Heart, liver transplants at Gandhi, OGH soon

• State-of-the-art infrastructure to be ready in few months

• At present doctors performing valve transplants only

• Make Jeevandan mandatory --Experts

Hyderabad: The premier State-run Gandhi Hospital and Osmania General Hospital (OGH) will be well-equipped to perform heart and liver transplants in the coming four or five months, according to Dr Chandrasekhar, Superintendent, Gandhi Hospital.

He says, “At present our doctors are involved in valve transplant trials. We are confident that by the middle of the year, we (Gandhi hospital) can go for in-house heart transplants while OGH will handle liver transplants.” Trying to remove several misconceptions, he asserted that transplants are nothing new to the two landmark medical institutions in the State capital.

“Contrary to apprehensions and the consequent preference for corporate hospitals, I can state that we have performed organ transplants way back in the 1960s, whereas, in comparative terms, corporate hospitals are new entities in the twin cities with less than a decade standing,” Dr Chandrasekhar said. Disclosing the details, he said, “Around 450 transplants have been performed in OGH. Most of them were kidney transplants which have been performed even in Gandhi Hospital. Let me assure you, Gandhi will be ready to conduct kidney transplants in the next fortnight. The delay has been because of the time factor that took to install all the infrastructural facilities, resources, and ultra-modern equipment that are required for the purpose. Now we have the entire structure in place.”

“Very few people know that the first patient from the State to undergo kidney transplant at Gandhi Hospital is fit and is leading a very healthy life,” he added.

“Talking of personal strengths, I have been trained in organ transplant procedures in 1992 when the State government sent me to Singapore for getting advanced training. For conducting transplants we need to build a team of specialists and provide advanced back-up technology. Taking these into consideration, we have addressed the issue threadbare. You can find new buildings, best infrastructure, technology and medical expertise in Gandhi shortly,” he said. Speaking on the Jeevandan scheme in the government hospitals, Dr Chandrasekhar said, “The comprehensive Jeevandan scheme will cover all aspects including braindead declaration, coordination and public awareness. We are conducting organ transplant procedures in accordance with the stipulated norms, as is being done in Tamil Nadu.

“Counsellors will have to motivate the relatives of the deceased to take a decision in favour of organ donation,” he added. “The ratio of cadaver donations to living donors is 25:75 per cent. Although, a large number of road accidents are reported in hospitals every day, only a miniscule five per cent of the transplants are cadaveric. Rest of the lot comes from living donors. Even more alarming is the fact that final-stage diseases are rampant across the country,” he said. Meanwhile, Dr Upendra, Anasthesia doctor at Gandhi Hospital, pointed out, “In organ transplant cases, the donors are more blood-related and the success rate in such cases is also naturally high. This helps in matching of organs.” Going a step further, many medical experts from both hospitals are in support of declaration of braindead by government hospitals being made mandatory as a measure to give fillip to cadaver donations. “Unless it is made mandatory (by making suitable amendments to existing laws) the goal of the scheme will be short on practicalities as they will not meet the requirements in any meaningful manner,” the doctors said.