It gives me immense pleasure to announce that the work on PATHWEL Bone Marrow Transplant Centre (BMTC) that we started in late 2019 has been completed. I am grateful to the President Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Dr Arif ur Rehman Alvi, for gracing the inauguration ceremony of this center on 23 Feb 2022. The transplant center is the first of its kind established at a NGO. It has the capacity to do fifty bone marrow transplants in a year. The objective is to provide this essential treatment facility to the deserving patients at no-profit basis. The cost of each transplant is expected to be 40% less than that incurred at other places in Pakistan. I am glad that our team of technical experts include Maj Gen Parvez Ahmed (R), Brig Kamran Mehmood (R), Dr Shahzad Nasis and Dr Umar Zahur. This transplant centre is also unique in the sense that the major portion of the cost of the project, amounting 14.0 million rupees, was raised by several individual donors. We were fortunate to get an additional grant of 6.5 million rupees from Askari Bank that helped us in purchasing the essential equipment. I am grateful to all of those who have donated generously for this noble cause. Thalassemia has been the primary focus of our attention. But considering the lack of adequate facilities for the diagnosis and treatment of other haematological diseases, especially faced by the patients from low socio-economic class, we have also taken an initiative to establish a Haematology OPD and daycare facility at our centre. The facility, established on self-help basis and with the technical supervision of our team of experts, has also started functioning.

Maj Gen Suhaib Ahmed (R) President

Pakistan Thalassemia Welfare Society