The Head of the Association of Republika Srpska Hematologists, Sandra Hotić, tells SRNA that the need to establish a voluntary stem cell donor registry is huge because of the great importance of stem cell treatment in hematology.
Hotić emphasizes the establishment of this registry will contribute to the fact enabling all Republika Srpska citizens to apply for voluntary donation of stem cells, if they meet certain criteria.
She says there is a network of voluntary stem cell donors in the world of 30 to 40 million people, where the Republika Srpska citizens were not entitled to apply.
“To determine HLA typing, a really large amount of money should be allocated, which I believe would be too expensive for everyone and would be a limiting factor if someone decided to do it,” said Hotić.
She said that the establishment of HLA tissue typing laboratory will enable the citizens of Republika Srpska to apply for voluntary donation.
“It is of great importance, we hematologists know this, because a large number of our patients are treated with stem cells in neighbouring countries, primarily Belgrade,” said Hotić.
Hotić says stem cells treatment is very prevalent in hematology, but there are some other indications that it is not just about hematology patients.
“We have certain hematology-related diseases that are exclusively treated with stem cell transplantation. These are mainly acute and chronic leukemias, lymphomas, non-Hodgkin or Hodgkin’s lymphoma, multiple myeloma, we are mainly talking about the oncological part of hematology. When conventional chemotherapy fails to achieve a result, we then send our patients for stem cell transplantation,” said Hotić.
Speaking about the importance of the traditional donor evening “To Brave Hearts, With Love”, she points out that all humanitarian actions are welcome in order to do something useful for the citizens of Republika Srpska.
She called on the citizens of Republika Srpska to call 1411 humanitarian number, thus contribute to the establishment of a laboratory for HLA tissue typing at the Republika Srpska Transfusion Medicine Institute, which will improve the health of the entire Republika Srpska.
The fourteenth donor evening “To Brave Hearts, With Love”, under the auspices of Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik will be held in Banjaluka on December 28 with the aim of raising funds for the establishment of voluntary bone marrow donor register.
The Republika Srpska Transfusion Medicine Institute expressed the need to establish a voluntary hematopoietic stem cell donor register of Republika Srpska, i.e. the establishment of HLA tissue typing laboratory at the Republika Srpska Transfusion Medicine Institute.
By establishing a laboratory at the Republika Srpska Transfusion Medicine Institute, and establishing a voluntary stem cell donor register, the Srpska citizens suffering from life-threatening diseases such as leukemia, aplastic anemia, immune deficiencies, congenital metabolic disorders and others will be enabled to find unrelated donors who would match the recipient by searching the databases of their own and the world registry.
As part of the campaign, the M:tel humanitarian number 1411 will be active until the end of December.
The Republika Srpska Finance Ministry opened a special purpose account number: 571-010-00002700-15 at BPŠ Banjaluka and a foreign currency account IBAN BA:395710070400006774 /lot: 0070400000067/ opened at BPŠ Banjaluka for the payment of donations by individuals and legal entities.
Previously, these donor evenings were organised in 2010 for children suffering from malignant diseases, in 2011 for children with special needs and developmental disorders, in 2012 for children suffering from type one diabetes mellitus.
A donor evening was organised for children with autism in 2013, and for the construction of a parents’ house in 2014, in 2015 for children with rare genetic diseases, while in 2016 a donor evening was organized for the opening of the Centre for Developmental Disabilities Prevention “For Mother and Child”.
In 2017, the donor evening “To Brave Hearts, With Love” was organised for the Solidarity Fund for Diagnosis and Treatment of Diseases, Conditions and Injuries of Children Abroad, in 2018 for children with movement difficulties, in 2019 for children with developmental difficulties to establish a day care centres in Trebinje and Banjaluka.
For the establishment of the first human milk bank, a donor evening was organized in 2020, in 2021 for the procurement of means of transport for 33 associations within the Federation of Associations Helping Mentally Underdeveloped Persons of Republika Srpska, and last year for the procurement of modern neonatal transport incubators for maternity hospitals in Srpska.
Source: srna.rs
Photo: srna.rs
