Better hope for thalassemia patients in Gujarat

Of Gujarat's total population, 17% are carriers of thalassemia genes, said Dr Samir Melinkeri, consulting hematologist and transplant physician at Sahyadri Hospital and Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, Pune. 

Melinkeri said some 2000 children in Gujarat are born with thalassemia major. As part of its efforts to spread awareness about the disease and to let more doctors know about its treatment, Stemcyte India offered a fellowship programme, in Taiwan, to two transplant physicians-Dr Uday Deotare and Dr Melinkeri. Deotare is the director of bone marrow transplant unit at Sterling Hospital, Ahmedabad.

Talking about the advantages of the transplant, Dr Melinkeri said transplant through stem cell cord is easily available for tissue match. "Even if it is not a perfect match, 70% match is still good enough."

Speaking on the use of conventional method, Dr Deotare said so far the transplant was done through bone marrow of the sibling or parents if it matched.

The experts said that 75 blood related diseases like leukemia, thalassemia, sickle cell anaemia and other immune deficiency diseases can be treated through umbilical cord blood stem cells.
Stemcyte India is into collection, processing, storage and therapeutic applications of umbilical cord blood stem cells.