The second liver transplant surgery at Government Medical College Hospital, Kottayam, this one too involving a living donor, has been successful and is a significant achievement for the State’s public health sector, a press release issued by Health Minister Veena George said.
Both surgeries were possible and a success because of the significant contribution and assistance of experienced tertiary care hospitals in the private sector. In the first liver transplant, the surgical gastroenterology team at Kottayam was aided by a team from KIMSHealth, Thiruvananthapuram, while the second surgery was carried out with a team from Amritha Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi .
With the government trying to offer liver transplant surgeries at more medical colleges, the conscious decision to seek some hand-holding from the private sector has paid off and this model would be adopted for other MCHs also, officials said. The patient, who underwent the liver transplant two weeks ago, was discharged on Saturday. His sister, who had donated part of her liver for transplant, had been discharged a week earlier, the statement said.
Extra care
Liver transplant surgeries, especially those involving healthy live donors, are technically intense as two full-fledged teams, with experienced surgeons have to perform parallel surgeries. Unlike in the case of cadaver transplants, special attention has to be paid to ensure that no harm comes to the healthy living donor.
However, one advantage of the transplant involving live donor is that the surgeries can be planned ahead, down to the last detail. This is the reason the government has chosen to start its liver transplant programme in public sector with live donation.
The press release issued by the Minister said the Thiruvananthapuram MCH was now all set to perform liver transplants and that patient work-up was already being done to choose the right candidate for the first transplant.
