Proposed Law in Israel to Save Lives of Jews Worldwide

4
>>Follow Matzav On Whatsapp!<<

bone-marrow-shotIsrael’s Labor, Health and Social Services Knesset Committee has approved the proposed Bone Marrow Registry Law for a second and third reading.

According to the proposal, Israel’s national government will assist in funding local Bone Marrow Registries that are being operated by non-profit organizations. Until now, the Bone Marrow Registries were funded solely by donations and were instrumental in the cure of thousands of patients throughout the world for whom a stem cell transplant was the only hope of a cure.

Ezer Mizion’s International Bone Marrow Registry, the largest Jewish registry in the world, is located in Israel. Dr Brocha Zisser, the director of Ezer Mizion’s Bone Marrow Registry, praised the decision and said, “The State’s interest must be to strengthen the Registry so that it can grant security and assure 95% of the population a chance of finding a matching bone marrow donor. This level can be achieved within a few years, with help the financial help and participation of Israel’s national government.”

Ezer Mizion has saved closed to eight hundred lives of cancer patients whose sole chance of survival had been a bone marrow transplant. To ensure success of the transplant, both donor and recipient must genetically match. Even though the registry has grown to over half a million registrants, it is not enough and many requests are returned with the words: No Match Found, a virtual death sentence. It is essential for world Jewry that a match be available at the time of request as a cancer patient cannot wait.

The Committee Chairman, MK Chaim Katz (Likud), said that “It was my privilege to take part in approving this law that is unquestionably historic. The Committee’s insistence on putting a clearly defined budgetary allotment into the law ensures that it will function properly.”

MK Zevulun Orlev (Habayit Hayehudi) said that “The law will immediately lead to saving the lives of many people, since it will enlarge the Registry and increase the chances of finding a match for the range of cancer patients. This is a historic law, in which the government takes direct responsibility to maintain Israel’s Bone Marrow Registry and to expand it each year by about 20,000 additional samples.”

{Yair Alpert-Matzav.com Newscenter}


4 COMMENTS

  1. You might want to ammend your headline, “To save lives of People in need, worldwide”.

    We are a light upon all nations. We sincerely care about everyone.

  2. To #1:
    It is true that we care about everyone. But the need for a Jewish bone marrow registry is quite acute, because for Jews – as well as all minorities – finding a match in a general registry is much more difficult. A Jewish patient is far more likely to find a match in a solely Jewish registry.

Leave a Reply to Shlomo Cancel reply

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here