Kazakhstan doctors in search for stem cells donors

Kazakhstan doctors want more stem cells donors. Doctors of the National Medical Holding held a flashmob in Astana to bring more attention to donorship in Kazakhstan. Over 2,000 Kazakhstan citizens currently need transplantation of bone marrow. The plan is to perform 11 transplantations this year, Tengrinews.kz reports citing Kazakhstan Vice-Minister of Healthcare Erik Baizhunussov. “Three transplantations were made last year. This year we plan to make 11 bone marrow transplantation surgeries. The results are stunning, the effect is positive. Children really get an opportunity to live a full life. It is a very noble campaign. But unfortunately, many people hold on to the opinion that transplantation of bone marrow is equal to organs transplantation. But in fact it is a completely different type of transplantation. Today we would like to raise awareness of the methods of bone marrow transplantation. Our technologies allow to make it almost as simple as blood donorship. I think Kazakhstan residents will understand this campaign and join it,” Vice-Minister said. According to him, over 600 children suffer from leukemia; 50 of them require bone marrow transplantation every year. “This work requires at least 500 thousand donors per one child to be able to select the right type of cells that will help the particular child,” Baizhunussov said. The main goal of the campaign called Give Hope for Life is to bring people’s attention to the problem of donorship in Kazakhstan, as well as to replenish the National Registrar of HSC Donors. There are currently only 800 potential donors in the Registrar. Doctors note that with this number of donor the chance to find a compatible donor is extremely low. The chance of finding suitable blood among non-family members is 1:10,000. Thus, the registrar should have at least 16,000 samples of blood. According to the National Medical Holding, over 2,000 people need bone marrow transplantation in Kazakhstan. By Gulnara Zhandagulova