BMT Program

Thanks to the efforts of the National Cancer Institute (NCI - Maharagama) and the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS); and the generosity of the Haematology Team at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney measures are currently underway to establish a Bone marrow Transplant Unit in Maharagama, soon.

St. Vincent’s Hospital Haematology Unit in Sydney has offered to foster training, mentorship and professional development for this project. The aim is to make Sri Lanka self-sufficient in stem cell transplantation over a five year period. It is intended that over this period, a staged introduction of services would be implemented with a view to performing the first autologous stem cell transplant in Colombo in late 2015. Subsequent training of staff for tissue typing and establishment of a Marrow Donor Registry (BMDR) would then lead to an allogeneic stem cell transplantation in 2016-17 with an initial emphasis on sibling transplants.

The program will enhance the medical, scientific and nursing landscape of haematology in Sri Lanka by increasing the technological expertise of staff in apheresis, cryopreservation, chemotherapy and clinical management of seriously ill patients with blood malignancies.

National Cancer Institute, Maharagama, Sri Lanka - August 2014

BMT Team     St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, Australia - February 2015