Varanasi: The first autologous bone marrow transplantation was performed successfully recently in a female patient with multiple myeloma (a blood cancer) at the newly established Bone Marrow Transplant and Stem Cell Research Centre (BMT-SRC) at Banaras Hindu University.
Talking to reporters on Monday, BHU vice-chancellor Prof Rakesh Bhatnagar said that the first Autologous Bone Marrow Transplantation was performed in a 51-year-old female patient at the BMT-SRC by Dr Kailash Kumar Gupta, professor in-charge and coordinator of BMT-SRC, and his team comprising of Dr Prachi Mahopatra, Dr Ashish Gupta, Dr Nidhi Singh, Dr Vibhu Khare and Dr Chandan, all resident medicine along with Dr Bikram Gupta of Anesthesiology, Dr Manjit of Nephrology and nursing staff. The transplantation was done under the guidance and supervision of Dr Rahul Bhargava, director and head of the department of haematology, haemato-oncology and bone marrow transplantation, Fortis Research Institute, Gurugram. Dr. Bhargava is one of the most successful bone marrow transplant experts in India.
He said that the 12-bedded BMT-SRC is equipped with the state-of-the-art facility having HEPA filtered air and modern equipment. This centre has latest equipment for flow cytometry for patient care and research and X-ray based blood irradiator, first of its kind in the country which is capable of irradiation of blood and its products. This centre also has three stem cell research labs.
The VC said that the centre aims at doing 50-60 bone marrow transplantations annually, he said adding that the bone marrow transplantation in BHU costs one-tenth of any private hospital. The financial liability of the entire treatment has been met out from the Prime Minister’s Fund, he said.
He further said that the autologous bone marrow transplantation is significant because in this process there is no need of a donor, rather the bone marrow of the patient is being used. “The morale of our doctors is high and in future, hopefully we will be able to provide treatment to those ailments which are presently non treatable,” said the VC adding that every year around 20,000 bone marrow transplantations are required in the country out of which around 10% succeed in getting transplantation. The BMT-SRC of BHU will not only prove to be a boon for the people of eastern part on India who have to go to far places like Delhi, Mumbai, Madras and Vellore, but it will also help the hospital to provide quality medical services for treatment of more complex diseases through hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, he added.
