Press Coverage

Paras HMRI Hospital on Thursday pledged itself to get the bone marrow transplant done for 11 year old Tarun, who is suffering from blood cancer, at its health facility at Patna free of cost.

“We read this news item in your esteemed newspaper. Please convey this (our offer) to Tarun’s family they can come to our hospital immediately to start the workup,’’ Facility Director Dr. Talat Halim wrote to TOI on Thursday morning.

According to Dr. Halim, certain bone marrow transplants lead to complications. “We need prayers of all of you; Our Managing Director Dr. Dharminder Nagar has already sent his blessing to the child,’’ he wrote.

Dr. Halim was referring to the news item, ‘Parents seek euthanasia for  11 yr old, published in TOI on Thursday. The news report narrated the woes of the Rukunpura – Patna family which cannot afford to spend Rs 10-12 lakhs required for the Bone Marrow Transplant which is a must before Tarun undergoes third chemotherapy. Tarun’s father is an electrician. The 38-year-old man and his wife on January 15 wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind, seeking monetary assistance for the treatment of their son or euthanasia for the family, which includes Tarun’s seven-year-old brother.

When TOI told Tarun’s family about the Paras’s gesture, his mother Shweta burst into tears. “We will remain indebted to the Paras’s administration forever,” said Tarun’s father Santosh who has already spent all his savings on the treatment of his son so far.

“We are doing it on humanitarian grounds. Ours is the only hospital in Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha that is  doing both autologous (self) and  allogeneic (donor) bone marrow transplants in our department of hematology headed by Dr. Avinash Kumar Singh,” Dr. Halim later said and added the hospital has handled five cases of Bone Marrow Transplant so far and all were successful.

According to Dr. Singh, the will first need to match Tarun’s antigen (White Blood Cell) with that of his sibling and check whether he has enough antigens to donate. “It is not a complicated process. But in case Tarun’s antigen doesn’t match with that of his sibling, we will take his parents blood stem cell for haploidentical stem cell transplant, which is a very complicated process,” Dr. Singh said.

Tarun post complaining about severe pain in his joints in March 2017 went through a series of medical tests at the PMCH and was diagnosed with leukemia (blood cancer). The PMCH doctors assured Santosh that his son would do well if he underwent regular chemotherapy. Paras HMRI Hospital Administration is now taking care of the child Tarun.