Guwahati

A teenage girl has been cured of thalassemia, blood disorder, after a bone marrow transplant by Dr Asif Iqbal, of the Dr B Borooah Cancer Institute, here last week.

This is a major step in curing the congenital disease, which, so far, was considered only manageable through painful and yet regular blood transfusions.

Dr Iqbal is the head of the Bone Marrow Transplant unit of Assam's Dr. B Barooah Cancer Institute, which is a unit of Mumbai’s Tata Memorial Hospital. This is the first such surgery for Thalassemia and has taken Guwahati one step ahead in becoming the medical tourism destination of the entire Southeast Asia.

Dr Asif Iqbal, a leading haematologist of India, and his team, comprising  Dr Manasa Kukunje, Dr Ranjita Sarma, Dr Karbi Kuli, and Dr Sakshi Gupta, transplanted bone marrow on the 17-year-old girl on June 9 and 10.

Dr. Asif Iqbal and his team with the patient who uynderwent the Bone Marrow Transplant for her condition of Thalassemia

Dr Asif Iqbal told Awaz-The Voice, “The Northeast is a hotbed of thalassemia. Though the Assam government has a scheme of treating thalassemia patients at Bengaluru, the treatment often remains incomplete because the private hospital there would take care of the patients only for the first 100 days, after which the patients are left unattended. Thus, I was seeking permission to start the treatment at Dr BBCI for a long time, but was not permitted due to various constraints. The new management encouraged us to carry out the process, and our team performed the transplant successfully.”

After going through all the complicated stages of the transplant, the 17-year-old girl is now completely recovered. The teenager had been surviving on regular blood transfusions for many years.

Dr. Asif Iqbal with his wife and child

Thalassemia is a congenital blood disorder in children that leads to poor haemoglobin production in the body. Children with this disorder become weak, fatigued, and suffer from anaemia and are dependent on frequent blood transfusions.

This process is not only expensive, but it also makes children mentally depressed. Frequent blood transfusions also increase the amount of iron in the blood and require regular use of certain medications.

The revolutionary Bone marrow transplant involves replacing the bone marrow inside the patient's body. Since blood production occurs primarily in the bone marrow, this process can completely cure thalassemia.

Dr. Asif Iqbal receiving Assom Gaurav Samman from Governor Jagdish Mukhi

People tend to believe that bone marrow transplantation is only a treatment for some cancers. However, in reality, it has also been successfully used in many complicated non-cancerous blood diseases such as thalassemia.

Dr Iqbal says, "Given the high prevalence of thalassemia in our state and the Northeast, it is essential to establish bone marrow transplant facilities in this region."

The bone marrow transplant facility was launched in 2021 at the Dr Bhubaneswar Borooah Cancer Institute in Guwahati. Over 40 bone marrow transplants have already been performed here over the past three years.

With sufficient infrastructure, skill, and long experience in bone marrow transplantation, BBCI has now successfully expanded the transplant service to thalassemia patients.

Dr Asif Iqbal receiving winners' trophy at a Chess championship

Dr Asif Iqbal, who led the mission, is literally fighting a lone battle to cure thalassemia patients in the Northeast by performing bone marrow transplantation (BMT). He is a highly specialised surgeon who can perform bone marrow transplants to cater to the Northeast.

He left his job in a leading private hospital of Assam to join Dr. B Borooah Cancer Institute. He felt responsible for patients who could not afford expensive BMT treatment in private hospitals. Therefore, he decided to serve at the BBCI.

 His zeal to serve the state, particularly the economically weaker section of the society, also fetched him the Assam government’s Asom Gaurav award, the third-highest civilian award of the state, in 2021. He was also awarded the Dalmiya Cements Young Achiever Award in 2022 for his outstanding research work.

Dr. Asif Iqbal with his parents

Dr Iqbal topped the Assam State Medical Entrance Examination in 2003 and graduated from Gauhati Medical College (GMC) in 2008 with an MBBS degree. Thereafter, he served as an Emergency Medical Officer at Jorhat Medical College and Hospital for one year.

He started his postgraduate education at GMC in 2010 and completed his MD (General Medicine) in 2013. Then he worked as a Senior Resident in Medical Oncology at Tata Memorial Hospital and BBCI in Mumbai for one year.

He also topped the West Bengal DM Entrance Examination for Haematology in 2014 and started his postdoctoral education at IHTM, Kolkata. He qualified in 2017 as a DM (super specialty course) in Clinical Haematology.

During his DM residency in 2016, Dr Iqbal became an instructor for the International CML Foundation at the prestigious Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York.

Dr Iqbal is an accomplished physician for the diagnosis and treatment of benign and malignant haematological diseases. He has also received advanced training in complex lab haematology, chemotherapy, and stem cell transplantation.

 After completion of the DM residency, Dr Iqbal wanted to undertake further training/fellowships at leading cancer centres in Canada and Australia.

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However, his strong desire and mindset to serve the patients of his state and country prevented his plans to go abroad, and Dr Iqbal has devoted himself to continuous service to patients of Assam and other parts of the Northeast.