Treatment of blood cancer, bone marrow transplant now available at LIVASA Hospital: Dr Mukesh Chawla
Chandigarh: To create awareness on blood cancers and options of bone marrow transplant in North India, a team of doctors from LIVASA Hospital Mohali addressed the media here on Saturday. Present on the occasion were Dr Mukesh Chawal senior consultant haematologist & BMT physician, Dr Jatin Sareen director medical oncology & Dr Priyanshu Chaudhary medical oncologist from LIVASA Hospital Mohali.
Speaking on the occasion Dr Mukesh Chawla said that bone marrow transplant is a non-surgical procedure in which damaged or diseased stem cells are replaced with healthy stem cells.
“This complex procedure is performed in very few hospitals in India even though the success rate for bone marrow transplants in India is at par with international benchmarks,”
He further said that India has the 3rd highest number of haematological cancers in World after the US & China. India is likely to have 1.17 lac new cases of blood cancers every year.
Dr Jatin Sareen said, “Bone marrow transplant is usually offered as a solution for certain kinds of cancers as well as some other diseases which affect the production of blood cells,”
Every big city in the USs has 2-3 bone marrow transplant centres. In comparison, India, with five times its population, has just a handful of hospitals which offer bone marrow transplant.
Ironically, with a population of 140 cr, the country has very few trained bone marrow transplant specialists.
Dr Mukesh Chawla said that LIVASA Hospital is the first private sector hospital in Mohali to start allogeneic as well as autologous bone marrow transplant.
The bone marrow transplant centre at hospital will be conducting unrelated and haplo- identical matches’ bone marrow transplant, he informed.
Dr Priyanshu Chaudhary said that bone marrow transplant is the only treatment which can result in the long-time survival in patients of refractory blood cancer.
“There are about 65000 -67000 thalassemia major patients in India and every year 9000- 10000 new cases of thalassemia are diagnosed in India every year. Bone marrow transplant is the treatment of choice for thalassemia cases. In bone marrow transplant procedure, the diseased or damaged bone marrow (a soft, spongy blood forming tissue present in the cavities of bones) is replaced with healthy bone marrow with the replacement marrow mostly from blood relations like brother/sister and parents,”
Meanwhile LIVASA Hospital, Mohali is going to offer a complete spectrum of bone Marrow transplant services, including autologous & allogeneic transplant under one roof. The patients of Tricity, Haryana, Himachal & Punjab would be extremely benefitted with it. The is also on panel of Haryana government Himachal government , CGHS and all major TPAs & corporates where patients get cashless treatment/ reimbursement for all types of cancer treatment at LIVASA.
