Bone marrow transplant centre to open Sunday

10 patients have been selected for the inaugural transplants. Doctors have already started collecting bone marrow from six of them

Bangladesh is going to open its first bone marrow transplant facility on Sunday at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital. Health minister AFM Ruhal Haque will inaugurate the facility that comes as a great news for thousands of cancer patients who needed to travel abroad for this very expensive and sophisticated transplant. Haematologist Prof MA Khan, in-charge of the unit, told bdnews24.com they would offer the crucial life-saving procedure at less than one-third of what it costs outside. Doctors replace damaged or destroyed bone marrow – the soft and spongy tissue inside bones – with healthy bone marrow stem cells by this procedure to treat different types of blood cancer, certain genetic blood and immunity disorders like thalassemia, and severe aplastic anaemia. There are no official data about people needing bone marrow transplants in Bangladesh but doctors say many go abroad for this replacement. Against this backdrop, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had tied up with the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), the teaching hospital of the Harvard Medical School, and a biomedical research centre in Boston last year to make the treatment affordable at home. The health minister first set the deadline to open it in June, but later said more time was needed to set up this ‘very sophisticated and technology-dependent’ unit. MGH trained up nurses and doctors while the government bought equipment for the centre which is housed at the ninth floor of the DMCH newly inaugurated building. The floor has been remodelled to suit its special needs. Prof Khan said they had selected 10 patients for the inaugural transplants and already started collecting bone marrow from six of them. “We hope to start first transplant on October 26,” he said, adding that they would start with autologous bone marrow transplant in which one’s own bone marrow is used. After six months, he wished to introduce more critical allogeneic bone marrow transplant in which the marrow of siblings or donors is used after proper matching. “It (allogeneic) needs greater expertise,” he said and that “every new centre starts with autologus bone marrow transplant and allows the skills to grow”. For autologous procedure the hospital will charge between Tk 0.5 million and 0.6 million while for the allogeneic it would be between Tk 1 million and 1.5 million depending on patients. Prof Khan said they had selected those who were fit for transplant for the inaugural phase. “We received many referred patients. Then we examined who is fit and whether their condition is under control for the transplant”. The ten patients are suffering from two types of cancer patients –multiple myeloma and lymphoma, he said. He said they would appeal to affluent people to donate for the centre so that the facility can help maintain standards. “Like many other countries we will form a Patient Support Group so that rich can donate for the poor’s help”.