The Pariyaram Medical College (PMC) will start a multi-organ transplant unit.
Announcing this at a press meet here on Sunday, medical college chairman M.V. Jayarajan said the decision to establish the unit was taken in view of the success of the first deceased donor liver transplant conducted in the medical college hospital after it had secured accreditation by the Director of Medical Education to perform liver transplants. He said the proposed unit would have facilities for transplanting kidney and liver and conducting major heart-related surgeries.
The medical college hospital was granted accreditation for performing deceased donor liver transplants on the basis of a report by a government-appointed team of expert doctors, he said, adding that the PMC was the first medical college in the non-private sector to have conducted liver transplant in the State. He said the transplant was done on a worker from Mayyil here on January 21.
Noting that the cost of the deceased donor liver transplant at the medical college hospital would be lower than that in private sector hospitals, he said the college governing board would soon announce the rate of the transplant.
If the government offered a grant for liver transplants, the rate would be lower, he said.
Mr. Jayarajan said medical college vice-chairman Shekharan Miniyodan would assume the duties of chairman during his absence for a couple of weeks to undergo imprisonment in a contempt of court case. The Supreme Court the other day had upheld his conviction by the High Court for using pejorative language against judges. He would appear before the High Court on February 2 as directed by the apex court.