Odisha’s first liver transplant conducted in SUM Hospital

BHUBANESWAR: The SUM Hospital in Bhubaneswar with the help of Yashoda Hospitals in Hyderabad performed the state’s first successful liver transplant on a 55-year-old teacher. His 19-year-old son donated the organ.
Directorate of Medical Education and Training (DMET) director CBK Mohanty confirmed that it was the first liver transplantation in the state.
“We performed the transplant on Thursday starting from 3pm and continued till midnight,” said Manoj Kumar Sahu, head of the gastroenterology department of Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital, SOA deemed to be university.
The teacher, Jayanta Biswal, a native of Kantiatikar village under Oupada block in Balasore district, works as a primary schoolteacher at Pandesara in Surat of Gujarat. He has been suffering from liver ailment since 2016.
Jayanta had been suffering from cryptogenic cirrhosis of liver and it was decided to conduct the transplant to save his life, a doctor said. Cirrhosis of liver is the end stage liver disease with an invariably progressive course.
Sahu said both the receiver and donor were kept under observation in the ICU. They are doing fine after nine-hour marathon surgery on them. The receiver will be in ICU for five to seven days before being shifted to ward. But the donor will be discharged after six days. “We took right lobe of liver from Jayanta’s son Saumya Ranjan, a bachelor of commerce student, and transplanted it in receiver’s body. Saumya’s liver will regenerate itself within three months,” said Sahu.
Pusparaj Samantasinhar, medical superintendent of IMS and SUM Hospital, said the first such procedure conducted in SUM was done for free. Such transplant surgeries cost anything between Rs 20 lakh and 25 lakh in other hospitals but it can be done at Rs 10 lakh in SUM, he added.
Samantasinhar said his hospital had signed a memorandum of understanding with Yashoda Hospitals one and half years ago for undertaking liver transplantation in SUM Hospital. “We had also received due approval from the statutory authorities of the state to conduct both live and cadaveric transplantation,” he added.
He said gastro-intestinal surgeons, anesthetists, nurses and paramedics from his hospital had visited Yashoda Hospitals for training. “We first started liver donor transplantation because the patient needed an immediate transplant. We will also conduct cadaveric transplantation in the coming days,” he added.
“Most of the hospitals in and outside Odisha advised me for liver transplantation of my husband. I could not decide for the transplantation because they were asking me between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 25 lakh for this. I requested SUM Hospital for help. They took initiative and performed the transplant for free,” said Jayanta’s wife Anita.
P Balachandran Menon, chief liver transplant surgeon from Yashoda Hospitals assisted by his hospital colleague G V Prem Kumar, director, Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, along with gastroenterologists Manoj Kumar Sahu and Premananda Pattnaik of SUM Hospital led the 40-member team during the surgery.
SUM Hospital had conducted the state's first Bone Marrow Transplantation on January 27, 2013. Several BMT had been conducted by the hospital since then.