The liver transplant unit of AIIMS, which had been lying inactive for several years, has re-started its operations recently.
Two patients, suffering from end-stage liver disease, have undergone successful transplant at the hospital in the last two months. While many private hospitals offer the facility ” costing anywhere between Rs 10 to Rs 25 lakh ” a few in government sector do it. Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) is the only public sector hospital in the capital which has an active liver transplant programme.
We have a long waiting list of patients seeking liver transplant at AIIMS. But the number of cadaveric donations is few and therefore we are not able to conduct transplants regularly. We do not offer live donor transplants at present, said a senior doctor at AIIMS, adding there has been a spurt in cadaver donations in the recent times ” families of five brain-dead patients have offered organs in the last seven months.
The first liver transplant was conducted at the institute in 1999. AIIMS has conducted a total of 14 liver transplants till date, a source said.
Two patients, both in their 40s, had successful liver transplant in June and July this year. While one of them had developed liver failure due to Hepatitis B, the other patient suffered from cryptogenic cirrhosis of the liver. They have been discharged and are doing well post transplant, said a senior AIIMS doctor. Dr Piyush Sahni, Dr N R Das and Dr Sujoy Pal were among the team of doctors from gastrointestinal and liver transplant unit of AIIMS who conducted the life-saving procedure.
According to government records, about 60,000 people die in India due to liver failure every year. Dr A S Soin, head of the liver transplant unit at Medanta Medicity in Gurgaon, said, We conduct about 280 liver transplants in a year. About 85% such procedures involve live donors and only 15% are from braindead patients.
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