India
lags behind in stem cell donors: Expert
India is far, far behind
in its requirement of stem cell donors to treat life-threatening diseases like
cancer, with only 500 transplants taking place annually compared to a
requirement of 50,000, an international conference was told today.
Leading experts from the
US, Germany and India met here for the International Bone marrow Transplant
Summit to talk about the latest advances in stem-cell treatment of diseases.
What became clear during
the deliberations of the summit, organised by an NGO Bharat Stem Cell, was lack
of awareness about the importance of donating stem cells.
One of India's leading
oncologists, Dr Vinod Raina told the conference that the country needed donors
for some 50,000 stem cell transplants a year but currently only 500 transplants
can be undertaken.
Dr Raina, Director of
Medical Oncology and Hematology at Fortis Memorial Research Institute, pointed
out that the US had a registry of 22 million donors in a population of 317
million, but in India the figure was a poor 40,000 donors in a population of
1.2 billion.
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