Muhimbili Hospital starts conducting bone marrow transplants

By Salome Gregory

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Dar es Salaam. The Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) has officially started conducting bone marrow transplants in a

development that brings new hope to patients battling with cancer cells.
Also known as a stem cell transplant, or hematopoietic stem cell transplant, a bone marrow transplant is a medical treatment that replaces a patient’s bone marrow with healthy cells.
The replacement cells can either come from a patient’s own body or from a donor.
The transplantation exercise can be used to treat certain types of cancer, such as leukemia, myeloma, and lymphoma, sickle cell and other blood and immune system diseases that affect the bone marrow.
Speaking at the official launch of bone marrow transplant services in Tanzania yesterday, the head of Hematology Unit and a hematologist at MNH, Dr Stella Rwezaura, said the hospital has so far conducted the exercise on five patients and that five more were currently on the waiting list.
“It was a long process that involved different health experts from different departments to make sure the bone marrow transplant is successful and well taken care of. We worked as a team and we are happy for the step we made as a nation,” said Dr Rwezaura.
She said a patient is exposed to a number of processes and procedures before a bone marrow transplant gets conducted.
“It starts with diagnosis of the disease then a chemotherapy is applied for a period of between four to six months. Such kind of treatment has to consider all the medication that allows the bone marrow transplant to happen,” she said.
She said the treatment continues as patients proceed with remission until the medical tests prove that a patient is fully recovered.
According to the MNH Executive Director, Prof Lawrence Museru, the start of bone marrow transplants in Tanzania means that a patient will be able to save at least Sh180 million. A patient would spend Sh250 million to get a bone marrow treatment outside the country in India but at the MNH, one pays about Sh70 million.
Available data show in 2018 leukemia deaths in Tanzania reached 408, being 0.11 percent of total deaths.
According to Prof Museru, just last year the government issued Sh6.5 billion to support the establishment of bone marrow transplant services in Tanzania.
The money also supported the construction of a Centre of Excellence for transplants as well as training experts in the area.
In one year, Tanzania is looking forward to conducting transplants on 48 patients, which is equivalent to four patients a month.
Tanzania joins the club of six other countries in Africa to start giving the service. Others are: South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Tunisia and Nigeria. About 200 patients in Tanzania need bone marrow transplants in one year.

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