Ministry of Health has taken steps to perform bone marrow transplant surgeries at ‘Apeksha’ Hospital, Maharagama.

These surgeries will be conducted under the guidance of Prof. M. A. David of the Winston Hospital in Australia. This will be the first time such a bone marrow transplant surgery is to be performed for cancer patients in Sri Lanka. Up until now such surgeries were done in countries like Singapore or India which may cost around 30-40 million rupees. Currently, the number of patients registered to undergo this procedure at Hope Hospital, Maharagama exceeds 100.

Dr. Prasad Abeysinghe, consultant oncologist expressed his views at this media briefing. “Four Specialist doctors have undergone special training at the Winston Hospital in Australia to perform bone marrow transplant surgeries. Bone marrow transplant surgeries are of two types. We are expecting to perform the “autologous type – self to self”. Once we achieve success, we are hoping to start on “allogenic type -   donor to self””.