Mumbai – Ten years after pioneering the first bone marrow transplant (BMT) unit in a civic hospital, the Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College and General Hospital (LTMGH) in Sion is gearing up for a significant expansion of its BMT services. The move comes in response to a growing waiting list of pediatric patients, many of whom urgently require the life-saving procedure.
Since launching the facility in 2015, the hospital has conducted 104 BMTs in children, despite severe infrastructure constraints. Currently, the hospital operates with just one BMT bed and four step-down rooms, severely limiting its capacity. A single BMT procedure can take 30 to 45 days, including recovery in the step-down facility, which means only one patient can be treated at a time.
New BMT Unit to Add 5 Beds and ICU-like Step-Down Facility
The proposed expansion, which has received the green light from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), will be located on the second floor of the Eknath Gaikwad Health Centre building. It will feature five BMT beds and a four-bedded step-down room similar to an intensive care unit.
“Even now, we have seven to eight patients on the waiting list at any given time. That doesn’t include emergency cases we see every week. With the new facility, we will be able to treat four to five patients simultaneously,” said Dr Sujata Sharma, in-charge of the Division of Paediatric Haematology.
Why Bone Marrow Transplants Are Critical
Bone marrow transplants are essential for children suffering from conditions like aplastic anaemia, primary immunodeficiencies, leukemia, thalassemia, and certain metabolic disorders. In such cases, diseased or damaged bone marrow cells are replaced with healthy stem cells, which can either come from a donor or the patient’s own body.
The success of BMT largely depends on HLA matching — a close genetic match between donor and recipient tissues — to prevent rejection. However, advances such as haploidentical transplants, where half-matched donors (usually a parent) are used, are widening treatment possibilities.
A recent study in Transplantation and Cellular Therapy found a 79.4% one-year survival rate in patients receiving half-matched donor transplants, making this an exciting area of ongoing research — especially in India, where fully matched donors are often hard to find.
Cord Blood Banking: A Parallel Development
The rise in awareness around cord blood banking has also contributed to BMT preparedness. The umbilical cord blood, rich in hematopoietic stem cells, is being stored by expectant parents as a form of biological insurance. These cells can regenerate into various blood cells and potentially treat serious diseases later in life.
“Research is revealing more and more ways cord blood can save lives. It’s precious — almost magical — and absolutely worth keeping,” writes Claire McCarthy from Harvard Health Publishing.
Looking Ahead
Though the hospital had hoped to treat more patients over the past decade — potentially 120 or more — infrastructure bottlenecks posed persistent challenges. With the upcoming expansion, Sion Hospital aims to dramatically cut down waiting times and offer timely, advanced care to children battling life-threatening blood disorders.
The expanded unit is expected to play a pivotal role in equitable access to high-end medical procedures, especially for underprivileged families who cannot afford private healthcare options.
