Five years back, on 14th November 2011, with the cutting of a ribbon the Thalassemia Day Care Centre at Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health was formally inaugurated. A small gift of children's day, a step in the direction of health, well-being and fulfilment of dreams for the little ones.
This year a young couple with 11 month old baby girl named as Prachi Bhanushali contacted us for help with Bone Marrow Transplantation.
It was more than a year back when we a family who had two little girls suffering from thalassemia from Afghanistan approached Cure2Children Foundation for help with HLA typing. The family was overjoyed to find that both the girls had a match. The father of the girls is a driver and could not have afforded transplantation.
Normally, when you tell a family which has a child who suffers from thalassemia, that they have a match, at least for one moment you expect to see a smile. This was not the case when we broke the news to five-year-old Nirmitha's family. She was detected with thalassemia within the first year of her birth and ever since she was dependent on monthly blood transfusions.
Asia Pacific Bone Marrow Transplantation Meet was organised at Singapore from 28-30 October 2016. The Sankalp-Cure2Children Network was happy to have 6 of our posters selected to be presented at the meeting. In-line of our commitment to transparency, innovation and quality we continue to scientifically analyse and share our work.
How do we offer transplants to more children?
How do we make transplantations safer?
How to we ensure that the best quality is delivered at the least cost?
Sundays are busy at Samraksha. Several families are there for the weekly therapy and counselling. Some are there just to chat about the upcoming transplantations scheduled for their children.
Sankalp India Foundation, Bangalore, Think Foundation, Mumbai and We Care Trust, Mumbai collaborated with Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital,Mumbai and had started a Bone Marrow Transplantation Project at Mumbai for Thalassemia patients coming from financially poor background.
The decision whether to undergo BMT might be a difficult one for many families and patients.
At Sankalp India Foundation, We firmly believe that each child must be given an option for complete cure irrespective of their financial status. The HLA test is the first step which determines whether the sibling can be a matched donor to the child suffering from thalassemia. The cost of HLA typing in India is around Rs. 10,000/- per family making it inaccessible to most families.
"State level Consultation on Status of Thalassemia and Other Hemoglobinopthies in Karnataka" was organised by Sankalp India Foundation with the major thalassemia centers in Bangalore as co-hosts on 9th of March 2016 at Rashtrotthana Parishat, Bengaluru.
