Bone Marrow Transplantation Centre to be established
Friday, 28 August 2009
Grameen Health Care Trust and Cure2Children Foundation of Italy will jointly establish a Bone Marrow Transplantation Centre for Thalassemia in Bangladesh, as a boon for many who fall victim of the crippling disease, reports UNB.
Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, chairman of Grameen Health Care Trust, and Cure2Children Foundation chief executive officer Eugenio La Mesa signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on this joint-venture undertaking recently for their respective organisation.
According to a press release from Yunus Centre, Cure2Children Foundation was represented by Lawrence Faulkner (founder and scientific coordinator), Pietro Sodani (consultant hematologist and BMT expert) and Eugenio La Mesa (CEO).
The goal is to set up a Social Business in Bangladesh to start bone-marrow transplant, the only cure for Thalassemia.
A committee of Grameen Health Care Trust, Cure2Children, Thalassemia Associations and local professionals have prepared an action plan to evaluate the different options to start with the first transplant within the first half of 2010 and a plan to cure all cases of Thalassemia by 2025.
"Bangladesh needs improvement in all aspects of healthcare. Through Grameen we are trying to address some health issues which need immediate action. We are very happy to collaborate with Cure2Children of Italy to undertake some action in area of Thalassemia," Prof Yunus said.
He also said that we could protect children from Thalassemia by making people aware of how to avoid Thalassemia. Bangladesh was a country with high density of Thalassemia carriers. It was very important that we let people know how the disease spread and how it could be reduced and stopped completely. In the meantime we wanted to create facilities for bone-marrow transplantation in an affordable way for children who were already suffering from Thalassemia. "I express the hope this faculty will bring hope to many who already lost hope for their dear ones."
Cure2Children CEO Eugenio La Mesa said: "Our main goal is to create with Grameen Health Care Trust a financially self-sustainable social business for Bone Marrow Transplantation with the potential to be easily scalable, both in Bangladesh and in other countries."
Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, chairman of Grameen Health Care Trust, and Cure2Children Foundation chief executive officer Eugenio La Mesa signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on this joint-venture undertaking recently for their respective organisation.
According to a press release from Yunus Centre, Cure2Children Foundation was represented by Lawrence Faulkner (founder and scientific coordinator), Pietro Sodani (consultant hematologist and BMT expert) and Eugenio La Mesa (CEO).
The goal is to set up a Social Business in Bangladesh to start bone-marrow transplant, the only cure for Thalassemia.
A committee of Grameen Health Care Trust, Cure2Children, Thalassemia Associations and local professionals have prepared an action plan to evaluate the different options to start with the first transplant within the first half of 2010 and a plan to cure all cases of Thalassemia by 2025.
"Bangladesh needs improvement in all aspects of healthcare. Through Grameen we are trying to address some health issues which need immediate action. We are very happy to collaborate with Cure2Children of Italy to undertake some action in area of Thalassemia," Prof Yunus said.
He also said that we could protect children from Thalassemia by making people aware of how to avoid Thalassemia. Bangladesh was a country with high density of Thalassemia carriers. It was very important that we let people know how the disease spread and how it could be reduced and stopped completely. In the meantime we wanted to create facilities for bone-marrow transplantation in an affordable way for children who were already suffering from Thalassemia. "I express the hope this faculty will bring hope to many who already lost hope for their dear ones."
Cure2Children CEO Eugenio La Mesa said: "Our main goal is to create with Grameen Health Care Trust a financially self-sustainable social business for Bone Marrow Transplantation with the potential to be easily scalable, both in Bangladesh and in other countries."