For the first time in Bangladesh, Evercare Hospital Dhaka, the country’s first JCI-accredited hospital, has successfully completed the treatment of thalassemia in a child of less than 2 years (21 months) of age.
Thalassemia is a genetic blood disorder that causes a deficiency of hemoglobin, which carries oxygen to red blood cells. Evercare Hospital Dhaka has treated the aforementioned child’s disorder through a haploidentical bone marrow transplant (BMT), the hospital said at a press conference.
Present at the press conference were Dr. Abu Jafar Mohammed Saleh, Coordinator and Senior Consultant, Hematology and Stem Cell Transplant; Dr. Ratnadeep Chaskar, MD and CEO of Evercare Hospital Bangladesh;Dr.Arif Mahmud, Deputy Director of Medical Services;and relatives of the patient.
Speaking about the disease and the medical process required to treat it, Dr. Abu Jafar Mohammed Saleh said, “Thalassemia is a genetic disease caused by various genetic deletions and mutations, which causes a deficiency of hemoglobin. In Bangladesh, about 8 million people have thalassemia; however, because most of them are asymptomatic carriers of the disease, they remain unaware of it. For this reason, the disease is sometimes called a silent killer. Among those who have thalassemia, there are 50 to 70 thousand patients for whom treatment is required.
At present, the only curative treatment option is bone marrow transplant.When it comes to BMT, the biggest obstacle is finding a donor, because thalassemia family is generally smaller in size and the chance of a full match is less than 10%.
The alternative option is Haplo-transplant that require only 50% or 5/10 match. In a Haplo- transplant, anyone in the family can be a donor, like father, mother, brother, or sister.
Thalassemia transplant should be carried out at early of age, preferably between 2-5 years.On 5 May2022, we successfully completed the firstHaplo-transplant of a 21-month-old child. With this, Evercare Hospital Dhaka has opened a new curative hope for thalassemia patients in Bangladesh.”
Dr. Arif Mahmud said, “All types of treatment modalities for blood cancer patients are available at Evercare Hospital Dhaka, Bangladesh at affordable price. So, no need to go abroad for seeking any medical treatment. We are providing international standard medical care under one roof. This Haplo-transplant or Half-match transplant is a milestone in healthcare sector of Bangladesh.”
