The Velammal Medical College Hospital and Research Institute in Madurai has successfully performed 113 transplants, including kidney and liver, over the last three years, according to its chairman M.V. Muthuramalingam.
Speaking to reporters here on Wednesday, he said recognition from the State government in the form of ‘best transplant centre' award consecutively for three years came as a motivation to the team of surgeons, physicians and medicos at the hospital.
Stressing the need for organ donation, he said during the COVID-19 pandemic, the hospital performed two liver transplants on two critically ill patients — a 13-month-old boy from a village near Rameswaram and a 46-year-old man suffering from jaundice.
Transplant surgeon Senthil said the diagnosis for the baby boy, weighing just 10 kg, indicated that he had jaundice when he was six months old. He was the recipient of a liver from a four-year-old brain dead patient from JIPMER, Puducherry. After the successsful transplant, the child was recovering.
Similarly, in the case of the 46-year-old man, live liver transplant became possible after a family member came forward to be a donor. The patient showed signs of recovery at the hospital.
Besides the coordination of doctors and surgeons from multi-departments, the infrastructural facilities at the hospital also played a key role in executing such complex transplants. Earlier, patients would be referred to Chennai or other cities for transplants. Now, it was no longer required for patients to travel long distances, Dr. Senthil added.
Alwar Ramanujam, Head, Department of Solid Organ Transplant, said liver disease was seeing a rise. Though there were many causal factors, alcohol consumption and obesity were key areas to be looked into. The State government’s Chief Minister Medical Health Insurance Scheme, which was available at Velammal hospital, had come as a boon to economically weaker sections, especially, in transplant surgeries.
Suggesting a few tips, he said physical exercise for about 30 minutes daily and intake of vegetables and fruits would keep people, especially those above 45 years, in good shape. With four lakh patients dying every year due to non-availability of organs at the right time, it would be ideal to be fit and healthy.
He appealed to the media to campaign for more organ donations as it was rebirth to needy patients.