MP Sribharat encourages youth to donate stem cells

Visakhapatnam : Visakhapatnam Member of Parliament M Sribharat called upon the community, especially youth, to join the army of stem cell donors and contribute to the collective fight against blood cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

Participating in a stem cell donor recipient meet, the MP emphasised the critical need to raise awareness about blood stem cell donation.

Organised by Datri Blood Stem Cell Donors Registry at GITAM Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (GIMSR) Hospital here on Wednesday, the event also featured inspiring stories of Visakhapatnam-based stem cell donor Ganapathi Rao and Delhi-based student and recipient Arpit Jain. Their personal experiences were shared at the meet that provided a unique platform for the donor and recipient families to connect on a personal level, motivating others to become donors.

In his address, the MP Sribharath urged more individuals to register as potential donors, highlighting the life-saving impact this act can have on patients suffering from various blood disorders. In a commendable gesture, the MP registered himself as a stem cell donor with the Datri. Later, he felicitated the stem cell donor.

Datri Blood Stem Cell Donors Registry national operations head Aby Sam John provided insights into the global stem cell donor landscape. He mentioned that while there are over 33 million registered donors worldwide, India accounts for a mere 0.5 million. Thousands of patients across the country are in desperate need of compatible stem cell donors for life-saving transplants and the challenge of sourcing donors in India remains significant, Aby Sam John underlined. Datri facilitated over 1,424 blood stem cell donations in India, drawing from its extensive database of over 5.6 lakh registered donors.The event was attended by GIMSR Pro Vice-Chancellor B. Geetanjali, dean S.P. Rao, Registrar D. Gunasekharan, Viskahapatnam-based national cricket player K.S. Bharat and about 300 medical students.