356 bone marrow transplants for Thalassemia patients successfully completed under TBSY: Health Ministry
2 min read . Updated: 08 May 2023, 07:09 PM IST
PremiumThe government has been implementing the TBSY since 2017 under the National Health Mission and had recently completed its second phase in March 2023
NEW DELHI : Atleast 356 bone marrow transplants for Thalassemia patients have been successfully completed under Thalassemia Bal Sewa Yojana (TBSY) in India, said the union health ministry informed on World Thalassemia Day on Monday.
The government has been implementing the TBSY since 2017 under the National Health Mission (NHM) and had recently completed its second phase in March 2023.
According to doctors, thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder that causes a body to have less hemoglobin than normal.
Bharati Pravin Pawar, union minister of state for health and family welfare while launching the third phase of TBSY Pawar said that it is important to enhance screening of the disease, create more awareness and counselling opportunities, and increase treatment facilities to fight blood disorders such as Thalassemia and sickle cell disease.
The program will benefit underprivileged thalassemia patients and those with aplastic anemia, which is an irreversible condition that can be life-threatening without treatment.
The program has empaneled 10 reputed hospitals across India, including AIIMS, New Delhi; CMC Vellore; Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, Mumbai; MCGM Hospital, Mumbai; PGIMER, Chandigarh; Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute, New Delhi; SGPGI, Lucknow; Narayana Hrudayalaya, Bangalore; CMC, Ludhiana and Tata Medical Centre, Kolkata among others.
She urged partner ministries and other stakeholders to continue their efforts towards removing stigmas and misconceptions associated with such hereditary diseases and generate more awareness to address the knowledge gap surrounding sickle cell disease.
Pawar also released the Standard Treatment Workflow for Sickle Cell Disease which has been developed by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
The union minister further highlighted the need to take advantage of various initiatives of the Union Government for treatment of diseases like sickle cell anemia such as the e-Raktkosh portal for blood transfusion requirements and the network of over 1.5 lakh Health and Wellness Centres for treatment and diagnostic care.