Liver transplantation unit in SCB soon

Odisha government has decided to start liver transplant at SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack in January 2014, government sources said. “Odisha does not have facilities for liver transplantation. It decided to start a liver transplant unit at SCB keeping in mind its demand and the procedure being beyond the reach of poor patients,” a government resolution of May 7 said.

With the Government issuing notification for opening of the liver transplantation unit here on Wednesday, the groundwork for establishment of the highly specialised facility has gone underway. The facility would be built in phases that include readying infrastructure, procurement of equipment and infusion of trained doctors, paramedics, transplant coordinators and counsellors.

Liver transplant costs anything between Rs 25 lakh and Rs 30 lakh in corporate hospitals across India. The Odisha government is planning to make it around Rs 6 lakh to 7 lakh at Cuttack and reimburse part of the cost from Odisha State Treatment Fund (OSTF) for BPL patients. No hospital in Odisha currently offers liver transplant.

Government sources said a four-member team will visit Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, and Medanta Medicity Gurgaon on May 14 and May 15 to formalize a tie-up with them to initiate the process. These two hospitals are among those conducting large number of liver transplants. The government will ink a deal with them for initial training of SCB faculty and paramedical staff.

The state plans to make the liver transplant a cadaver donor programme by harvesting liver from brain-dead patients.

The Apollo Hospitals Group is also working on introducing a liver transplant programme in Odisha even as it has commenced kidney transplantation operations successfully in the State.

Apart from the six centres at Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bangalore and New Delhi, there are around 15 other hospitals in the country that have ventured to carry out the programme. But there is still a need for more than 25 programmes across the country.