NARAYANA HEALTH CITY INAUGURATES DEDICATED BREAST ONCOLOGY UNIT

NARAYANA HEALTH CITY INAUGURATES DEDICATED BREAST ONCOLOGY UNIT

Narayana Health City Bangalore and the staff of Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Center today felicitated Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, CMD, Biocon and Director – Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Center for her benevolent contribution to Bone Marrow Transplants. Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Center at Narayana Health City has completed more than 400 Bone Marrow Transplants and over a 100 in the current year.

Present at the occasion along with Dr. Devi Shetty – Chairman, Narayana Health were senior doctors, nurses and staff from one of India’s largest Bone Marrow Transplant Units. On sidelines of the event, Dr. Kiran Mazumdar also inaugurated ‘Nilima Rovshen Women’s Breast Oncology Unit’, set-up in the memory of her best friend who succumbed to breast cancer.

Talking about the launch of the Breast Oncology Unit, Dr. Devi Shetty said, “Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer among Indian women and accounts for 27% of all cancers among women with majority of the cases from urban areas. Karnataka ranks 6th in breast cancer incidence in India and it is an alarming fact that approximately 53.2% of all women suffering from this cancer in Bangalore are below the age of 50 years. As a leading healthcare service provider, we understand the need for a dedicated breast oncology unit where any woman walking in can avail all services under one roof from preventive care information to advanced diagnostics and treatment options for successful and timely disease management.”

It was also an occasion to felicitate Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw for supporting and generously contributing to the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at the hospital.

“It’s a proud moment for all of us as we cross a major milestone of saving over 400 lives through successful Bone marrow transplants, which has earned the BMT  unit at Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Center the reputation of a ‘Centre of Excellence’. The 14-bedded BMT unit at the hospital is one of the largest in India, managed by an excellent team of hemo-oncologists. The commitment at Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Center continues to give hope to a growing number of patients through advanced cancer care” said Kiran Mazumdar Shaw – CMD Biocon & Director Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Center at Narayana Health City.

Bone Marrow Transplant is a highly advanced procedure that involves transfusion of bone marrow stem cells from a healthy donor to a patient. There are three sources of donors from where the bone marrow can be collected – Related Donor, Matched Unrelated Donor and Haploidentical donor.

“The nature of blood disorders is either genetic in nature or acquired due to exposure to several risk factors including hazardous environment and consumption of adulterated food”, said, Dr. Sharath Damodar – HOD & Senior Consultant Hematologist – Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, Narayana Health City.” He further added, “Bone Marrow Transplants are now producing high success rates as it is curative in nature and offers hope to patients of a life beyond painful and fatal diseases.”

Narayana Health City Bangalore has India’s largest Bone Marrow Transplant Unit with around 30% of patients coming from overseas. The unit was established with a vision to make this treatment affordable to the common man. Since then the BMT unit has completed more than 400 bone marrow transplants with 70% of them being allogeneic stem cell transplants.