Archive · 11 Sep 2026
Cancer Survivor’s Transplant Shows India’s Need for More Donors
Some people with serious blood diseases need healthy stem cells from another person.
Sayli Rane found an unrelated donor and received a transplant in 2021.
She has remained free of the disease for five years.
Donors are volunteers who agree to be tested and may later donate stem cells.
Doctors and registries compare special markers called HLA types to find a suitable match.
Adults between 18 and 55 who are generally healthy can register.
India has many registered donors, but organizations say more are needed.
More donors could help more patients receive potentially life-saving transplants.
Sayli Rane received a stem-cell transplant from an unrelated donor in Ahmedabad in 2021 and remains disease-free five years later.
Around 300,000 potential donors are registered with DKMS across India, including about 11,000 in Mumbai and 40,101 in Maharashtra.
DKMS says 300 registered donors have donated stem cells, while more registrations are needed to improve patients’ chances of finding matches.
Adults aged 18 to 55 who are generally healthy can register, with matches identified through Human Leukocyte Antigens typing.
Sankalp India Foundation has supported 1,000 paediatric stem-cell transplants, including more than 820 whose costs received DKMS support.
- Who
- Mumbai cancer survivor Sayli Rane, stem-cell donor registries including DKMS and Datri, and Sankalp India Foundation are central to the report.
- What
- The report highlights Rane’s successful unrelated-donor transplant and the need to expand India’s stem-cell donor pool.
- When
- Rane received her transplant in 2021; the report is dated September 10, 2026, and says she has remained disease-free for five years.
- Where
- Rane’s transplant took place in Ahmedabad; the donor-registration effort covers Mumbai, Maharashtra and India.
- Why
- A larger donor pool could improve the chances of finding compatible matches for patients who lack a suitable family donor.
- Mumbai potential donors
- Around 11,000
- Maharashtra potential donors
- 40,101
- India potential donors registered with DKMS
- Around 300,000
- DKMS donors who have donated
- 300
- Eligible registration age
- 18 to 55 years, for people in generally good health
- Annual blood-cancer diagnoses in India
- More than 110,000
- Paediatric transplants reached by Sankalp India Foundation
- 1,000