Chandigarh, October 18
The successful liver transplantation that eight-year-old Vivek underwent at the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow almost a fortnight back has brought a ray of hope to many such children, who cannot afford to undergo the expensive surgery.
“It is probably the cheapest liver transplant done at a cost of Rs 6 lakh at a public sector hospital in the country and the progress made by Vivek Shankar, hailing from Bihar, is very encouraging,” remarked Dr S.K. Yachha, from the Sanjay Gandhi PGI, Lucknow, who performed the surgery.
Vivek underwent liver transplantation in Lucknow on September 29 after his mother Anju donated two segments of her liver to save his life. “The most encouraging part is the progress made by Anju, as within a week she is almost normal and taking care of her son,” informed Dr Yachha.
“Though still in its infancy, liver transplantation in India could get a major fillip if there is better awareness about organ donation and coordination between various health agencies,” remarked Dr Deepak N. Amarapurkar from the Bombay Hospital and Medical Research Institute, Mumbai.
“Even though liver transplantation in India costs about Rs 20 lakh in private hospitals, much less than over Rs 1 crore in USA, but keeping in view the poor organ donation and cost factor, there are not too many takers in our country,” said Dr Amarapurkar. He said the results in children were far more encouraging than in adults, as even with a small segment of liver, the transplantation could be undertaken successfully.
Stressing the need for a central management plan for monitoring and controlling liver diseases in India, Prof B.N. Tandon, Padma Bhushan, known as father of haepatology in India, said there was a need for better hygiene and immunisation, along with change in lifestyle.
He regretted with the kind of dietary habits and sedentary lifestyle, Indians are getting used to, it was bound to lead to liver diseases, which could be fatal if untreated.
He said liver disease was fast emerging as the third most common cause of death in India, among people in the age group of 20 to 50.
Meanwhile, more than 200 eminent doctors from all over the country are attending the single theme conference on “Fatty Liver Diseases” being jointly organised by the PGI and AIIMS at the PGI.
Doctors attending the conference stressed the need for a major public education programme in the country so that preventive steps can be taken and the problem can be controlled before it becomes very serious.
They said regular health check-ups should be undertaken in schools and blood test done to detect increased liver enzyme level, which was an indicator of fatty liver disease.
