The Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) is looking at strengthening its multi-organ transplant programme to include liver and heart transplants as part of its thrust to provide the facilities to the poorest of the poor.
“JIPMER has obtained a licence from the Director-General of Health Services in August and plans to commence liver transplant from December 15. This facility will be a huge relief for patients who cannot afford the operation at private hospitals. JIPMER is the first hospital in Puducherry to get the licence to perform liver transplantation,” institute’s director Dr. Subhash Chandra Parija told The Hindu on the occasion of the third anniversary of its cadaver transplantation programme on Thursday.
The permission to conduct liver transplant from live donor and cadaver was granted after an inspection by an expert team. JIPMER has facilities to do liver transplant programme and 20 patients requiring liver transplant in all blood groups had been identified, Dr. Parija said.
“At present, we have identified three patients in each blood group. The post-operative intensive care unit facilities and equipment required for transplantation have been completed,” he said and added that the institute planned to commence the first transplant on December 15 and foray into heart transplant.
A liver transplant, which cost at Rs. 30 lakh to Rs. 40 lakh at a private hospital, would be done free of cost at JIPMER.
The hospital performed the first live donor renal transplant in March 2012 and the first deceased donor renal transplant in December 2013. The institute had so far performed 101 kidney transplants. Of these, 50 were living donor kidney transplants.
There is a waitlist of seven patients to receive kidneys from live donors and 72 patients from dead donors at JIPMER, said Dr. Sreejith Parameswaran, Department of Nephrology.
“We are planning to start an Institute for Organ Transplant. The institute has plans to set up the standalone facility on 30 to 40 acres on a new campus since the present one was already crowded. We are working on the proposal and it would be submitted to the governing body soon,” Dr. Parija said.
As part of the third anniversary celebrations of its transplantation programme, JIPMER honoured the kin of cadaver donors on the occasion.
