King George's Medical University in Lucknow successfully conducted its first liver transplant surgery amid the pandemic. The patient, a 43-year-old man, completed a month of post-operation recovery here and was discharged on Tuesday. As per reports, the surgery which costs between ₹30-40 lakh was provided almost free of cost and was performed at the time of a severe resource crunch.

KGMU unlocks a new achievement

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Last month, the Surgical Gastroenterology Department of King George's Medical University conducted its first liver transplant surger since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Professor Abhijeet Chandra, Head of Surgical Gastroenterology said, "It was a challenge to conduct the transplant in limited resources. Five more patients are waiting in the queue and the next transplant will be done in another 15 days."

While there were several setbacks in the process - with resource crunch being the primary one, the patient's financial insufficiency also added to the troubles. Liver transplant surgery is an expensive treatment that is usually charged somewhere around ₹40 lakh at a private hospital. The patient, a small-time shopkeeper was unable to afford the same but the authorities made sure that this didnt act as a hinderace in hris surgery. The transplant was funded by the UP Government's Asadhya Rog Scheme. An additional sum of ₹4 lakh was received from the Awadh International Foundation, for the same.

Professor Chandra informed that patient was suffering from advanced liver cirrhosis and had severe jaundice and bleeding. His wife donated a part of her liver and was discharged within a week of the surgery. Post-transplant, the patient was held back for recovery and about four to six litres of fluid was drained daily from his body for a few days, till the liver assumed its normal size.

About KGMU's 100-doctor transplant team

The hospital's spokesperson, Dr Sudhir Singh stated that KGMU has conducted about 11 transplant surgeries so far, which have had 90% success rate. Incidentally, it is the only medical institute in Uttar Pradesh that has performed multi-organ donation. KGMU has also provided 50 cadaveric organs to other institutes in North India for needy patients.

The institute boasts of a designated transplant team, comprising of over one hundred doctors and staff, which is led by Vice-Chancellor Lt Gen (retd) Bipin Puri. Professor Chandra and Professor Vivek Gupta who conducted the liver transplant surgery belong to the Surgical Gastroenterology Team.