Guwahati, Aug 30: Assam now has two healthcare centres for conducting bone marrow transplants – Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) and B Borooah Cancer Institute (BBCI).
A team of doctors led by Jina Bhattacharyya, head of the haematology department of GMCH, successfully conducted the first bone marrow transplant (BMT) at the hospital.
“A 45-year-old cancer patient, who hails from Kamalpur village in Kamrup district, underwent autologous stem cell transplantation and his condition is fine. He will be discharged today itself,” Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed mediapersons at GMCH on Tuesday.
It may be mentioned that in July last year, doctors at B Borooah Cancer Institute (BBCI) here had conducted the first bone marrow transplant, which was the first such transplant in a public sector hospital in the Northeast.
A patient of multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, had successfully undergone autologous stem cell transplantation at the cancer care hospital.
Apart from autologous transplants, where stem cells come from the same person who gets the transplant, allogeneic transplants, where stem cells are from a person other than the patient, either a matched related or unrelated donor, will also be conducted at GMCH.
The chief minister, while stating that the BMT procedures would also help thalassaemia patients, said that the procedures would be available at a maximum cost of Rs 2 lakh.
Sarma revealed that the state government would soon enhance Ayushman Bharat scheme’s coverage in the state.
“A new insurance scheme under Ayushman Bharat (which currently covers 27 lakh families in Assam) will be declared by the government so that we can provide universal healthcare in the state,” he said.
The chief minister further informed that liver transplants too would be conducted at GMCH in about a year’s time.