Datri holds awareness campaign in association with SAPTHA
Stem cell transplant offers a permanent cure for thalassemia and other blood disorders like leukaemia and aplastic anaemia, according to general physician from ESI hospital Ravuri Naveen. He was speaking at an awareness campaign on blood stem cell donation and a registration drive, organised by Datri Blood Stem Cell Donors Registry, in association with the city-based Support and Awareness for People with Thalassemia (SAPTHA) Foundation. Datri conducts regular awareness programmes on the subject to add blood stem cell donors.
Katragadda Prashanti of Saptha Foundation got registered with Datri as a stem cell donor.
Datri’s coordinator for Andhra Pradesh Chava Ravi explained about the not-for-profit organisation established in 2009 with a vision to find a willing, HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigen) matching donor for patients of Indian origin suffering from fatal blood disorders.
He said for many people suffering from fatal blood diseases like blood cancer (leukaemia, lymphoma etc.) and thalassemia, a blood stem cell transplant is the last hope of survival. Such patients need a donor with a matching genetic type and the probability of finding a match is only 1 in 10,000 to 1 in over a million. With such a low probability, it is necessary to have a large database of blood stem cell donors, he said.
Registered donors
He said Datri currently had 4,60,920 people registered as potential blood stem cell donors and with their support, it had saved 747 lives. He said from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, 92,896 people had registered as donors.
He said a large number of donors needed to come forward and register with Datri as a stem cell donor.
Saptha Foundation chairman Voggu Sharath Babu spoke about the regular awareness campaigns conducted by the organisation for last six years. He said 70 donors registered at the camp and most of them were parents of thalassemia patients who were hoping to find match for their children.
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