Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The bone marrow transplant unit will be set up in four government medical colleges. State medical education minister Vishvas Sarang said they would be set up in Gandhi Medical College(GMC), Bhopal; NSCB Medical College, Jabalpur; Gajra Raja Medical College, Gwalior, and Shyam Shah Medical College, Rewa in six months.
“Such treatment costs Rs 10 lakh to Rs 30 lakh. But it will be free of cost in the hospitals attached to four medical colleges,” Sarang told media persons here on Friday.
The bone marrow transplant helps in treatment of genetic diseases like sickle cell anaemia, aplastic anaemia, thalassemia, leukemia, multiple myloma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
“Six-bed bone marrow transplant and 24-bed pediatric cancer units will be set up in Gandhi Medical College in Bhopal,” he added. The bone marrow transplant was started in Indore on experimental basis. Now, full-fledged units will start in four government medical colleges.
The state government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Columbia University, New York, US. Dr Prakash Satwani, bone marrow transplant expert, will offer service free of cost.
A bone marrow transplant is a medical treatment that replaces bone marrow with healthy cells. The replacement cells can either come from one’s own body or from a donor. A bone marrow transplant is also called a stem cell transplant or, more specifically, a hematopoietic stem cell transplant. Primary donors are family members and secondary donors are other people.
