Kazakhstan Bone Marrow Transplantation Department strives for international accreditation

Bone Marrow Transplantation Department of the State Scientific Center of Emergency Medicine in Astana is planing to get an international accreditation, deputy chairman of the Center and senior hematologist of Kazakhstan Healthcare Ministry Irina Pivovarova told Tengrinews.kz. “The Bone Marrow Transplantation Department was established in our center in 2010. Its goal is to provide highly-specialized medical aid to elderly patients with leucosis. Over 20 transplantation surgeries have been made so far. We are currently modernizing the department and will reopen in the end of August. It will comply with all the international standards,” Pivovarova said. “After it reopens we will be able to perform over 50 surgeries on bone marrow transplantation per year,” she said adding that it would give a chance for the center to receive an international accreditation. There are currently around 1.5 thousand Kazakhstan citizens who need bone marrow transplantation, she said. “But nonavailability of donors is an problem. Those who have a donor in Kazakhstan among their relatives or friends, have a chance to get the surgery here. Adults can undergo the surgeries in the State Center for Emergency Medicine, while children can have them done in the National Center of Maternity and Childhood and the Center of Pediatrics and Pediatric Surgery in Almaty. Those patients who have no donors are transferred to foreign hospitals based on a yearly quota issued by the Healthcare Ministry,” the doctor said. “We are unable to guarantee the 100% coverage, as the problem of donorship remains. This is a problem not only in Kazakhstan but around the world as well. But those people who have donors will get the surgeries,” the MD said. By Altynai Zhumzhumina