WITH the first-ever bone-marrow transplantation surgery at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) on Monday, the country witnessed a land mark step in its move to achieving self-sufficiency in basic healthcare treatment facility at the national level. We commend the iconic step and hope at the same time that the authorities concerned would devote efforts now to put in place state of the art treatment facilities and best standards of practice in terms of quality. It must work now to achieve patients’ confidence. It is something which concern the patient and his family the most as per as it relates to the life and death question of a person seeking treatment for the disease. The new opening has raised hope among thousand of patients who have not enough money to receive treatment abroad for different cancer diseases like blood cancer, genetic blood and immune disorders like thalassemia, cancer of the lymphatic system and severe aplastic anaemia.
At present more than 1.2 million cancer patients are in Bangladesh while over 0.20 million new cases are added each year against the mortality figures from cancer at around 0.15 million annually. The initiative of the DMCH, though belated, is however a right step and should receive appreciation. Now what is needed is that the newly inaugurated bone marrow transplant unit of DMCH should work out linkages with some of the best medical hospitals in the world to bring world class surgeons here on a visit programme and acquire the best technical know-how to turn the unit as a well equipped national cancer treatment center.
Cancers were considered at a time beyond any cure. It is now known to be curable if detected at an early stage. People’s ignorance about various aspects of cancer related causes, symptoms, its prevention, control and treatment is primarily responsible for turning it into an epidemic . So steps should be taken not only focusing on treatment but also on creating awareness about understanding it. We also call for an integrated arrangement for cancer care from prevention to treatment for our people, particularly for low income people who can’t afford expensive treatment.
Experts said bone marrow transplantation has five stages which are quite laborious and time consuming. Moreover, it requires a close genetic match of various inputs between donor and recipient. To mitigate the donor crisis DMCH has already started a bone marrow registry which is an undeniably wise initiative. At the same time, DMCH should have increased its capacity to serve more patients. Preparing a national data base of cancer patients should get priority now.
At present the bone marrow unit at DMCH has 10 doctors and 20 nurses who have received comprehensive training in the USA to set up and run a good clinical bone marrow transplant unit. Reports said the country has only 125 cancer experts at the moment working at different public and private hospitals for more than 1.2 million patients. So we suggest that the government must take a targeted initiative to increase the number of cancer physicians under a national programme to overcome the shortcoming.
