It is a procedure to replace damaged or diseased bone marrow with healthy bone marrow stem cells. These stems cells give rise to new and healthy blood cells. A bone marrow transplant is used to cure patients with blood disorders such as Blood Cancers (Leukemia and Lymphoma), Thalassemia, Aplastic Anemia and 100 such disorders.

Blood stem cells can also be collected from the circulating blood or peripheral blood. This method of donation is call Peripheral Blood Stem Cell (PBSC) donation. 80% of blood stem cell collections are through this method.

Several fatal blood disorders including blood cancer can be cured by transfusing blood stem cells or marrow cells derived from a health volunteer donor. The healthy cells can replace the diseased or depleted cells in a patient and thereby give a second chance at life.

A patient has only a 25% chance of finding a genetically matched donor within the family. Those who do not find a match within the family have to rely on a registry like DATRI to find a genetically matched willing donor. There are around 1000 patients still waiting for a donor. You could be a life-saving match to such a patient and gift them a chance to survive.

One has to be between 18-50 years, healthy and free from diseases such a HIV, Hepatitis B/C, Cardiac Illness, Auto-immune disorders, Chronic lung diseases, type1 diabetes etc. Most important, you should have a kind heart to help someone in need.

No, a simple cheek swab sample along with the completed registration forms are all it takes to register.

If your HLA matches with that of a patient, you will be immediately contacted. See ‘How to donate’ to know the process in detail.

Being a donor is absolutely voluntary. In case you are found to be a possible match, and pertaining to health or other issues you are unable to become a donor at a later time, you must inform the registry. This will help us to avoid delay and continue our search for another donor.

A small fraction of donors have experienced slight headache, nausea or body ache during the 5 days of the injection. This is not a cause to worry and is usually alleviated using a paracetamol prescribed by physician. However, there are NO long-term side effects recorded.

In this case, you cannot register with DATRI. You can contact Histogenetics (Email: hospitalrelations@histogenetics.com or P: 044-22541053; Toll free No: 18001023066) for more information.

Donating blood stem cells cannot interfere with your family life or your normal routine. All our donors are leading a normal life.