PESHAWAR, Dec 30: Two young thalassaemia patients are suffering a slow death, as they are unable to find the money required for the costly bone marrow transplant.

Umair Hussain, 14, and his nine-year-old sister Nahida, have been coming to Peshawar from their native village, Sangao, in Mardan for blood transfusion twice a month ever since they were six months old.

Wakil Khan, their maternal uncle told Dawn on Monday, that the family had exhausted its limited resources and the doctors at the Armed Forces Bone Marrow Transplant Centre (AFBMTC), Rawalpindi, say that bone marrow transplant (BMT) could cost almost Rs1.2 million.

Their father, Mohammad Hussain serves in the police department.