Five hospitals in Uttar Pradesh get licence for heart transplant

The hospitals with licence for heart transplant have the required infrastructure and manpower. SGPGI is also working on providing heart transplant surgery to patients, says SOTTO officer

LUCKNOW The state government has granted licence to five corporate hospitals in UP, including two in Lucknow, to conduct heart transplant operations. These health care facilities are bracing to introduce this facility for patients from the yearend. The SGPGI too is working to carry out such procedures, said authorities.

Roughly, at least 250 people in UP need heart transplant in a year, said a doctor. (Pic for representation)

“The hospitals with licence for heart transplant have the required infrastructure and manpower. SGPGI is also working on providing heart transplant surgery to patients and the director has formed a committee to speed up the process,” said Prof Rajesh Harshwardhan, joint director, State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (SOTTO) and head, hospital administration at SGPGI.

SOTTO is a state-level body that aims to formalize the system of organ and tissue procurement and its distribution for transplantation.

According to estimates, 1% of adult population suffers with some type of heart problem. “Roughly, we can say that at least 250 people in UP need heart transplant in a year. Many young patients come to us with ejection fraction as low as between 20% and 30%,” said Dr RK Saran, director, clinical and preventive cardiology at Medanta hospital, one of the two corporate hospitals in Lucknow that has obtained licence for heart transplant. Ejection fraction is the amount of blood that the heart pumps each time it beats.

“We have the infrastructure and medical expertise. We are conducting organ transplant surgeries and heart transplant will also be done very soon,” said Dr Mayank Somani, CEO of Apollomedics Hospital in Lucknow that has obtained licence for heart transplant.

Three other corporate hospitals in the NCR region also have the licence for heart transplant. Hospitals and medical institutes in Lucknow are already conducting kidney and liver transplant surgeries successfully for the past few years. These include SGPGI, King George’s Medical University, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences and corporate hospitals too.

“A heart transplant is considered if a patient has significant heart failure, where the heart is having problem pumping enough blood around the body, may be when the left ventricle cannot contract enough to keep blood circulating normally,” said Prof Ambrish Kumar, head of vascular surgery department at the King George’s Medical University.

“Infrastructure is not an issue. We need coordination with families of brain-dead patients to get organ (from brain-dead patient). Profile of patient, with HLA typing and other cross-matching criteria should also be ready. This to ensure that organ retrieval and transplant happens in a few hours after the family of brain-dead patient agrees for organ donation,” said Dr Abhishek Shukla, secretary general, Association of International Doctors.

Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing is a genetic test used to match patients and donors for bone marrow, cord blood, or organ transplants.