HLA matching camp conducted for thalassemia and sickle cell patients

Nagpur: A free HLA matching camp was organized at Dr Vinky Rughwani Thalassemia and Sickle Cell Centre earlier this week, in collaboration with Sankalp India Foundation (Bengaluru). Thalassemia and Sickle Cell patients underwent HLA Matching with their sibling and parents.
Dr Rughwani said, “ Usually this is a very costly investigation which normally cost Rs15,000-20,000. In this camp this test was done free of cost. The patients from different states including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh were tested for HLA.”
He further said that those patients in which the HLA got matched with their siblings and parents will further be proceed for bone marrow transplantation “which is the only permanent cure for Thalassemia and Sickle Cell patients”. “This HLA matching camp is of great importance as the patients will get rid of their illness permanently once they undergo bone marrow transplantation,” said Dr Rughwani.
The testing for patients was done by Santosh Hegde and Abhijeet Ayengar.