On December 1, 2015, Yadesh underwent a liver transplant at Global Health City.
The next day, as the city was submerged in the floodwaters, Yadesh was evacuated from the hospital in a boat, while being manually ventilated. Seven months later, on Saturday, the seven-year-old was playing alongside dozens of other children, all of whom had undergone liver transplants at the hospital.
“Yadesh was unwell from the time he was around two. We were told he needed a liver transplant, but the first time around, we were too scared to do it. The following year, he became sicker and we came back — and saw that another child had undergone a transplant, and this gave us hope. My wife donated part of her liver and the transplant took place, but the floods were very scary. Thanks to the doctors, he is completely all right now,” said K. Karthik, Yadesh’s father, a two-wheeler mechanic. This year, Yadesh’s parents are hoping to enrol him in class II.
With the completion of 200 paediatric liver transplants, the hospital held a get-together of the children and their families. “For many parents, there is a huge amount of apprehension. They wonder how the children will perform long term. Many think that transplant patients are always ill, and always on medication. Will they develop normally, physically and mentally, is a question they have. Here, parents can see children who have had transplants a few years ago — this will give them confidence that their children can be as normal as any other,” said Mohamed Rela, director, Institute of liver disease and transplantation at the hospital.
Four transplants
Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan said that every two days, there was a cadaver organ donation in the State. The liver transplant facility, he said, had now been revived at Government Stanley Hospital, with a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Dr. Rela. “Four transplants have taken place now under this programme since February,” he said, speaking to presspersons a little later. “We work together as a team,” Dr. Rela said, about the programme at Stanley.
About 15 doctors from Stanley are involved in the programme, with Dr. Rela supervising. “All four patients have done well. There are about 15 more on the waiting list. We will work with them until they are confident that the programme will run independently,” he said.
As many as 45 children and their families from across the State and other parts of the country participated in the carnival, which had entertainment and food.
Actor Santhanam took part in the event.
