Chennai: Blood cancer accounts for eight per cent of all new cases of cancer diagnosed in India. Blood cancer and other blood disorders like Thalassemia & Aplastic Anemia are life- threatening, unless matching potential blood stem cell donors donate their blood stem cells to save lives.
In India, we see almost one lakh new cases of blood disorders evrery year, contributing to the disease burden consistently. Despite this huge burden, only 0.03 per cent of the Indian population is registered as potential blood stem cell donors which is significantly lower than many other countries.
Due to many misconceptions around blood stem cell donation, the process and it’s after effects, Indians are not adequately represented on the stem cell registries making it hard to find a potential match for blood cancer patients. It is time that we all acknowledge the importance of being a blood stem cell donor and commit to being a lifesaver.
DKMS BMST Foundation India, a non-profit organisation has been creating awareness to help people realise the importance of blood stem cell registration and donation and provide every blood cancer patient with a healthy unrelated blood stem cell donor.
In order to raise awareness about the cause, Dr Vikram Mathews, professor and head, department of hematology, CMC Vellore said: “With knowledge and understanding of the process of blood stem cell donation, we can overcome our fears with regards to registering and becoming a blood stem cell donor. Additionally, the life-saving potential of blood stem cell transplantation makes this one of the most worthy causes to be a part of.”