Source: Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business

By Cai Wenjun

DOCTORS want more people to donate stem cells and medical authorities will give better financial support to patients with leukemia and other diseases that require stem-cell transplants.

"The confidence of family members, the sources of matched stem cells and social support systems like insurance and charity donations are all important to ensure stem-cell transplant," said Dr Gu Longjun from the hematology tumor department of the Shanghai Children's Medical Center, whose 100th stem-cell transplant patient was discharged yesterday.

"Children from Shanghai can receive a maximum of 100,000 yuan (US$12,500) support from the mutual-aid hospitalization fund every year. But it is still quite difficult for many families to collect the rest."

A stem-cell transplant in Shanghai costs 300,000 yuan.

The China Stem Cell Donor's Bank has 360,000 registered donors, providing a 50-percent chance of a match. Some patients matched with donors still do not receive transplants because of disease deterioration, the matched donor's inability to give a donation or financial constraints.

The hospital's 100th transplant patient, Zhang Yu, a 5-year-old Hubei Province boy, was diagnosed with leukemia last year and received a stem-cell transplant in May.

"(The cost of a transplant) puts huge pressure on an ordinary family like mine," Zhang Yong, Zhang Yu's father, said yesterday. "We have spent all that we have."

According to medical experts, 500 stem-cell transplants are carried out every year in China. There are 40,000 to 50,000 new leukemia patients every year.