NEW DELHI: The Medical Council of India is considering a proposal to introduce a chapter on stem cell transplant in academic curriculum for medical graduates to increase awareness among young doctors about the treatment, especially for blood-related disorders.
As per the proposal, there would be a separate chapter on the importance and techniques of stem cell transplant for medical graduates, MCI member Navin Dang said while delivering a lecture at the International Bone Marrow Transplant Summit here.
“There is not much awareness about stem cell donation in India. Introducing the chapter would help in creating awareness among the medical graduates about stem cell transplantation which in turn will help spreading awareness about importance of stem cell donation,” he said.
Leading experts from the US, Germany and India participated in the Summit, organized by an NGO Bharat Stem Cell, and exchanged latest research findings and techniques to offer stem-cell treatment of diseases.
As per experts, around 50,000 people having blood cancer and related diseases die in India every year while waiting for suitable stem cell donors.
For blood cancer patients, a stem cell donation is their only chance of survival, but a minuscule number of patients diagnosed in India find a matching donor, they said.
Speaking at the gathering, one of India’s leading oncologists, Dr Vinod Raina said concerted efforts are needed by both private sector and government to address the misconception that donating stem cell may have adverse impact on health of the donors.
Almost all Western countries have huge network of donors to ensure successful lifesaving treatment for those affected by blood cancer.
The US has a registry of 22 million donors in a population of around 317 million, but in India the figure was a poor 40,000 donors in a population of 1.2 billion.
Germany has a registry of 3 million stem cell donors.
The US’s National Marrow Donor Program, considered one of the largest registries of donors, had facilitated more than 55,000 transplants worldwide till last year.
Emphasizing the need for having a registry of at least one million donors, Dr Mammen Chandy, director at Tata Medical Centre, Kolkata said government must allocate adequate funds to create a registry of stem cell donors.
He said though lakhs of people may have required stem cell transplantation, around 6,000 such transplants have been carried out in India so far.
“If we are looking at making a registry of one million donor, then requirement of funding would be around Rs 60 crore to 100 crore and government can definitely play a role,” he said.
Chandy also rued lack of a high-quality laboratories to carry out various tests relating to stem cell therapy.
As per estimates, about one out of five transplants is done from Datri, an NGO, and other four out of five use international donors.
The experts underlined the need to launch a major awareness drive to educate people about importance of donating stem cells to treat cancer patients with conditions such as leukaemia and lymphoma.
“We have to improve awareness for creating a donor registry. The government as well as private sector will have to come forward to create awareness on donating stem cells,” said Raina. -PTI
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