Husaini trust plans to perform bone marrow transplants, stem cell therapy

The Husaini Haematology and Oncology Trust will soon provide facilities of bone marrow transplant and stem cell therapies at its newly established ‘Blood Transfusion Centre and Thalassaemia Centre’ that was inaugurated by the city director health on Tuesday.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Karachi director health Dr Muhammad Toufique urged the trust officials to share the data of patients undergoing blood transfusions, stem cell therapies and bone marrow transplant.

He said the data would help the Sindh government formulate a plan to establish more such facilities in the future. In addition to the blood screening and storage facilities, the centre is providing blood transfusion service to children suffering from genetic blood disorders as well as diagnostic services related to blood disorders.

“This is a state-of-the-art blood transfusion and thalassaemia centre where bone marrow transplant and stem cell therapies would be started very soon,” said a renowned haematologist associated with the Husaini Blood Bank, Dr Sarfraz Jaffery, at the inaugural ceremony of the blood transfusion and thalassaemia centre located at Qalandaria Chowk, North Nazimabad.

The head office of the Husaini Haematology and Oncology Trust is equipped with a diagnostic lab, blood bank having storage capacity of around 3,000 blood bags and blood transfusion centre for thalassaemic patients while its management is also planning to introduce bone marrow transplant and stem cell therapy services at the same facility in the near future.

Felicitating the trust officials, the city director health vowed to support them in their services. He said the government was also striving hard for provision of safe blood to thalassaemic children and other patients.

Dr Toufique hoped that institutions like Hussaini would come forward to support the government in establishing such centres in the province. Talking to journalists, the director health said steps were being taken to control the outbreak of Chikungunya in the city.

He said the health department was in contact with the municipal authorities to start fumigation in various areas of Karachi to eliminate the mosquitoes and prevent people from mosquito-borne diseases, including dengue and Malaria.

The Sindh government was planning to merge the Malaria and Dengue Prevention and Control Cells under one project director, who would be utilizing all the resources to eliminate the mosquitoes that were responsible for the deadly infectious diseases in the province, he added.

“I would also urge people to take precautionary measures, prevent themselves and their children from mosquitoes by using repellents, improving sanitation conditions in their residential areas and adopt other preventive measures to protect themselves against the mosquitoes”, he advised.

Earlier, speaking at a workshop on thalassaemia management held at the same place, noted haematologists of the country stressed the need for promoting the culture of prevention from diseases in the country.

They called for the implementation of laws regarding thalassaemia screening, saying that both the government and private sector could not treat the increasing number of thalassaemic patients.

Senior haematologist from Lahore, Prof Dr Jovaria Mannan, urged the doctors and researchers to use latest research methods in the field of haematology.