By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Aug 27: Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) has successfully performed the State’s first stem cell transplant, marking a historic milestone that will ease the burden of blood cancer patients who previously had to travel to Kuala Lumpur for similar treatment.
Sarawak Deputy Premier and Minister for Public Health, Housing, and Local Government Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian congratulated Dr Chew Lee Ping and the Haematology Service team at SGH for the breakthrough, describing it as the first step in bringing Sarawakians easier access to blood disease care.
“This is also a giant step towards the upcoming Sarawak Cancer Centre in our nation-building.
“Previously, a similar patient with blood cancer from Sarawak would need to spend four to six weeks in KL for the same treatment,” he said in a Facebook post.
Dr Sim emphasised that stem cell transplantation is an effective consolidation treatment for patients with blood cancer.
He expressed gratitude to SABATI, Yayasan OBYU, MMMA Sarawak (Dermatology Conference) for their donation of a thawer and portable air filter, as well as to Hospital Ampang’s stem cell lab for supporting SGH with cell collection and processing.
“Thanks also to the Health Ministry for their approval to start stem cell transplant in SGH,” he added. — DayakDaily
