No ray of hope for patients as official machinations stall BMT at SCB MCH

TWENTY-six-year-old Sarita Nayak lies in a bed at the clinical haematology department of SCB medical college and hospital here, her fate tethered not to her disease, but the system's apathy and arrogance.

- EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Cuttack

Diagnosed with relapsed Hodgkin's Lymphoma, her only hope for survival is bone marrow transplant (BMT). The BMT unit at SCB MCH is Odisha's only facility offering this life-saving procedure free of cost. Yet, thanks to the bureaucratic machinations, the unit which has saved over 180 lives since its start in 2014 is itself lying on the death bed from March this year after disengagement of BMT specialist Prof RK Jena without a successor.

A junior school teacher and daughter of a street vendor from Rajkanika in Kendrapara district, Sarita was referred to AIIMS-Bhubaneswar for the transplant as the BMT unit in Cuttack is shut. But, she was returned as AIIMS has not started BMT for Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

She then approached private hospitals where she was quoted more than ₹15 lakh for the transplant. Not able to afford the amount, she is back at SCB MCH. With time not on her side, she has been making fervent appeals to everyone from the local MLA, MP to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi to come to her aid.