BY Tendo Rebacca
Located along upper Mulago hill, the Uganda Cancer Institute has announced that it has added a new technology of blood and cellular therapy to provide more treatment options for patients. This new technology is a therapy named Apheresis, a procedure in which blood is collected and part of the blood such as platelets or white blood cells is taken out while the rest of the blood is returned to the donor.
Rita Bafumba, the head of the nurse and hematology ward at the Uganda Institute said there are two Apheresis machines installed at the cancer institute.She explained that the machine separate the blood components according to how heavy they are with the heaviest ones remaining downs whereas plasma and platelets will remain on top.
RITAH BAFUMBA AND DR. HENRY DDUNGU AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE
According to Dr. Henry Ddungu, a consultant hematology at the Uganda Cancer Institute, with this new treatment option for patients, those willing and qualify will be able to donate either white or red blood cells to those who need them.
He said this is in addition to the marrow transplant treatment that the cancer institute is set to begin doing also known as, hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) is an advanced treatment intervention that is required for several cancerous and non-cancerous medical conditions in hematology.
some of the cancer equipments
He further continued that a bone marrow transplant can be used to replace diseased, non functioning bone marrow with healthy functioning bone marrow (for conditions such as leukemia, a plastic anemia, and sickle cell anemia) but also regenerate a new immune system that will fight existing or residual leukemia or other cancers not killed by the chemotherapy or radiation used in the transplant.
Bone marrow transplant also helps replace the bone marrow and restore its normal function after high doses of chemotherapy and/or radiation are given to treat a malignancy.
Officials from the Uganda Cancer Institute said this type of treatment will reduce on the amount of money that Uganda sends out to carry out the same treatment abroad.
The treatment according to officials will be free of charge.
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