Odisha Doctor Gets Prestigious Fellowship

Cuttack: The head of clinical haematology department of SCB Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) here, Prof Rabindra Kumar Jena, has been elected as Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP), London, for his standout contribution to the field of medicine, and haematology in particular.

He is the first haematologist from eastern India to have been conferred with the fellowship.

Jena completed his MBBS from SCB Medical College, Cuttack, in 1983 followed by post-graduation in general medicine from VIMSAR, Burla, in 1988. He returned to SCB Medical College for his PhD in Clinical Haematology, which was completed in 2001.

He was the first trained bone marrow transplant (BMT) specialist in the state. He received advanced training in the management of Thalassemia from Cyprus and Bone Marrow Transplantation from University of Minnesota, US, under VTP programme by American Society of Haematology. He was also instrumental in setting up the BMT unit at SCBMCH in 2014. The unit has conducted 142 procedures with the government provisioning free BMT for patients.

He has been part of various policy formulating agencies like the National Cancer Guideline 2019 for formulation of protocol for Adult Haematolymphoid Malignancies; NHM guidelines 2016 for Haemoglobinopathy, Ministry of Health Committee for the preparation of guidelines for Haemophilia and the Committee Member for Blood Task Force NHM, Odisha.

He has also served as president and secretary of Indian Society of Haematology and Blood Transfusion.