Marrow from a patient from Canada is transported by helicopters from SC to a transplant task force in RS | Santa Catarina

A bone marrow from a donor from Canada was transported by helicopters from Santa Catarina, this Tuesday (7), to Rio Grande do Sul. The organ will be destined for a patient awaiting a transplant in Porto Alegre, one of the 401 municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul affected. due to the storms in the state.

The task force is due to the difficulty of accessing areas in the neighboring state. Salgado Filho Airport, in the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, is closed indefinitely due to heavy rains.

The operation to take the body to the neighboring state included aircraft from the Santa Catarina Military Fire Department (CBMSC) and the Santa Catarina Military Police (PMSC).

According to Hospital das Clínicas, where the organ recipient is located, the surgery should take place on Wednesday (8). See how it happened, step by step:

1. A health professional from São Paulo followed the bone marrow collection process in Canada and brought the donation to Brazil on a commercial flight.
2. Upon arriving at Hercílio Luz International Airport, in Florianópolis, around 2pm this Tuesday, the organ was transported by SC Transplantes car to the CBMSC hangar.
3. The firefighters’ Archangel 04 aircraft took the marrow to the Canoas air base (RS).
4. From Canoas, the organ was taken by PMSC helicopter to the Army Cavalry Regiment, in Porto Alegre, which was tasked with taking it to Hospital das Clínicas.

SC State Transplant Coordinator, Joel de Andrade, said that the compatible donor was found through an international search.

It is an allogeneic transplant, when stem cells are collected from the donor, according to him.

“First a search was carried out right here in the country. As a donor was not found, the search for someone compatible was carried out in international registries. This donor was identified and then the collection was carried out”, he explained.

Also this Tuesday, the State Department of Health (SES) sent another 49 bags of platelets from the Hematology and Hemotherapy Center of Santa Catarina (Hemosc) to Rio Grande do Sul. The transport was carried out by land from the regional unit of Chapecó, in the West, to the Passo Fundo Regional Blood Center (Hemopasso).