As per data released by the state government, the health department has issued about 11,000 health cards to Thalassemia patients in Maharashtra.
While the cost of a life-saving bone-marrow transplant could be anywhere between Rs 10-12 lakh, underprivileged children from western India and suffering from Thalassemia and aplastic anaemia, could undergo the surgery free-of-cost at Mumbai’s Kokilaben Hospital.
The cost of the surgery will be covered under the Centre’s pan-India programme— ‘Thalassemia and Aplastic Anaemia Bal Sewa Yojna’.
Coal India Limited (CIL), the central government-owned coal mining and refining corporation, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Kokilaben Hospital— one of the nine empanelled hospitals under this nationwide scheme.
Under the CIL’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) project, children diagnosed with either of the two diseases will be provided financial assistance of upto Rs10 lakh for bone-marrow transplants.
As per data released by the state government, the health department has issued about 11,000 health cards to Thalassemia patients in Maharashtra. However, the state does not have any data on aplastic anaemia patients. An estimated 9,400 people are diagnosed with aplastic anaemia annually in the country.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Dr Mahendra Kendre, ADHS, blood cell of the State’s Directorate of Health Service, said, “There is a need for more centres to perform bone-marrow transplants for free to save lives of children from poor economic backgrounds. We requested the government to assist us towards this end. In response, the CIL tied up with the hospital for free surgeries.”
To undergo the surgery, a Thalassemia patient needs to be below 12 years of age and belong to a family with an annual income below Rs 5 lakh. Also, the patients have to be transfusion-dependent Thalassemia major. For patients with severe Aplastic anaemia, their age has to be below 18 years with the annual family income below Rs 8 lakh. “Patients meeting the criteria can undergo the surgery,” he said.
Thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder that causes a body to have less haemoglobin than normal. It is a rare disease requiring lifelong repeated blood transfusion along with expensive medical interventions for survival. Aplastic Anaemia is a condition that occurs when the body stops producing enough new blood cells.
“Aplastic Anaemia is a form of bone marrow failure as it fails to produce new blood which is responsible for performing vital functions, including infection control, oxygen transport and tissue repair following injury. Due to this, the children become more prone to infection and fatigue. In severe cases, they need immediate bone marrow transplants,” said Dr Parth Ganatra, Paediatric Hematology-Oncology, at BJ Wadia Hospital for Children.
The hospital has already performed two bone marrow surgeries and three more children have received approval for the life-saving procedure from the CIL’s expert panel. Dr Santosh Shetty, CEO of the hospital chosen to perform the surgery on patients from the western region of India, said, “Needy patients from across the western part can approach us. They can contact our hospital. After documentation, their requests for the surgery would be submitted to CIL for approval. Background inspections of the applicants would also be done.”
In 2017, under CIL’s CSR, the ‘Thalassemia Bal Sewa Yojna’ was started. Later, in 2020, Aplastic Anaemia was also added to the initiative. Other than Kokilaben hospital—AIIMS, New (Delhi), CMC (Vellore), Tata Medical Centre (Kolkata), PGIMER (Chandigarh), Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute (New Delhi), SGPGI (Lucknow), Narayan Hrudayalaya (Bangalore) and CMC (Ludhiana) are empanelled under this nationwide scheme.
Article Credits: The Hindu