For children with thalassemia, new bone marrow transplant unit in Ahmedabad set up by non-profit, offers hope

Tanvi, with her father Bhupinder Shantilal Kotak and Elke Neujahr, Global CEO of DKMS
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Tanvi was diagnosed with thalassemia at just six months old. Born into a family facing daily financial struggles, Tanvi’s road to better health has been challenging: her father, Bhupinder Shantilal Kotak – an auto-rickshaw driver – found it hard to get her treated.

Over 12,000 children are born each year with thalassemia, a hereditary blood disorder that causes severe anaemia. These children often require lifelong blood transfusions, and without proper treatment, many do not survive beyond the age of 20. Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) offers the only curative option, but access remains limited due to financial and logistical barriers.

For Tanvi, routine blood transfusions became a lifeline, but as the family’s financial burden grew overwhelming, her father desperately sought help. Thanks to free HLA typing funded by DKMS Foundation India, a non-profit, and facilitated by another non-profit Sankalp India Foundation, a genetic match – and the foundation for a stem cell transplant – was found, and Tanvi’s own sister, Dhanvi became her donor.

The family accessed the bone marrow transplant (BMT) procedure in Ahmedabad, and this marked a turning point in Tanvi’s battle against the disease. Today, five years after her transplant, 16-year-old Tanvi is a child who loves dancing and embraces life with newfound energy.

“I am immensely grateful that my daughter could receive this treatment thanks to DKMS and Sankalp,” Tanvi’s father told The Hindu. “Because of them, I can see her smile again. She now has the chance for a long and full life.”

In addition to receiving the transplant, Tanvi’s family benefited from DKMS’s Patient Funding Programme, which helped ease the financial strain of the procedure, ensuring she got the care she needed.

To help more patients like Tanvi and strengthen treatment solutions for Thalassemia patients in the Gujarat region, DKMS Foundation India, inaugurated a new Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) Unit in Ahmedabad on Saturday, February 8, 2025.

DKMS Foundation helps patients with blood cancer and blood disorders find matching stem cell donors.

Designed to meet the growing demand for stem cell transplantations in the region, the new centre includes 10 specialised paediatric BMT beds, alongside essential apheresis (a procedure that removes specific components from the blood and then returns it to the body) care facilities and an outpatient centre. More than 26 professionals, including four doctors and 14 nurses, will work here.

Sankalp India Foundation is operating the new unit with the medical advice support of non-profit Cure2Children, on the premises of Health1 Super Specialty Hospital, Ahmedabad.

DKMS through its Access to Transplantation Programme has committed ₹3.115 crore to fund the new BMT unit.

“By funding the BMT unit in Ahmedabad, we are bringing lifesaving care closer home, reducing barriers to treatment, and supporting families who might otherwise have to travel long distances. We dream of giving every child suffering from thalassemia in India a second chance at life – a chance to smile, grow, and embrace the future they deserve,” said Elke Neujahr, Global CEO of DKMS.

“Our collaboration with DKMS has transformed the lives of more than 570 children in India since 2018,” said Rajat Kumar Agarwal, President of Sankalp. “With the new and expanded unit in Ahmedabad, where up to 120 children can be treated every year, even more children can be saved and return to a happy life.”

This is the second BMT unit in India funded by DKMS, in memory of Mechtild Harf, the late wife of DKMS founder Peter Harf. The first BMT unit in Bengaluru, established in 2021 and also operated by Sankalp in collaboration with Cure2Children, has already had a positive impact on more than 460 children with thalassemia, said Patrick Paul, CEO of DKMS Foundation India.