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Dr. Qasim Al-Qasabi, Chief Executive Officer of King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFSH&RC) said that KFSH&RC in Riyadh had operated more than (5340) bone marrow and stem cells transplantation surgeries during the last three decades, (3119) of which were during the last decade and (320) were during last year 2016.

Dr. Al-Qasabi launched The Fourth International Conference of Worldwide Network for Blood and Marrow Transplantation "WBMT" on behalf of His Excellency Minister of Health, which is organized by KFSH&RC in cooperation with 15 international specialized associations. Dr. Al-Qasabi declared that bone marrow and stem cells transplantation program at KFSH&RC in Riyadh witnessed a great development and progress in volume and results since it was established in 1984 AD. It had achieved a global distinction during the last ten years, and became among the highest 5% of global centers that had operated transplantation surgeries annually, according to the statistics of leading research centers.

“Ten years ago, KFSH&RC has established the bank of stem cells that are extracted from the blood of umbilical cord as a strategic step. This bank aims at providing stem cells units that could be transplanted in case no identical family member donor is available, and to be an effective replacement for importing highly expensive identical units from overseas. The availability of umbilical cord blood bank units has led to distinguished results in increasing unit’s compatibility with patients. The stock of umbilical cord blood bank has reached now about 5500 units that have been treated and kept according to the highest globally applicable quality standards” Dr. Al-Qasabi added.

Dr. Al-Qasabi showed that KFSH&RC has developed other supporting programs, such as donation from the non-relatives, semi-identical persons or parents, which all require strict medical efficiency, adding that other programs have been expanded to cover diseases such as genetic marrow failure, immune diseases, sickle cell anemia and Mediterranean anemia.

“The Joint Accreditation Committee-ISCT & EBMT (JACIE) at Barcelona, Spain has granted KFSH&RC the accreditation certificate in 2010 as the first medical center outside USA and Europe that has been awarded such certificate, due to the achieved distinguished results it had in bone marrow and stem cells transplantation” Dr. Al-Qasabi stated.

Dr. Mahmoud Aljurf, Deputy Director, Oncology Center, Chairman of Scientific Committee, confirmed in his speech that the conference represents a high importance in the medical field, due to the major participation of international organizations and associations, and due to the speakers' high positions, who came from highly advanced centers.

About 100 local and global speakers participated in the conference that was held over three days. They represented 32 countries specialized in bone marrow and stem cells transplantation field, who came from the leading international centers from Europe and USA to strengthen and develop the region countries capabilities and to participate in research and perusing the latest updates.

In the end of the ceremony, Dr. Qasim Al-Qasabi launched the accompanying medical fair and a campaign for stem cells donation adopted by the hospital