MUMBAI:  Salman Khan’s Being Human Foundation has partnered with Marrow Donor Registry India (MDRI) to create a registry of marrow donors in India for patients who have blood-related illnesses like leukemia, thalessemia, aplastic anemia and congenital immunodeficiency states.

MDRI was set up in 2008 as an NGO at the Tata Memorial Centre with the sole purpose of creating a registry of committed, voluntary and unrelated donors for those patients requiring bone marrow transplantation and without an HLA- matched donor within their families. However, for the registry to be functional, more than one lakh donors need to be registered. People from the age group of 18-50 years are eligible for donor recruitment.

MDRI and Being Human work with colleges to create awareness of the need for a world-class registry in India. One of the first colleges to participate in this initiative is K. J Somaiya Institute of Engineering and IT, Sion, who as part of their annual college festival, Surge’11, conducted a marrow donation drive on their college premises along with Marrowthon – a 6 km. run showing support for the cause.Surge ’11 will be held from 3 March to 5 March, 2011.