Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Center at Narayana Health City completes over 400 Bone Marrow Transplants and over a 100 in the current year. On this occasion, Narayana Health City Bangalore and the staff of Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Center felicitated Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, CMD, Biocon and Director – Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Center for her benevolent contribution to Bone Marrow Transplants. The occasion was presided by Dr. Devi Shetty - Chairman, Narayana Health and also present were senior consultants, nurses and staff from one of India’s largest Bone Marrow Transplant Units.

India’s largest Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) Unit at Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Center at Narayana Health City, Bangalore has around 30% of patients coming from overseas. The unit was established with a vision to make this treatment affordable to the common man. The BMT unit has completed more than 400 Bone Marrow Transplant with 70% of them being allogeneic stem cell transplants.

At the centre, BMT has a proven efficacy record of over 80% for curing cancerous and genetic blood diseases. The centre is also the largest centre in the country offering effective and long-term cure for diseases such as Leukemia, Thalassemia and Aplastic Anemia, which, earlier were not curable.

Speaking on the occasion Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw said “It’s a proud moment for all of us as we cross a major milestone of saving over 400 lives through successful Bone marrow Transplants, which has earned the BMT unit at Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Center the reputation of a ‘Centre of Excellence’. The 14 bedded BMT unit at the hospital is one of the largest in India, managed by an excellent team of haemo-oncologists. The commitment at Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Center continues to give hope to a growing number of patients through advanced cancer care".

On this event, Dr. Kiran Mazumdar also inaugurated ‘Nilima Rovshen Women’s Breast Oncology Unit’, set-up in the memory of her best friend who succumbed to breast cancer.

Talking about the launch of the Breast Oncology Unit, Dr. Devi Shetty said, “Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer among Indian women and accounts for 27% of all cancers among women with majority of the cases from urban areas. Karnataka ranks 6^th in breast cancer incidence in India and it is an alarming fact that approximately 53.2% of all women suffering from this cancer in Bangalore are below the age of 50 years. As a leading healthcare service provider, we understand the need for a dedicated breast oncology unit where any woman walking in can avail all services under one roof from preventive care information to advanced diagnostics and treatment options for successful and timely disease management.”

Bone Marrow Transplant

Bone Marrow Transplant is a highly advanced procedure that involves transfusion of bone marrow stem cells from a healthy donor to a patient. There are three sources of donors from where the bone marrow can be collected – Related Donor, Matched Unrelated Donor and Haploidentical donor.

“The nature of blood disorders is either genetic in nature or acquired due to exposure to several risk factors including hazardous environment and consumption of adulterated food”, said, Dr. Sharath Damodar – HOD & Senior Consultant Hematologist - Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, Narayana Health City.” He further added, “Bone Marrow Transplants are now producing high success rates as it is curative in nature and offers hope to patients of a life beyond painful and fatal diseases.”