Liver transplants soon at government hospital in Bangalore

The unit will start functioning in three months

Liver transplant will soon commence at a government-run super-specialty hospital here under the aegis of the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI). The hospital constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) is located on the campus of Victoria Hospital.

This will be the first government hospital and the eighth one in the State to take up liver transplant. As many as 150 patients are awaiting liver transplant according to the Zonal Coordination Committee of Karnataka for Transplantation (ZCCK), which maintains an organ transplant register of those awaiting transplant and of donors.

Nagesh N.S., head, Department of Surgical Gastroenterology, BMCRI, and of the transplant team at PMSSY super-speciality hospital, told

The Hindu that the unit should start functioning in three months.

It would initially start with cadaver organ transplant. Around 25 patients have already registered at this hospital for liver transplant.

He said the liver transplant procedure that costs nearly Rs. 40 lakh in a private hospital should cost around Rs. 5 lakh in the PMSSY hospital. “We are aiming at bringing down the cost further to nearly Rs. 3 lakh. We have also requested for a corpus of Rs. 7 crore from the government to meet the recurrent expenses.”

‘Facilities in place’

P.K. Devdas, former member of the State Appropriate Authority for Human Organ Transplantation, during whose tenure liver transplant was approved for PMSSY hospital, said facilities mandatory as per the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994, were in place.

“It has a team of qualified and skilled transplant surgeons and other specialists, a well-equipped laboratory and a transplant coordinator,” he said.