The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bathinda, is gearing up to roll out Punjab’s maiden renal transplant centre at a government healthcare facility.
Authorities at the central institute said the transplant programme was expected to start by March-end after obtaining necessary permission from the state government.
Confirming this, official spokesperson of AIIMS, Dr Tarun Goyal said teams from the director general of medical education and research (DGMER), an organ of the state health department, had started inspections of various facilities before according approval.
“Departments of nephrology and urology, crucial for renal transplantation, are functional well for almost two years. We are fully equipped with a team of super specialists from different departments, including cardiology, paediatrics and anaesthesia, and an intensive care unit as per the protocol for organ transplants,” added Goyal.
Official sources at AIIMS said in the first phase, live renal transplants will start only when the patients get a kidney from a blood-related donor.
Associate professor in the urology department, Dr Kawaljit Singh Kaura is a seasoned transplant surgeon and nodal officer of the upcoming project. In the second phase, the institute will start cadaveric transplants, where the kidney will be harvested from a brain-dead person with consent, he added.
“We already have 25 dialysis patients who need kidney transplants. We hope to get a renal transplant licence from DGMER in another month. After that patients awaiting transplant will undergo various tests for undergoing surgery,” said Dr Kaura.
{{/usCountry}}“We already have 25 dialysis patients who need kidney transplants. We hope to get a renal transplant licence from DGMER in another month. After that patients awaiting transplant will undergo various tests for undergoing surgery,” said Dr Kaura.
{{/usCountry}}The upcoming facility at Bathinda is set to benefit patients from across Punjab, Haryana and even adjoining districts of Rajasthan.
“Currently, no public sector hospital in Punjab offers renal transplant. The facility at AIIMS, Bathinda, will also reduce the burden of kidney patients at Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, the only government-funded hospital in the two states having a similar facility. It will also be highly cost-effective for patients,” added Dr Kaura.
The renal transplant department at PGIMER receives patients from not only surrounding states but also from far-off places like north-eastern states, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, and even Nepal.
Compared to ₹8-10 lakh at private facilities, the total cost of a standard renal transplant procedure at PGIMER is less than ₹1 lakh including the cost of medicines and two weeks of hospital stay for the donor and recipient. The department performs around 250 kidney transplants per year.