• Recorded 1500 BMTs across the Apollo Hospitals Group of which 65% are pediatric cases
• Apollo Hospitals urge people to donate bone marrow and save lives!

Chennai, June 20, 2018: Apollo Hospitals, India’s first multispecialty chain of hospitals reached a new milestone with over 1500 successful Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) procedures conducted on patients at Apollo Hospitals nationally. The 1500 patients have been treated at Apollo BMT units  from all over India including Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Kozhikode, Gujarat, Bengal as well as from foreign countries like Oman, Bangladesh, Srilanka, Tanzania, Dubai, UAE, and Mauritius. Apollo Hospitals, Chennai was the first hospital to conduct India’s first cord blood transplant and unrelated transplant, and the 1500 BMT landmark endorses the success of these high end procedures for both children and adults with survival rates comparable to western centres. Bone marrow transplantation saves the lives of patients with blood cancer and serious blood disorders like thalassemia major, aplastic anemia and primary immune deficiency.

Commenting on this milestone, Dr. Prathap C Reddy, Executive Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group said, “We are proud of the commitment and drive shown by our team in this life saving achievement. I am glad that our team has helped over 1500 patients from across India as well as abroad to celebrate life and win over life threatening conditions through a Bone Marrow Transplant. For us, this number is just one milestone on our journey of healing. Though we have come a long way from the first successful BMT at Apollo in 1995, there are many more patients who are in need of BMT. It is extremely important that people come forward for bone marrow donation and help save more lives.”

Sharing his thoughts, Dr. Ramesh Nimmagadda, Director, Medical Oncology, Apollo Cancer Institute said, “Our patients come to us with a sense of hope and it is with joy and a sense of fulfilment that we are celebrating over 1500 lives on this occasion. It is not just a milestone that our team has achieved here, but more than that it is an occasion to celebrate the courage, determination and spirit of the patients whose age ranges from 6 weeks to 68 years! Innovation, technology, teamwork and dedication at the hospital have enabled us to take the lead in BMT.”

Equipped with highly qualified BMT team, and stringent infection control norms which are critical for BMT patients, BMT treatment is available across the Apollo Hospitals chain at Chennai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. Apollo Hospitals was the first private hospital in India to perform the procedure in 1995. Today, the BMT procedure performed at Apollo for over 40 different conditions have resulted in over 1500 people celebrating life.

Apollo Hospitals group now marks a milestone with the first private hospital in India to cross 1500 BMT procedures.

Editor’s note:

The burden of hematological diseases both malignant and non-malignant is huge in India. About 10,000 children are born with thalassemia major each year, and about 6,000 cases are diagnosed with aplastic anemia per year. The number of leukemia and lymphoma patients is about 100,000. The number of patients requiring bone marrow transplant is also increasing. With the increasing awareness about hematological diseases and rising economy, many patients are opting for bone marrow transplant as a definite treatment for many curable hematological diseases. The real challenge is to be able to find the appropriate match in the family or outside. The chances of finding a genetically suitable match for Indian patient varies from one in 10,000 to one in two million. This requires a large registry but the three registries in India only have around 125000 registered bone marrow donors.