City gets its first liver transplant centre

Ruby Hall Clinic,in association with Global Hospitals,has set up the first liver transplantation centre in Pune. The idea to set up a liver transplantation centre was triggered by the demand seen in the city,according to Ruby Hall experts.

The centre is ready with all infrastructure and the first transplant will take place in a month,they said. Professor Dr Mohamed Rela,a surgeon of international repute,will be the chief surgeon. Dr Sheetal Dhadphale Mahajani,consultant gastroenterologist,hepatologist and endoscopist,Ruby Hall,will head the transplant programme,which will run in association with Dr Ravindranath,Director and Chairperson,Global Hospitals,Hyderabad.

At the inaugural function on Saturday,Mahajani said,“A lot of people used to come to us asking for transplants. Many of them used to come at advanced stages of disease,some having morbidities. The ones who could afford it would go to places like the US or UK. The others would have to go to the centres in Bangalore,Chennai,New Delhi,Hyderabad,Kolkata or Mumbai. We are starting this centre to cater to such people.”

“There are two kinds of liver transplants,cadaveric,where you take the organ out of a brain-dead person or a living-related liver transplant where a healthy donor (relative) donates part of the liver. We will perform both kinds of transplants at our centre,” added Mahajani.