Senegal has achieved a major milestone in the medical field with the successful completion of its first bone marrow transplant, APA learned on Thursday evening.
This feat was accomplished by the team at Dalal Jamm Hospital in Guédiawaye, a suburb of Dakar, under the leadership of Professor Fatou Samba Ndiaye, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health and Social Action.
The procedure, performed on a Senegalese patient with a blood disorder, involved “an autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant (autograft).”
The statement noted that “the costs of this transplant were fully covered by Dalal Jamm Hospital, with support from a partner.”
Health Minister Dr. Ibrahima Sy congratulated the medical team, as well as the hospital’s director and its partners. This breakthrough was made possible by the construction of a Clinical Hematology Center, built to international standards at a cost of 1.5 billion CFA francs.
“This new service now enables the treatment of patients who previously had to be evacuated abroad at costs ranging from 100 to 150 million CFA francs,” the ministry emphasised, highlighting the economic and health benefits for patients suffering from cancer and other chronic blood diseases.
ODL/ac/lb/as/APA