More bone marrow donors are needed to save the lives of people with deadly blood diseases, according to the Japan Marrow Donor Foundation.
The Tokyo-based bone marrow bank will celebrate its 10th anniversary on Tuesday with a campaign to find more donors. "Our goal now is to secure 300,000 donor registrations so that the great majority of patients with serious blood diseases will be able to find a donor," said Kenichi Hanioka, general manager of the foundation.
As of the end of October, 144,382 people nationwide were registered with the foundation as donor candidates and 3,689 bone marrow transplants between unrelated people had been performed through the organization.