The second edition of the “Eastern India Blood, Marrow & Cellular Therapy Meet 2024” (EIBMCT Meet 2024), a first-of-its-kind conference on bone marrow transplant in Eastern and North-Eastern India, was organized in Kolkata by the Eastern Haematology Group (EHG). Members of the EHG organization are hemato-oncologists and hematologists from eleven states in eastern and north-eastern India. The 2024 edition of the EIBMCT Meet theme was “Consolidating BMT activities in Eastern India.”

More than 250 healthcare professionals, including government officials, non-governmental organizations, and medical community members, attended the two-day conference. These professionals included hematologists, haemato-oncologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, BMT physicians, nurses, transfusion medicine specialists, scientists, and other BMT-related support staff. They also shared their knowledge, experience, and expertise to discuss future planning for BMT in Eastern and North-Eastern India.

The Inaugural Programme was attended by Shri Narayan Swaroop Nigam, Principal Secretary, Department of Health & Family Welfare, Government of West Bengal, Dr. Kaustav Nayek, Director of Medical Education and ex officio Secretary, Department of Health & Family Welfare, Government of West Bengal, Dr. Siddhartha Neogi, Director of Health Services, Department of Health & Family Welfare, Government of West Bengal, Prof. (Dr.) Rajib De, Department of Haematology, NRS Medical College & Hospital & Organizing Secretary, EIBMCT, 2024, Prof. (Dr.) Pit Baran Chakrabarti, Principal, NRS Medical College & Hospital, Prof. (Dr.) Tuphan Kanti Dolai, Head, Dept of Haematology, NRS Medical College & Hospital, Prof. (Dr.) Rabindra Kumar Jena, Secretary, Eastern Haematology Group (EHG) & Secretary of Indian College of Hematology, and Prof. Dr. Navin Khattry, Deputy Director, ACTREC, TMH Mumbai.

EIBMCT 2024 had new activities like workshops, sessions on supportive services in BMT, Transplant Related Complications, CAR-T Cell Therapy, Fund Raising, Stem Cell Registry, and dedicated sessions for BMT survivors in this region.

The 13 BMT centers from West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Assam and Chhattisgarh which participated in the conference were: 1) NRS Medical College & Hospital, Kolkata; 2) IHTM-Medical College, Kolkata; 3) Tata Medical Centre, Kolkata; 4) Apollo Multispeciality Hospital, Kolkata; 5) Narayana Superspeciality Hospital, Howrah; 6) Saroj Gupta Cancer Centre & Research Institute, Kolkata; 7) HCG EKO Cancer Center, Kolkata; 8) SCB Medical College, Cuttack; 9) IMS & SUM Hospital, Bhubaneswar; 10) Paras HMRI Hospital, Patna; 11) Gauhati Medical College & Hospital, Guwahati; 12) Bhubaneswar Borooah Cancer Institute, Guwahati 13) Balco Medical Center, Raipur.

Priyanka Dutta