Kerala - Kochi   

Call to promote organ donation

Staff Reporter

New lives for the recipients

KOCHI: A team of doctors from the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences here who have carried out six liver transplants in the recent past have called for a culture of organ donation that can save lives.

Dr. Prem Nair, Medical Director of the Amrita Institute, said at a press conference here on Saturday that the liver donations in the cases where transplants were carried out translated into new lives for the recipients.

Six liver transplants

Out of the six liver transplants done at Amrita, one of the donors was brain dead. The living donors included two mothers who donated parts of their livers to their children, a husband who donated a part of his liver to save his wife and a son who saved his father.

Shaji, hailing from Kallada near Kollam, received a part of his wife Usha's liver in a transplant operation carried out on December 12 last year.

More recently, Lucy who was on ventilator received a part of her husband Raju's liver in a transplant on April 3. Raju donated 60 per cent of his liver.

Lucy was discharged after 24 days in hospital while Raju was discharged after a fortnight. Both of them are returning to normal life, said Dr. S. Sudheendran.

Abhijit, 14, son of Geeta hailing from Edathuruthy near Thrissur, received a part of his mother's liver in a surgery on March 24.

A baby born to Lilly and Antony hailing from Ernakulam was the smallest person (at 6.7 kg) to have a liver transplant. The baby died after two weeks of the operation.

Ramdas, hailing from Nellai near Thrissur, had a liver transplant, lived a normal life for about three years before succumbing to a sudden bout of Hepatitis B.

Dr. O.V. Sudheer said that people should be made more aware of the potential of liver transplants for saving lives. Dr. Laxmi Kumar said that all aspects of the liver transplant operations were a big challenge to the team.

Dr. C. Ismail said that about half of the nearly 150 patients who came daily to the gastroenterology outpatient wing of Amrita Institute had problems related to liver and a large number of them developed serious problems. The situation made it obvious that more donors were needed to save lives, said the doctors.

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