MGM organises camp for thalassemia patients

Indore: In its process to start the bone marrow transplant(BMT) for first time at MYH, MGM Medical College on Monday conducted human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing of patients suffering from thalassemia and their siblings.

In the camp, organised under the guidance of USA-based doctor Dr Prakash Satwani and an NGO Sankalp India Foundation president Lalith Parmar, 50 out of total 75 registered patients underwent the HLA typing. Besides, the management witnessed around 20 registrations on the spot.

“We have trained two doctors, who have voluntarily came forward to support the cause, to collect buccal swab of the patients and their siblings and they will run the camp for the next three days to cover the remaining patients,” Parmar told TOI.

He said that a similar camp will be organised in Bhopal and Gwalior o conduct HLA typing of 100 registered patients on December 26 and 29 respectively.

Parmar claimed that the cost of each HLA tying is around Rs 10,000 to 15,000, but his organisation is doing it for free of cost.

Earlier in the jam-packed auditorium of MY Hospital, Dr Satwani, Parmar, MGM dean Dr Sharad Thora and Dr Ashok Yadav were among the speakers to brief the patients and their family members about BMT, its procedure and benefits. The experts also addressed queries of the patients and their family members regarding thalassemia and BMT.

“Our focus is to first take up the cases for BMT, which can yield higher result. Therefore, we have created two groups – cases with more than 90 per cent chances of success and less than that,” Dr Thora told TOI.

He said that public works department (PWD) will handover the newly developed BMT’s unit by December 30. Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan would inaugurate the unit during his two-day stay in Indore on January 3 and 4, 2018. At MYH, cost of BMT will be around 5-6 lakh