Transplant scenario in India
The following post is an excerpt from the article “Blood and bone marrow transplantation in India: Past, present, and future” by Dr Tapan K Saikia, Department of Medical Oncology, Prince Aly Khan Hospital, Mumbai.
The first Bone Marrow Transplant was carried out in March 1983. Today, there are over 97 transplant centers registered with Indian Society of Bone and Marrow transplantation (ISBMT) and approximately 19,000 transplants have been carried out in India till date.
The main conditions for an allogenic transplant have been Thalassemia major, Severe aplastic anemia, Acute myeloid leukemia, Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) amongst others. In the area of autologous, main indications are Multiple myeloma, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in adults, Neuroblastoma in children and a few others.
The Demand for MUD (matched unrelated donors ) has increased in recent years due to shrinking family size ,hence a number of centers are recognized by the National Marrow Donor Program, DKMS (Deutsche KnochenMarkSpenderdatei or German Bone Marrow Donor File), and others. DATRI is the largest stem cell registry in India and there are a few other active registries as well.