]Bengaluru: Ramaiah Memorial Hospital (RMH) has been awarded accreditation by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT), one of the world’s most rigorous authorities for quality and safety in bone marrow transplantation and cellular therapy.
With this recognition, RMH becomes one of only two hospitals in India to hold FACT accreditation and the only one in the country to have both FACT and Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditations—placing it among a select group of globally benchmarked transplant centres.
FACT accreditation certifies compliance with internationally recognised FACT–JACIE standards, widely regarded as the gold standard in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Unlike general hospital accreditations that primarily assess infrastructure and staffing, FACT evaluates the entire transplant ecosystem, including donor safety, stem cell processing, clinical protocols, long-term follow-up, outcome reporting, and continuous quality improvement.
India faces a growing burden of blood cancers and severe hematologic disorders, with over 120,000 new cases diagnosed annually and around 70,000 deaths each year, according to estimates from the International Agency for Research on Cancer GLOBOCAN 2022 report. The country also carries the world’s highest burden of thalassemia, for which bone marrow transplantation remains the only established curative treatment.
Phyllis Warkentin, Chief Medical Officer at FACT, confirmed that the hospital had met the Foundation’s stringent requirements for its Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Programme.
As transplant volumes rise, ensuring consistent quality, safety, and long-term outcomes has become a critical public health priority.
RMH evaluates nearly 1,000 patients with blood disorders each year, of whom about 100 are clinically eligible for transplantation. However, only 30–40 undergo transplants annually due to donor availability, logistical barriers, and safety concerns—gaps that globally validated programmes aim to address by strengthening clinical confidence and standardisation.
The hospital acknowledged academic mentorship from the University of Illinois, which supported the alignment of its transplant protocols with international best practices.
FACT-accredited centres remain rare in India, and RMH is currently the only such facility in Bengaluru and the second nationwide. The accreditation enhances the hospital’s readiness for advanced cellular therapies while reinforcing its commitment to patient safety, donor protection, and sustained clinical outcomes.
