On the eve of country’s 71^st Republic Day, DKMS BMST Foundation India, a non-profit organization conducted a blood stem cell donor registration drive at ‘Lalbagh Botanical Gardens’ in Bengaluru. Alongside the colorful and bright ongoing flower show at the botanical garden, the organization conducted awareness sessions amongst people towards blood cancer and the need for blood stem cell donation to save lives.  The drive saw over 100 registrations.

Blood cancer cases are on the rise in India-most of them needing a blood stem cell transplant. But unfortunately, many patients are not able to avail the life-saving treatment due to the absence of a matching donor. “Ethnicity plays a key role in finding the perfect match. Patients and donors of Indian origin have unique HLA characteristics that are severely under-represented in the global database, which makes the probability of finding a suitable donor even more difficult. Hence, it is important that more and more Indians sign up to be a potential blood stem cell donor. Our aim as an NGO is to create as much awareness as possible and encourage people to register as a potential blood stem cell donor”, said Mr Patrick Paul, CEO, DKMS BMST Foundation India.

Speaking on the association, Mr. B Venkatesh, Director, Department of Horticulture, Lalbagh said, “Every year the flower show attracts many people and we are glad that this year we were also able to do something different by assisting DKMS BMST Foundation India in the drive. We are happy to be a part of a cause which raises awareness among the public about being a blood stem cell donor and the impact of blood stem cell transplant on a patients’ life.” 

The event is a part of DKMS-BMST Foundation’s initiative to raise awareness among the public about being a stem cell donor and the impact of blood stem cell transplantation on a patients’ life. From time to time, the foundation conducts patient-donor drives across the city and different parts of India to encourage registration and spread awareness.