St George to carry out liver transplants in next 2 months

Mumbai: The state-run St George's Hospital near CSMT may carry out liver transplants within the next two months, said state health officials.
On Friday, a govt order stated the medical education department approved Rs 4 crore for the completion of the ongoing work of setting up a four-bedded liver transplant ICU room. It will be the first hospital in the state govt's network to offer the specialised surgery.The idea is to provide liver transplants for around Rs 5 lakh while private sector charges over Rs 20 lakh.
The liver transplant centre was inaugurated online in June in the presence of state medical education minister Hasan Mushrif, assembly speaker Rahul Narvekar, and guardian minister Deepak Kesarkar. Certain civil works and permissions were still awaited then.
St George's Hospital superintendent Dr Vinayak Sawardekar said ICU work should be completed soon. "We are awaiting final permission from the Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee (ZTCC) before starting operations," he said.
The state hospital has tied up with Sir H N Reliance Hospital to start the liver transplant programme; the H N liver surgeons will join as honorary teachers and train and mentor the public hospital team. tnn