Over 3,000 Donors have Joined The Stem Cell Donor Registry of KFSH&RC- Riyadh
General
26
August
During 10 days of KFSH&RC campaign in the Eastern Summer Festival
Over 3,000 donors have joined the Stem Cell Donor Registry of KFSH&RC- Riyadh, during the first 10 days of the awareness campaign of the Stem Cell Donor Registry launched by the hospital during the 37th Eastern Province Summer Festival.
His Royal Highness Prince Saud bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, the Governor of Eastern Province has inaugurated the campaign through His Highness initiative to join the Stem Cell Donor Registry, thus the festival was launched last week under the patronage of His Highness.
Dr. Feras Alfraih, Consultant, Hematology/ Stem Cell Transplantation and the Executive Director of Stem Cell Donor Registry at KFSH&RC- Riyadh appreciated the huge turnout witnessed during the campaign. In addition to the great desire of the festival visitors from all society segments to join the Donor Registry, reflecting their awareness of the importance of this Registry as well as the spirit of solidarity and tender rooted among Saudis.
He also added that the purpose of the campaign launched by the hospital is to reach out to the largest segment of the society with the view of increasing the number of registered donors in the list, which in turn increases the possibility of finding matching donors to patients suffering from serious diseases and is need for stem cell transplant.
Bandar Alotaibi, Coordinator of Stem Cell Donor Registry of KFSH&RC- Riyadh explained that a specialized team in stem cell donation is ready to receive visitors daily from 4 p.m to 11 p.m, in a makeshift tent set up for this purpose at the seafront in Dammam, as part of the Festival activities (the 37th Eastern Province Summer Festival). The team provides integrated information about this Registry and its noble goals and objectives as well as answering visitors’ questions. He also Pointed out that the campaign will last until Saturday 24 Dhu Al-Qada (27 August).
He clarified that the stem cell donation awareness campaign is targeting Saudi citizens above 18 years. It will be based on applying a mouth swab, the latest technique applicable worldwide to determine tissue typing and blood group.
He indicated that in case of finding a matching donor for one of the patients in the registry database. The matching donor will be contacted in order to come to the hospital for the purpose of donating an amount of the stem cell which is usually done through arm. It is a safe process where they get 300 ml and the body will compensate this amount in four weeks.