One year later, India’s youngest liver transplant survivor going strong

Play any piece of music, and toddler Suvojit perks up to to its beat. An year ago, he would have barely stirred.

Play any piece of music, and toddler Suvojit perks up to to its beat.

HT Image

An year ago, he would have barely stirred.

Suvojit Pal underwent a liver transplant when we was just seven months old.

“His condition was so bad that we weren't even sure whether our baby would survive a year,” said Mun Mun Dubey Pal, Suvojit's mother, a Kolkata-based lawyer.

According to the doctors at New Delhi's Indraprastha Apollo hospital, where the surgery was conducted, he was then the youngest baby in the country to undergo a liver transplant.

Survojit was born with Biliary Atresia, a rare condition in which the liver and intestine are not connected.

If not treated on time, this condition can eventually lead to liver cirrhosis.

It took a team of 24 specialists 12 hours to conduct the transplant and give Suvojit a new lease of life.

Today, the baby is leading life like any other normal one-and-a-half-year-old.

"Suvojit is an example for those who suspect that one becomes a cripple for life after a transplant surgery,” said Dr Anupam Sibal, group medical director of Apollo hospital, who was also a part of the team of doctors who conducted the surgery.

“We want to shatter this myth. You can lead an absolutely normal life post-surgery, however, certain precautions need to be taken."

The post-transplant precautions are the same for any child, like taking care of food habits, personal hygiene etc.