DKMS BMST Foundation India, based out of Bangalore, Karnataka, is a joint venture of two reputed non-profit organizations- BMST (Bangalore Medical Services Trust) and DKMS one of the largest international blood stem cell donor centers in the world based in Germany, with entities in the US, the UK, Chile, Poland, India, and South Africa. Patrick joined DKMS Life Science Lab in Germany as a Project Manager, 12 years back. After working in Germany for a few years, he moved to Kolkata, India in 2016. In June 2018, he started working to set up DKMS-BMST in Bangalore, which was officially launched in 2019. Since then, he is heading the team as Chief Executive Officer.
Patrick envisions DKMS-BMST to achieve great milestones in the coming years by helping more Indian patients suffering from blood cancer or other blood disorders like thalassemia and aplastic anemia. Blood cancer, a common malignancy today, may require transplantation. However, the search for an appropriate donor is a race against the time. To ease this high demand, and pressure situation, the company attempts to raise awareness about blood stem cell donations.
Patrick, a firm believer in the company’s vision, is focused on providing these patients with blood stem cell transplant, that gives them a second chance at life. When asked Patrick about the topic, he spoke about the need for driving this initiative and the company’s efforts to raise awareness and register donors. Explaining the low donor percentage in India he said, “The need of the hour is to address this gap. This can be achieved by increasing our donor registration base. The significantly low numbers of registration indicate the lack of awareness among the masses and also multiple misconceptions existing amongst people about the process of blood stem cell transplant. It’s time to tackle these obstacles and encourage every individual to become a potential lifesaver at dkms-bmst.org/register”.
So far, DKMS-BMST has registered 60,000 potential blood stem cell donors and helped 60 patients in getting successful stem cell transplants. DKMS-BMST envisages itself to be a leading organization in India in facilitating blood stem cell donation and stem cell transplant through its combined, coordinated efforts with government and other non-government organizations to provide accessible, affordable, and equitable healthcare for millions of blood cancer patients in India. Patrick has been an integral part of the success of DKMS and continues to be motivated to face and overcome the challenges in the years to come.