From Transfusions To Healthy Childhoods: How Collaborative Care At A Noida Hospital Rewrites Lives Through BMT

For years, seven-year-old Aahan's childhood revolved around hospital corridors, blood transfusions and anxious waits.

Born into a modest family in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida, Aahan was diagnosed with thalassemia, a severe blood disorder, when he was barely five months old. His father, Vikram Chauhan, an e-rickshaw driver, recalled the relentless struggle that followed.

"Every few weeks we had to rush for blood transfusions. Sometimes it was every 15 days. Our life was spent moving between hospitals and worrying about what would happen next," said the 35-year-old father.

The family's financial resources were limited, but the emotional burden was even heavier. As Aahan grew, so did concerns about whether he would ever be able to live like other children.

Hope arrived when Aahan’s family somehow reached the UP government-run Post Graduate Institute of Child Health (PGICH), Noida, where a team of doctors led by Dr. Nita Radhakrishnan, a paediatric haemato-oncologist, identified a suitable family donor and recommended a bone marrow transplant (BMT), a life-saving procedure that replaces diseased or damaged bone marrow with healthy stem cells.

“BMT is a procedure in which a healthy donor’s stem cells are infused into a patient’s bloodstream, replacing the patient’s diseased cells. The new cells go on to grow, develop and reproduce in a process called engraftment.”

It is primarily used to treat severe conditions like leukaemia, thalassemia, aplastic anaemia, and immune deficiencies, said Dr. Radhakrishnan.

In Aahan's case, the transplant was performed at the hospital free of cost when he was four years old. Today, three years later, the transformation looks like a boon.

The child who once depended on frequent transfusions now runs, plays and attends school like any other seven-year-old. He no longer requires regular medicines or repeated hospital admissions. His visits to the hospital are limited to routine follow-up consultations.

Aahan’s father, Vikram, speaks with relief and gratitude. “The doctors stood with us throughout the journey. We never imagined he would become so healthy. Today he is doing very well,” he said.

Aahan is among more than 100 children who have survived serious blood disorders after undergoing BMT at the centre, each representing a life restored and a childhood reclaimed.

Last week, the PGICH, Noida, celebrated the milestone, an achievement that Dr. Radhakrishnan, who has been closely associated with the programme, said is not merely a medical statistic but a reflection of a larger effort to make advanced treatment accessible to children from economically vulnerable families.

The financial support has come through Doctors For You, an NGO which roped in corporates like Boeing, Adobe, Ascendum and other partners for the purpose.

Dr. Rajat Jain from Doctors For You told The Health Outlook that the programme demonstrates that highly specialised treatments can be made accessible to patients irrespective of their financial background.

“Bone marrow transplantation is often the only curative option for several children suffering from blood cancers, thalassemia, aplastic anaemia and other serious disorders. Unfortunately, the high cost of treatment places it beyond the reach of many families,” he said.

Dr. Jain noted that through the combined efforts of PGICH, Doctors For You and support from Boeing, the initiative has sought to remove financial barriers that frequently prevent patients from accessing timely care.

“At PGICH, we are working to ensure that this complex and life-saving treatment is provided either completely free of cost or at the lowest possible expense for families in need,” he said.

Dr. Jain credited the success to the dedication of doctors, nurses, transplant coordinators and support staff who have worked relentlessly to build a sustainable and high-quality transplant programme.

The achievement is particularly significant because BMT requires advanced infrastructure, specialised expertise and long-term patient monitoring.

“This milestone is not just a number. It represents 100 lives given a second chance and 100 families offered hope,” Dr. Jain said.

"Bone marrow transplantation is among the most complex treatments in paediatric medicine. Earlier, our capacity was limited and we could perform only one or two transplants annually because of a shortage of beds," added Dr. Radhakrishnan.

A turning point came in 2024 when eight additional beds were added to the BMT Unit with support from Doctors For You.

"The expansion significantly strengthened our ability to treat more children. As a result, many more families could access this life-saving therapy," Dr. Radhakrishnan said, adding that since then many needy patients are coming from nearby States.

Of the 100 children who underwent transplantation, 78 were from Uttar Pradesh, 10 from Bihar, five from Delhi and four from Haryana, while two patients came from outside India. The children ranged in age from one to 18 years. Eighty-six were boys and the remaining were girls.

The conditions treated included acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, acute myeloid leukaemia, aplastic anaemia, thalassemia and Hodgkin's lymphoma, primary immunodeficiencies etc.—illnesses that often require prolonged treatment and can prove fatal without specialised care.

Among the survivors is 13-year-old Poonam, the daughter of a farmer, Bharma Singh (40), from Agra, Uttar Pradesh.

For years, the family struggled to find effective treatment.

"We faced enormous difficulties. Many relatives told us that Poonam would never be cured," Singh recalled. Those predictions have now been proven wrong.

Poonam underwent a BMT last year and is recovering well.

“The hospital team transformed her life. We are following all the precautions advised by the doctors, and she is doing remarkably better now,” he said. Encouraged by her recovery, he has also recommended the same treatment at the Noida hospital to a relative whose daughter is battling a similar blood disorder.

Director of the institute, Prof. AK Singh, remarked that "the establishment of comprehensive paediatric superspecialty services under one roof at PGICH reflects the vision of ensuring that every child has access to advanced, world-class healthcare regardless of financial background. Our BMT programme demonstrates how public investment, institutional commitment, and collaborative partnerships can transform lives."

Funding remains a central challenge through the transplant journey. “One of the greatest strengths of our programme is that we try to ensure that financial constraints are not a barrier to treatment. The majority of funding is supported through government health schemes, while non-governmental organizations and individual donors help bridge critical gaps in patient care."

“As a result, out-of-pocket expenditure for most families is typically less than 5% of the total cost of treatment, making curative therapy accessible to children who would otherwise be unable to afford it,” remarked Anukriti Shrivastava, the BMT coordinator in the department. According to experts in the sector, outcomes of BMTs in children in India have improved significantly, offering high cure rates—up to 85–90% in thalassemia, 60–80%+ in leukaemia, and excellent results in aplastic anaemia. Initial recovery takes 3–6 months, with full immune recovery by 6–12 months.

For families like Aahan's and Poonam's, the impact extends far beyond medicine.

It means children returning to classrooms instead of hospital wards, parents regaining hope after years of uncertainty, and families being freed from the emotional and financial burden of chronic illness.