CHENNAI: Every Indian should pledge to be a committed bone marrow donor”, said 11-year-old Chirag Chandra, one of the recipients of bone marrow transplant at Apollo Hospitals. Chirag was diagnosed with Thalassemia at birth. “I needed blood transfusion once in every three weeks,” he said. On Wednesday, Chirag shared his testimony along with other beneficiaries at the celebration event of over 1,500 patients who have undergone a successful bone marrow transplant (BMT) at Apollo Hospitals.
“We had to plan for a second child just to find him a matching donor. But unfortunately, his sister’s blood didn’t match. Then after a desperate search overseas, we found a match in Germany,” said Vikash Chandra, father of Chirag. “ India lacks donors. Every Indian should become a committed bone marrow donor,” urged Chirag.
R Manimekalai, sub-inspector of police, was six months pregnant when she was diagnosed with blood cancer in 2012. “I used to often fall sick. During one of the check-up sessions, doctors found that I have blood cancer. But, it didn’t scare me. I decided to fight it. Today, I am completely cured of cancer and leading a normal life,” she added. “My treatment cost `90 lakh; my colleagues contributed their one day salary. We got the rest of the money from health insurance and others,” she said.
“India can become a major global health destination because we have competence, good patient care, and can provide health care at a low cost,” said Dr Prathap C Reddy, executive chairman, Apollo Hospitals. “We are maintaining low cost while trying to improve their success rate from 92 to 99 per cent,” he added.
Recipients from Bangladesh, Tanzania and various India states shared their experiences. Preetha Reddy, vice- chairperson of Apollo Hospitals also participated in the event.
Several stories
On Wednesday, Chirag shared his testimony along with other beneficiaries at the celebration event of over 1,500 patients who have undergone a successful bone marrow transplant (BMT) at Apollo Hospitals. Recipients from Bangladesh, Tanzania and various India states also shared
their experiences.