Syria: The first pediatric stem cell transplant center to receive patients soon

Asma al-Assad: With will, nothing is impossible. Reuters

Within weeks, Syria will open its first pediatric stem cell transplantation center, which will receive cancer patients from the age of one month to 14 years.

The center was established under the patronage of President Bashar al-Assad's wife, Asma al-Assad, who has been supporting efforts to fight cancer since her husband's ascension to the presidency.

Asmaa, herself a cancer survivor, toured the center in the capital, Damascus, before it opened.

Work in the center began in 2010, but stopped with the outbreak of war in the country and the sanctions imposed after that on the Syrian government, which slowed its efforts to equip the center and provide the necessary training for medical staff.

The head of the Syrian National Committee for Cancer Control in Syria, Arwa Al-Azma, told Reuters TV, "We have a trained cadre, we have qualified and specialized doctors in the field of myeloid transplantation (stem cells), and they have already performed some limited cases of autologous myeloid transplantation, but I mean the structure of the center needed to be developed. and rehabilitation.”

"We are cooperating with friends in Tehran in this field, and we have many prospects for future cooperation, and we also hope to have cooperation prospects with other friendly countries," she added.

 For her part, Asma al-Assad said, “But with the will, nothing is impossible, and with vigorous efforts from different sides, we came up with solutions, lifted the siege on our situation and got close, and I heard from here that we are talking for weeks, we are no longer talking about months, we are close to the opening of the first center for stem cell transplantation for children in Syria ».

The center will receive children in need of stem cell transplantation and offer them free treatment that usually costs thousands of dollars.

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