Baba Amte has blood cancer

Nagpur, Aug 25: Noted social worker Baba Amte is suffering from blood cancer, doctors attending on him said today. Dr Avinash Pophali, a haemato-oncologist who is in the team of doctors treating Mr Amte at a hospital here, told sources that the Magsaysay Award winner has a type of blood cancer in which the body's capacity to resist infection decreases because of a reduction in the number of white blood corpuscles (WBCs) produced by the bone marrow.

''Mr Amte has 15 per cent malignant cells in his bone marrow. A patient having five to 19 per cent malignant cells in the bone marrow is put in the category called Myelodysplastic Syndrome. He has chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia (CMML), which is a sub-type of Myelodysplastic Syndrome. Mr Amte does not have acute leukaemia,'' he said.

Mr Amte would need frequent blood and platelet transfusions as supportive measures, Dr Pophali said, adding that he had been isolated from the surroundings as he was prone to acquire infection because of his poor haematological status.

The 93-year old Mr Amte was brought here from Warora in Chandrapur district last week after his haemoglobin decreased to 6.8 (normal range 13 to 14) and platelets to 14,000 (normal range 1 lakh).

UNI