Gujarat to get liver transplantation centre

Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Centre (IKDRC) plans to set up its liver transplantation centre in Gujarat. This will also be the third liver transplantation centre in the country.

Speaking to the media about the cadaver transplantation meeting that will be organised by IKDRC on Saturday, Dr HL Trivedi, director of IKDRC, said, "the institute is setting up a liver transplantation centre with an total investment of Rs 10 crore".

The centre will be the third in the country after Delhi's Shri Ganga Ram Hospital and Hyderabad's Global Hospital. This will be the first hospital that will be part of a public sector hospital as the two other existing hospitals are in the private sector.

Initially the institute is investing Rs 5 crore and in the next phase the remaining fund will be invested. The investment will be from the institute's internal fund.

At present, the institute has revamped its operation room according to the requirements for liver transplantation operations, which will be started from September this year.

While the construction activity for the new liver transplantation centre has already begun and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. The new liver transplantation centre will have five major operation rooms.

Dr Trivedi said the institute may soon start a helicopter ambulance service in Gujarat to fetch liver and kidney from donors across the state.

According to him, if there is enough flow of liver and kidney from donors, the institute is willing to start a helicopter ambulance service.

"The only perquisite for starting the service is that on an average the institute should receive 4 to 5 liver/kidney in a week," Trivedi said.

At present, the institute has ambulances that takes more then 6 - 8 hours to get donated liver/kidney to the institute.

To receive an organ from a dead donor requires a fast recovery system, where the institute would act immediately as the cold ischemia time (the period when the body organs start getting cold) for such organs is only 6 - 8 hours. Once the organ is removed from the dead donor's body, the organ should be brought to the institute at the earliest for preserving it for future use.

In a dead person with no heart beats the recovery time is less then half an hour, while in case of patients who are alive but brain dead the recovery time for organ is bit longer.

The institute is organising the second "Gujarat Cadaver Transplantation meet" on Saturday with an aim to help patients dying of end stage organ failure.

On the occasion, family members of the cadaver donors (brain dead donor) who gave their consent for organ donation will be honored on that day by the Governor of Gujarat.