AIIMS Bhubaneswar conducts first liver transplant

Bhubaneswar: AIIMS Bhubaneswar conducted its first liver transplant on a patient with the help of a team from the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS), New Delhi. Hospital sources on Wednesday said the health condition of both the donor and recipient was stable.AIIMS Bhubaneswar executive director Ashutosh Biswas told TOI that the liver transplant was conducted on Saturday. “The patient is under observation by our transplant team. We can speak about the case in a detailed manner after a few days,” he added.The national organ and tissue transplant organisation (NOTTO) under the ministry of health and family welfare on Wednesday in its X post said, “Historic first at AIIMS Bhubaneswar! It performed its first-ever liver transplant — a landmark achievement in expanding transplant care in Eastern India.”NOTTO further stated that any public hospital acquiring the capacity to do a liver transplant is a big boost to the organ transplant program. “Kudos to the entire dedicated medical team, mentored by Dr Viniyendra Pamecha of ILBS,” it added.AIIMS Bhubaneswar medical superintendent Dillip Kumar Parida said the liver transplant team comprised doctors and hospital staff from both AIIMS Bhubaneswar and ILBS New Delhi.

Though AIIMS Bhubaneswar planned to start a liver transplantation facility in the hospital by 2023, it could not commence as per the deadline. It has signed an MoU with ILBS to carry out the liver transplant procedures. The ILBS team will conduct at least the first five liver transplants by taking the AIIMS Bhubaneswar team along with them. “During that period, our team will gain experience in the procedures and take over the transplant activities from the ILBS team,” said an official of AIIMS Bhubaneswar.On April 3, 2024, SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack, became the first govt hospital in Odisha to conduct a liver transplant. The second liver transplant procedure was conducted on Sept 9 last year. But this process stopped thereafter following the lapsing of an agreement between the Odisha govt and a Hyderabad-based hospital.Two private hospitals have tried one liver transplant each at their hospitals, but they did not take this procedure forward.