families of thalassemia affected children were also present. Speaking at the occasion, Dr Vamanadeva highlighted the need for such centres that offer quality care and yet be affordable. He expressed delight that the facility is looking to cater to patients from all over the state and hoped that the pain and burden of thalassemia will be wiped out for several children.
The 4-bed unit is one of the two centers in the country that has an exclusive focus on thalassemia. The unit is being setup with philanthropic contributions from several individuals and organizations. Dr Lawrence Faulkner from Cure2Children Italy is the consultant physician on board. Cure2Children, headed by Dr Lawrence is spearheading thalassemia care and management in several parts of Europe and Asia. Being a pediatric oncologist, he has taken special focus on thalassemia and has overseen several successful transplants at associated centres all over the world. He says “every child, suffering from thalassemia, must get an affordable and reliable cure”. Under his able guidance, the team at People Tree Hospitals led by Dr Chetan Ginigeri is all geared up to Give Life A Better Chance to several children who are queued up for transplants.
“This joint venture is a conglomeration of three organizations, who believe in delivering high quality care to each & everyone. We are taking every measure to make sure that, subsidized cost does not mean compromised care” says Dr.Chandrasekar Chikkamuniyappa, CEO and Senior Joint Replacement Surgeon, People Tree Hospitals. ‘In 3 years’ time we would like this center to become JCI Accredited, hence all the processes are accordingly being set and followed’, he adds.
Every Bone Marrow transplantation done at this centre is highly subsidized. Regular cost of Bone Marrow transplantation elsewhere is genrally over and above 15 lakhs. However, this joint venture is going to bring down the cost to around 8.5Lakhs to 10 Lakhs for needy children. To our knowledge this is going to be the lowest cost for Bone Marrow Transplantation in the country. Sankalp is taking care of the financial, socio-economic aspects and patient management aspects at the centre. Sankalp has forged relationships with several partners to be able to set up the unit at minimal cost and yet offer quality care. “No child with thalassemia should die, either because of lack funds or facilities, that’s our mission. Our aim is to work towards effective prevention, management and cure for thalassemia and thereby ease the pain and suffering of children” says Lalith & Rajat from Sankalp India Foundation. A powerful and well-designed web based application, BMT Plus, developed by Sankalp’s technology partner – Jagriti Innovations is being used as the platform where patient’s daily treatment routines are tracked by all concerned.
The first set of patients have already been admitted and are on their treatment course. It is being planned that over the next one year more than 20 children will have been cured. It is also expected that in due course of time patients from several other centres in the country may be benefitted by the services offered by the centre.
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