One leukemia patient's search for matching bone
marrow has highlighted the urgent need of bone marrow banks for
money to cover the costs of testing donated blood samples.
Wei Nan, a 20-year-old soldier in the northeastern
province of Heilongjiang,
was diagnosed with acute leukemia on July 11 and needs an urgent
marrow transplant.
Wei's mother, Wang Yan, has appealed to bone marrow
banks across the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Japan for help, but
none of the samples supplied have matched.
A local newspaper in Harbin, Heilongjiang's
capital, called for local residents to donate stem cells for the
soldier, and many volunteers called to show their willingness to
help.
But Luan Shuqin, director of the local bone marrow
bank, said "We can take more blood samples from donors, but we
don't have enough money to test them."
According to her, each blood sample should go
through a Human Leukocyte Antigens test before the sample data can
be stored on Zhonghua Marrow Bank's database. "But the tests cost
530 yuan (US$65) each."
Luan said the bank has collected 11,000 blood
samples from volunteers but only 7,000 samples' information could
be recorded due to lack of funds.
Forty-six samples have been preliminarily found to
match that of current leukemia patients, and four people have
already been saved, according to her, but "the lack of funds may
result in the loss of information about donors."
The Zhonghua Marrow Bank, also known as
Hematopoietic Stem Cell Donor Databank, has 30 branches throughout
the country.
"Lack of cash for testing is a problem all its
branches are facing," Luan said.
Each year, the government puts a quota on donors
that will be funded, and Heilongjiang's is only 3,000 this
year.
"If we want to expand the bank, we need to find
money to cover the testing costs ourselves," said Luan.
"At present, Heilongjiang has the highest incidence
of leukemia, with about 1,000 children suffering from it," said Ma
Jun, director of Heilongjiang Blood Research Center.
The incidence is seven in every 100,000 people in
the province, compared to the national average of about five.
According to Ma, the province's population of 38
million needs a marrow bank that contains data on at least 100,000
potential donors.
The matching success rate for bone marrow is just
one in 10,000 for relatives and one in 100,000 for
non-relatives.
"We do need more volunteers, but we also need funds
to do sample analysis and expand the capacity of the marrow
station," Luan said.
In contrast, exclusive funds are allocated to cover
analysis costs and 30 percent of volunteers in Shanghai are willing
to pay for the analysis out of their own pockets, she said.
(China Daily August 10, 2005)