Bone marrow transplant: Lanka urged to set up donor registry

Sri Lanka which is yet to introduce bone marrow transplants to cure leukaemia patients should at least think of setting up a national donor registry urgently to save lives, parents of leukaemia patients told the Sunday Observer.

Sherwell and Carmini Fernando whose son is in a critical stage due to leukaemia appeal to the Health authorities to initiate such a project soon. Leukaemia, a form of blood cancer affects many people worldwide and there has been to date no definite diagnosis as to what causes the condition. Acute Leukaemia is the most common cancer affecting children with excellent cure and survival rates are high with the advancement in modern treatment techniques through bone Marrow/Stem Cell transplant.

Marrow or Stem Cell transplants require matching certain tissue traits of a donor and the patient. These traits are inherited like hair or eye colour, meaning that a patient's best chance of finding a suitable donor is within their family first, followed by donors amongst their own ethnicity. According to health experts the impact to a bone marrow donor is minimal as Bone Marrow/Stem Cell donated regenerates back in a matter of weeks. Unfortunately, 70 per cent of patients cannot find a suitable donor within their families, therefore requiring an unrelated match.