Four months ago, when Sivaprakasan fell ill, his family suspected a cardiac ailment.
A scan, however, revealed a large mass in his liver. Then, a round of hospitals and consultations began.
“Everyone told us surgery was not possible, nor was chemotherapy. Meanwhile, my father got sicker,” said Mr. Sivaprakasan’s son.
Finally, the family arrived at MIOT International Hospital and, Sivaprakasan’s son said, they were told a transplant was possible.
Everything, including the risks, was explained to them, a liver came through and Sivaprakasan was operated upon.
Now, 75 days post surgery, his son says he is more or less completely all right. “He is speaking, reading like he used to, and finally, he’s comfortable,” he said.
The family had come to the hospital on Saturday to be part of the launch of a new centre — the department of hepato-pancreatico-biliary (HPB) surgery and transplants — at MIOT.
Headed by surgical gastroenterologist, R. Surendran, the department will focus on the liver, gall bladder, bile duct and pancreas — a set of organs that are intricately interlinked.
Prithvi Mohandas, joint managing director of the hospital, said these organs or ‘the three silent musketeers’ performed 3,600 functions, and could continue to function even when in bad shape. “That is why people present very late with these diseases,” he said.
The need for this department was felt because in order to manage and treat diseases of these organs, a multidisciplinary approach was needed, said Dr. Surendran. “This department will combine a number of specialists along with state-of-the-art infrastructure as well as the skill and experience of the team so we can detect these diseases early, treat them and also create awareness about them,” he said.
The new department is one of many in MIOT’s story of exceptionable development, said N. Ram, chairman, Kasturi & Sons. “It is great intelligence that dares to innovate and launch ventures of this kind,” he said.
“Over the years, I have seen new departments and specialties come up, and patients from many countries have beaten a path to MIOT’s door,” he said, lauding the hospital’s evidence-based approach towards treatment and [hospital] founder P.V. Mohandas’ ‘war against infections.’
Several other patients who had benefited at the new department also spoke on the occasion. Dr. Mohandas, chairman Mallika Mohandas, and other senior hospital officials also participated.
