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Drive to draw bone marrow donors

On Sunday, close to a thousand people will converge at Khar Gymkhana to participate in an awareness drive of a different kind.

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On Sunday, close to a thousand people will converge at Khar Gymkhana to participate in an awareness drive of a different kind. Conducted by Marrow Donor Registry of India (MDRI), the aim is twofold — busting myths associated with bone marrow donation and registering up to one lakh donors by 2014.

“The US does up to 4,000 transplants annually. In Mumbai, the Tata Memorial Centre has done about 15 such transplants in last 3 years, only with the help of donors registered with international registries in the West. Very few patients explore this option as the transplant cost goes up to Rs 50 lakhs,” said Dr Navin Khattry, medical oncologist, Tata Memorial Hospital at Parel. India has around 40,000 registered donors as compared to two crore donors registered globally.

“A donor can opt for donating blood in a painless procedure through which stem cells are later isolated in laboratory.  Myths such as bone marrow donation makes one weak or ill are unfounded,” said Ramesh Uttamchandani, co-ordinator, MDRI. “The donors have to donate 10 ml of blood. These blood samples will be tested ... and are later archived in the registry. In case of a match with a patient, the donor will be contacted when a patient’s transplant is due and blood will be extracted for transplant,” said Dr Sunil Parekh, chairman, MDRI.

(The MDRI awareness campaign will be held at Khar Gymkhana grounds on February 17 from 4pm onwards.)
@mait_p
 

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