BMT being conducted at SUM Hospital at much cheaper cost
Surjit Kumar Dhal,Bhubaneswar, April 12: Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT), a high-priced procedure required to treat people suffering from diseases including leukemia and bone marrow failure, is now being done at the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital, faculty of medical sciences of the SOA Deemed to be University, at much cheaper cost.
The hospital, fully equipped to conduct BMT, has conducted three procedures since January last and two of the patients have already been discharged, Prof. Ashok Kumar Mahapatra, SOA’s Director (Health Programmes), said.
“The BMT procedure, which costs between Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 15 lakh in most hospitals in big cities, could be done at one-fourth to one-third of that cost in SUM Hospital,” Prof. Mahapatra said adding “we are doing it on no loss, no profit basis.”
IMS and SUM Hospital has been ranked as the 21st best medical college in the country in the latest National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) placings making it the top ranked medical institution in the eastern region.
“We have procured the first automation in immuno-haematology in Odisha which has been installed in the hospital’s department of Transfusion Medicine. It provides antigen negative phenol-typically matched blood to haematological patients, particularly those suffering from sickle cell disease, leukemia and lymphoma,” he said adding few medical centres in the country had this facility.
With the aid of this machine, antibody titre and extended Rh phenotype with kell type could be easily done for antenatal women which helps in reducing incidence and severity of HDFN (Haemolytic Disease of Foetus and Newborn), he said.
SUM Hospital, which had conducted the first ever BMT in Odisha earlier, has haematologists besides experts in transfusion medicine and critical care making it a fully equipped centre for taking up BMT, Prof. Mahapatra said adding at the moment IMS and SUM Hospital was the only centre in the state where the procedure was being done.
The hospital has a state-of-the-art blood bank offering round the clock service and has facilities for component preparations like packed cells, random donor platelets, fresh frozen plasma and cryoprecipitate. It has a separate COBE TRIMA machine for collection of Single Donor Platelet (SDP). It is provided with an Irradiator which is used to irradiate the blood products to prevent graft versus host disease. It has laminar hood and also a -80 degree freezer for cryopreservation of stem cells.
The state-of-the-art Stem Cell Transplantation unit in the hospital boasts of HEPA filter and Laminar Flow system. It has all necessary facilities of ICU with provision to provide dialysis so as to prevent transfer of the patient to another ICU, Dr. Pushparaj Samantasinhar, Medical Superintendent of the hospital, said.
A multidisciplinary team comprising doctors, nurses, dieticians and psychologists have been working together to provide compassionate and comprehensive care to the hematology patients. Dr. Priyanka Samal heads the Haematology department while Dr. Girijanandini Kanungo looks after the Transfusion Medicine department.
