EBMT Organization
Recent discussions in Ireland on the need for a stem cell transplant facility at Cork University Hospital (CUH) have highlighted a challenge shared by healthcare systems across Europe: ensuring patients can access life-saving treatment closer to home.
EBMT was invited to contribute its expertise to the debate, alongside patient advocates and clinical leaders. As a trusted partner for healthcare systems, professionals and policymakers across Europe, EBMT brought its perspective, drawing on registry data, clinical experience and insights from transplant centres across the continent to help inform discussions on patient access, healthcare equity and service planning.
Representing EBMT, President Professor Ibrahim Yakoub-Agha highlighted the importance of ensuring equitable access to specialist treatment, regardless of where patients live, and of planning services around patient needs as demand for transplantation and advanced cellular therapies continues to grow.
"Our mission is not only to advance transplantation and cellular therapy, but also to ensure that patients can access these life-saving treatments without unnecessary barriers," said Ibrahim Yakoub-Agha.
"No patient should have to carry the burden of travelling long distances while facing cancer or a serious blood disorder. Access to treatment closer to home benefits patients, families and healthcare systems alike.
"At the same time, developing local expertise is essential. We must create opportunities for healthcare professionals to train and practise within their own regions so that patients can continue to benefit from sustainable, high-quality care close to home."
The discussion in Ireland reflects a wider challenge facing many countries as they seek to balance growing demand for highly specialised therapies with the need to provide care that remains accessible to patients and families. For individuals undergoing stem cell transplantation, long journeys can add significant physical, emotional and financial strain at an already difficult time.
By bringing evidence and experience from across Europe, EBMT helped reinforce a key principle: healthcare systems should be designed around patients' needs, ensuring that geography does not become a barrier to life-saving care.
This commitment is central to EBMT's mission to improve outcomes for patients through excellence in transplantation and cellular therapy, while advocating for equitable access to high-quality treatment across Europe.
EBMT remains committed to working with healthcare professionals, policymakers, patient advocates and healthcare systems to strengthen transplant and cellular therapy networks, expand access to care and support the development of local expertise. The Society believes that every patient deserves the opportunity to receive life-saving treatment as close to home as possible, and that geography should never determine a patient's chance of survival.
Further reading:
To learn more about the discussions surrounding transplantation services at Cork University Hospital, read the original coverage from The Irish Exam and the Irish Farmers Journal