Safdarjung Hospital opens bone marrow transplant facility

The hospital said that the centre will be a major relief to patients from economically weaker backgrounds

Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital on Wednesday inaugurated its bone marrow transplant facility, the hospital announced.

SJH is the first central government hospital where BMT facility will be available at a negligible cost, doctors said. (HT Archive)

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the hospital administration said that the bone marrow transplant centre will be a major relief to patients from economically weaker backgrounds, who currently have to rely only on the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for a cheaper transplant options.

“The opening of a bone marrow transplant unit at Safdarjung Hospital, one of the prime central government hospitals, would provide a big relief for all the poor patients. Earlier in Delhi, only AIIMS offered this facility in a government set up for patients of blood cancer and other cancers. SJH is the first central government hospital where BMT facility will be available at a negligible cost to the patient against a the ₹10 to ₹15 lakh in private hospitals,” Dr BL Sherwal, medical superintendent of the hospital said on Wednesday.

Bone marrow transplant is a process where the blood or marrow of a healthy donor replaces unhealthy blood forming cells, stem cells, of the patient with healthy stem cells which later form red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.

“Bone marrow transplant may use cells from own body (autologous transplant) or from a donor (allogeneic transplant). This is done in transplant eligible patients and is an essential treatment procedure especially in blood cancer, lymphoma, multiple myeloma patients and some congenital diseases,” said Dr Kaushal Kalra head of the department of medical oncology, Safdarjung Hospital.