Srinagar: The Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) has successfully performed its first Matched Unrelated Donor (MUD) Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant in a three-year-old child suffering from Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), a rare and life-threatening immune disorder.
Addressing a press conference, SKIMS Director and EOSG Professor M Ashraf Ganie described the procedure as a major milestone in advanced hematology and transplant medicine in Jammu and Kashmir. He congratulated the transplant team and urged people to register as stem cell donors to help patients with serious blood and immune disorders.
The transplant was carried out by the Department of Clinical Hematology using stem cells from a fully matched unrelated donor from Poland identified through DKMS, an international stem cell donor registry. DKMS waived the donor procurement charges, reducing the financial burden on the patient’s family.
Head of the Department of Clinical Hematology Prof. Sajad Geelani, along with Dr. Reshma Roshan and Dr. Afaq Ahmad Khan, said the transplant programme is being conducted according to national and international standards and has delivered outcomes comparable to leading centres.
They said the procedure required extensive donor-recipient matching, international coordination, laboratory support and intensive clinical monitoring. The successful transplant, they added, demonstrates that highly advanced transplant services can be delivered at SKIMS.
The specialists noted that matched unrelated donor transplants are often the only curative option for patients who do not have suitable family donors and stressed the need to strengthen transplant programmes and increase awareness about stem cell donation.
