GMC resumes kidney transplants after 1.5-year hiatus

Panaji: After a hiatus of almost one-and-a-half year, kidney transplantation has resumed at Goa Medical College. The first live donor kidney transplant was conducted jointly by the departments of urology and nephrology headed by Dr Madhumohan Prabhudesai and Dr J P Tiwari respectively on Saturday, with two more scheduled for Sunday.
In both the cases, the recipients are male and the donors their respective mothers. Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, who took the initiative to restart the kidney transplant programme, told STOI that GMC is well-equipped to handle kidney transplants that will now help those suffering from renal failure, lead better quality lives. “There are six more transplants lined up,” he said.

The transplants were carried out in coordination with urologists and transplant surgeons from the Bombay Hospital Institute of Medical Sciences. “I’m sure that the next target will be cadaver transplant, and once this takes off, liver transplantation will not be far behind,” urologist Dr Umesh Oza from NHIMS, said, adding, “I’m confident that once this programme rolls out there will be multiple-organ transplantation at GMC. This will benefit so many patients at the end stage of organ failure and help them get a second life.”

Fourteen live donor kidney transplants were conducted at the hospital between 2011 and 2016. In 12 of the cases, the recipients were male, with the donors being female family members. In just two cases, the recipients were female - a wife who received a kidney from a husband, and a daughter whose father donated his kidney.