Brands
Yashoda Medicity launches campaign to promote stem cell donation
MUMBAI: What if saving a life took just a few seconds and a cotton swab? That simple idea sits at the heart of A Match That Saves Lives, a new public awareness campaign launched by Yashoda Medicity to spotlight the urgent need for stem cell donors in India.
Held in collaboration with Datri Stem Cell Donation Registry and Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd., the campaign aims to demystify stem cell donation and show how a quick, painless buccal swab can put someone on the path to becoming a life-saving match. The initiative saw enthusiastic participation from residents of nearby communities, signalling growing awareness, but also underscoring how much more needs to be done.
The event was inaugurated by Abhinav Gopal, IAS, chief development officer, Ghaziabad, who joined doctors and advocates in calling for wider public participation in India’s stem cell donor registry.
The urgency is real. For patients battling conditions such as leukaemia, lymphoma, thalassaemia and other severe blood disorders, a bone marrow transplant is often the only cure. Yet more than 70 per cent of patients do not find a suitable donor within their family. Finding an unrelated match can be as rare as one in 10,000, owing to the complexity of matching Human Leukocyte Antigen markers.
Against this stark backdrop, the campaign focused on clearing misconceptions around stem cell donation and highlighting how accessible the process really is. Awareness booths at Yashoda Medicity, Indirapuram, and Yashoda Super Speciality Hospital, Kaushambi, allowed visitors to register as donors, submit buccal swab samples and speak directly with medical teams.
The on-ground drive was supported by health talks and panel discussions featuring voices such as Shobha Tuli of Thalassemics India and the Thalassaemia International Federation, and Bindiya Sawheny, North India Head at Datri. Conversations centred on strengthening India’s donor ecosystem and why timely matches can dramatically improve patient outcomes.
Adding a human touch were patient stories shared under the hashtag BMT Ki Kahani Survivor Ki Zubani, which brought home the life-changing impact of stem cell donation, not through statistics, but lived experience.
Yashoda Group of Hospitals chairman and managing director P. N. Arora said, “Creating awareness about stem cell donation is something we must all take part in. This initiative underlines our commitment to public health alongside medical excellence.”
Yashoda Group of Hospitals managing director Upasana Arora said, “‘A Match That Saves Lives’ is our effort to raise awareness about the life-saving potential of stem cell donation. While our teams support patients through every stage of treatment, this initiative helps build a stronger donor network that delivers timely hope.”
Yashoda Medicity director and head of hematology hemato-oncology and bone marrow transplant Nivedita Dhingra said, “Every new donor brings a patient closer to a compatible match. Campaigns like this turn awareness into action and action into saved lives.”
With A Match That Saves Lives, Yashoda Medicity is sending out a clear message: sometimes, all it takes to make a difference is to swab, register and be willing to help a stranger live.
Brands
Faber-Castell India appoints Sunaina Haldar as director – marketing
With stints at Tata, SleepyCat and ADF Foods under her belt, Haldar is primed to redraw Faber-Castell’s brand story
MUMBAI: Faber-Castell India has poached Sunaina Haldar from ADF Foods, appointing her director – marketing as the German stationery brand looks to muscle up in a category that is rapidly reinventing itself around creativity and self-expression.
Haldar hit the ground running. “My first couple of weeks have been incredibly energising, understanding consumers, visiting markets, engaging with retailers and immersing myself into the world of Faber-Castell Group,” she said.
She arrives with considerable firepower. At ADF Foods, Haldar ran marketing across India and international markets for a portfolio spanning Ashoka, Aeroplane, Camel and ADF Soul. Before that, she was vice-president – marketing at direct-to-consumer mattress brand SleepyCat, where she helmed brand, content and performance marketing. Her résumé also includes a stint leading marketing, new product development and CRM for Tata SmartFoodz at Tata Consumer Products, no small proving ground.
Between corporate roles, Haldar also operated as a fractional CMO for early-stage startups, building marketing strategy and operational structures from scratch, a signal that she knows how to move fast with limited resources.
With 18 years straddling FMCG, D2C and the startup world, Haldar now takes the reins at a brand that has long owned the classroom but is clearly hungry for the living room. In a stationery market where the pencil has become a lifestyle statement, Faber-Castell has picked someone who knows exactly how to sell that story.
