<p>Two-year-old Garvit Goel had to wait for over one year to get a donor for stem cell treatment for cure of his thalassemia, a life-threatening blood disorder. But Garvit, hailing from Panipat in Haryana, was lucky to get a donor. <br /><br />Thousands of patients die in India every year as it is very difficult to get stem cell donors in the country, unlike in Western countries. <br /><br />Garvit had undergone blood transfusion immediately after he was detected with thalassemia at a hospital here when he was just six months old. <br /><br />The doctors at the BLK Super Specialty hospital suggested stem cell transplantation as cure for his disease. <br /><br />Goel’s sibling was not a matched donor and for his parents, getting a donor outside the family was a herculean task. <br /><br />Finally after a year-long struggle, the parents with the help of doctors could get in touch with Datri, an NGO which helps patients get donors for stem cell therapy.<br /><br />“We found a suitable donor for Garvit in Datri database and performed the unrelated peripheral blood stem cell transplant in April last year. </p>.<p>Garvit is doing fine,” said Dr Dharma R Choudhary, director, BLK Super Specialty. <br /><br />The donor, 34-year old Sumeet Mahjan, who is working with a Bangalore-based software company, had registered himself with Datri when one of his colleagues’ child was diagnosed with Leukaemia.<br /><br />Dr Vinod Raina, one of India's leading oncologists, said India was lagging far behind in its requirement of stem cell donors to treat life-threatening diseases like cancer as around 500 such transplants take place annually compared to a requirement of 50,000. <br /><br />Experts said it was not easy for patients to get possible match for stem cell therapy as for every patient, at least 20,000 donors are required to be searched. <br /><br />‘No awareness’<br /><br />Chief of Hemato-oncology and Transplantation department in Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre Dr Dinesh Bhurani said there are large number of patients having blood disorders. <br /><br />They have to wait for long to find stem cell donor. <br /><br />“Firstly, there is lack of awareness, most people don't even know that there is a need for donor for bone marrow transplant. Secondly, there is a fear factor. Most people are sceptical to become a donor thinking that it will have adverse effect on their health,” he said.<br /><br />Raina, Director of Medical Oncology and Hematology at Fortis Memorial Research Institute, said the United States had a registry of 22 million donors in a population of 317 million, whereas in India the figure was a poor 40,000 donors in a population of 1.2 billion.<br /></p>
<p>Two-year-old Garvit Goel had to wait for over one year to get a donor for stem cell treatment for cure of his thalassemia, a life-threatening blood disorder. But Garvit, hailing from Panipat in Haryana, was lucky to get a donor. <br /><br />Thousands of patients die in India every year as it is very difficult to get stem cell donors in the country, unlike in Western countries. <br /><br />Garvit had undergone blood transfusion immediately after he was detected with thalassemia at a hospital here when he was just six months old. <br /><br />The doctors at the BLK Super Specialty hospital suggested stem cell transplantation as cure for his disease. <br /><br />Goel’s sibling was not a matched donor and for his parents, getting a donor outside the family was a herculean task. <br /><br />Finally after a year-long struggle, the parents with the help of doctors could get in touch with Datri, an NGO which helps patients get donors for stem cell therapy.<br /><br />“We found a suitable donor for Garvit in Datri database and performed the unrelated peripheral blood stem cell transplant in April last year. </p>.<p>Garvit is doing fine,” said Dr Dharma R Choudhary, director, BLK Super Specialty. <br /><br />The donor, 34-year old Sumeet Mahjan, who is working with a Bangalore-based software company, had registered himself with Datri when one of his colleagues’ child was diagnosed with Leukaemia.<br /><br />Dr Vinod Raina, one of India's leading oncologists, said India was lagging far behind in its requirement of stem cell donors to treat life-threatening diseases like cancer as around 500 such transplants take place annually compared to a requirement of 50,000. <br /><br />Experts said it was not easy for patients to get possible match for stem cell therapy as for every patient, at least 20,000 donors are required to be searched. <br /><br />‘No awareness’<br /><br />Chief of Hemato-oncology and Transplantation department in Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre Dr Dinesh Bhurani said there are large number of patients having blood disorders. <br /><br />They have to wait for long to find stem cell donor. <br /><br />“Firstly, there is lack of awareness, most people don't even know that there is a need for donor for bone marrow transplant. Secondly, there is a fear factor. Most people are sceptical to become a donor thinking that it will have adverse effect on their health,” he said.<br /><br />Raina, Director of Medical Oncology and Hematology at Fortis Memorial Research Institute, said the United States had a registry of 22 million donors in a population of 317 million, whereas in India the figure was a poor 40,000 donors in a population of 1.2 billion.<br /></p>