Nearly 1,500 Romanians suffer from a serious blood disease, with no possibility of undergoing treatment in their country at an affordable sum. Many of these people ask for help abroad, although there the cost of a transplant is three times higher than in Romania. 100 of the 1,500 are children who parents are desperately looking for help as they do not have a donor in the family, and the money allocated by the Romanian Health Ministry are insufficient to cover the cost of treatment abroad, in countries where the system has been working very well for years.
In order to support those suffering from a form of blood cancer, recently the first Romanian National Registry of Stem Cells volunteer donors has been set up. The Registry was created to find compatible donors for those who need bone marrow transplant. It is designed for patients who suffer from leukemia, the disease caused by the fact that the bone marrow does not produce enough white cells to protect the body from infections, or hereditary diseases, including medullar aplasia. Research carried out at national level are encouraging: 70% of the bone marrow transplants helped cure the patients.
The cost of a stem cells transplant in Romania is 40-50,000 Euros, while the cost of such a transplant abroad, which is between 100,000 and 150,000 Euros. With details on the First Romanian Bone Marrow Donors Registry is Dr. Cristina Berteanu:
“The Registry is operational in 8 primary recruitment and testing centers, in fact regional blood transfusion centers located in Bucharest, Cluj, Constantsa, Craiova, Targu Mures and Timisoara, as well as three other stem cell transplant centers. These are centers known all over the world, and can be found in Romania in Bucharest, Timisoara and Targu Mures. The registry employs 40 people and also has a database that can be accessed through the Health Ministry’s site which also has a link for the National Stem cell Donors Registry including useful information on the specialized legislation and what it actually means to be a donor.”
In the last five years around 200 bone marrow transplants have been conducted in Romania, and 45 in 2009. However, there are still many patients who are on the waiting list, said Alina Tanase, a medical doctor specializing in bone marrow transplant at the Fundeni Hospital in Bucharest. The hospital also hosts the capital city’s only stem cell transplant center. With the setting up of National Stem Cell Donors Registry, the number of donors is expected to grow. The larger the base, the higher the chances to conduct transplants in Romania. Dr. Cristina Berteanu again:
“It is useful for all Romanians. A significant number of people has already been enlisted in the Donors’ Registry as it is very difficult to secure donor-recipient compatibility. You have less than 30% chances to find a compatible donor within the family, and for the donors who are not related, the crucial condition for the bone marrow transplant, namely compatibility, is even more difficult to fulfill. The key is to have a more comprehensive Donors’ Registry so that compatibility can be provided and life expectancy can increase for people who go undergo a bone marrow transplant. So the Registry’s activity actually depends on the population’s desire to contribute generously to saving somebody else’s life. We are about to purchase a piece of software, which is operational across the European Union, so that if our national-level search is not successful, we can go at international level where more than 13 million donors are enlisted. Money will be provided by the Health Ministry but donations and sponsors are also welcome. Such a noble cause will surely attract people willing to sponsor such an undertaking.”
In Constanta County, southeastern Romania, the recruitment and primary testing Center of the future stem cell donors lies with the Regional Blood Transfusion center. Its director, the medical doctor Alina Dobrota told us that those interested to enlist for the Donor’s registry can directly contact the recruitment Center, where thy will fill in the required forms that can also be found on the Minister’s web page. After conducting a blood test, the prospective donor is contacted by specialists, in order to be enlisted in the Registry, and to donate stem cells. Yet the procedure can take a few months to complete, as Dr. Dobrota told us:
“Anyone from Constanta County who wants to become a stem cell donor comes to the Transfusions Center. And we did have such people who contacted us, directly or by the email address provided on the site of the Health Ministry, and who expressed their wish to donate stem cells…8 people have registered in Constanta so far. A greater number of people expressed their intention, but only 8 eight turned up for the blood collection. Which I think is a good start.”
The establishment of the Registry was also possible thanks to an awareness raising campaign run by a private TV station and one of its corespondents, Paula Herlo, who symbolically became the first donor. Impressed by the drama of the people suffering from blood diseases, almost 16,000 Romanians supported the foundation of the Registry. Also, thousands of Romanians sent encouraging messages and decided to become donors themselves.
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2010-09-10
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