New Delhi:
An Odisha-based hospital to have claimed to conduct 50 bone marrow transplantation, earning it the reputation of being the only state government medical institution to achieve the milestone.
The Haematology Department of SCB Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) at Cuttack in Odisha told media that it has performed the bone marrow transplant on its 50th patient, a 40 year-old cancer patient Bishnupriya Naik on Sunday.
According to reports the SCB hospital started its Bone Marrow transplant wing in the year 2014. And since then the department has operated around 50 patients, it said.
Read | Video | Andhra girl begs father to sell house for her cancer treatment in a chilling before-death clip
The hospital also claimed that it has conducted BMT surgery on a 74-year-old patient Zabar Khan. He is the oldest person to undergo bone marrow transplant so far in Asia and Europe region belonged to the unit.
According to the head of the department Prof Rabinda Kumar Jena,”Zabar Khan, a patient of multiple myeloma, was operated in 2015 and he is doing fine. He is the oldest patient to undergo BMT in Asia. Adding to it, we have done BMT on five patients who are above 65 years of age. In elderly patients, the risk factor is quite high.”
Jena also highlighted that so far only three patients out of the 50 have died.
Read | 8-month-old Pakistani infant becomes youngest bone marrow donor in India
In three cases, deaths have been reported – two due to infection on the eighth day and after one month, while one on 178th day due to brain stroke.
“Forty-seven patients are healthy and doing normal activities till date,” said Prof Jena.
"Looking at the inflow of patients, we need a dedicated BMT ward and a dedicated team to handle the BMT surgeries. At least 800 patients are in the waiting list. But we have only two beds so we cannot operate more than 16 cases a month," said a doctor on condition of anonymity.
Doctors cited that for BMT a patient has to pay at least Rs 10 lakh and Rs 15 lakh at any private set up while in SCB the surgery is operated at a cost of Rs 75,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh. "For poor patients, the treatment is completely free under Odisha State Treatment Fund(OSTF)," added Dr Jena.
Read | Bone marrow cancer can be identified using MRI says study
