In a momentous announcement that brings hope to the people of Assam, the North-east, the entire country, and neighbouring nations, Swagat Super Speciality Hospital has achieved a ground breaking feat by successfully conducting its first liver transplant. The recipient, a 38 –year – old gentleman, underwent the procedure with his brother-in-law serving as the donor, both natives of Manipur. The hospital secured special permissions according to protocol from both the Manipur and Assam governments, emphasizing the collaborative efforts required for this transformative medical achievement. A liver transplant is a sophisticated surgical procedure designed to replace a diseased or damaged liver with a healthy one from a donor. This complex operation is typically performed to treat end-stage liver disease, liver failure, or specific liver cancers. The process involves a meticulous evaluation of both the recipient and the potential donor to ensure compatibility and minimize the risk of complications. Living donors, who can provide a portion of their liver, are preferred, leveraging the liver’s remarkable regenerative ability. Once a suitable donor is identified, the transplant surgery takes place. The recipient’s diseased liver is carefully removed, and the healthy donor liver is transplanted, connecting the blood vessels and bile ducts to ensure proper functioning.
Post-surgery, the patient is closely monitored in the intensive care unit to manage potential complications. Immunosuppressive medications are often prescribed to prevent the recipient’s immune system from rejecting the new liver. Addressing the media in a press release, Prof. Subhash Khanna, the head of surgical disciplines, shared the hospital’s long-time vision to offer these crucial services at an affordable rate. However, this journey was not without challenges, as Prof. Khanna acknowledged the unfortunate loss of approximately 15 individuals registered with the hospital due to end-stage liver failure. He expressed sincere gratitude to NOTTO and ROTTO, as well as the state health department authority, for their crucial permissions that paved the way for this historic event. Despite applying for the license in 2019, the hospital received the transplant license in 2022, navigating through intricate processes. He also informed the media about Swagat being the 2nd centre in the private sector to get Govt nod for Liver Transplantation. Prof. Khanna shed light on the complexity and expense of liver transplants, involving the dedicated efforts of nearly 34 staff members who worked tirelessly for almost ten days leading up to the surgery. Using a comprehensive PPT presentation, he outlined the intricate procedure, detailing how the liver was delicately transferred from the sick recipient to the donor and the meticulous steps involved in ensuring a successful surgery. The actual surgery commenced in the early morning hours at 5 am on December 23rd and concluded at 1 am on December 24th. The donor has since been discharged and is available for inquiries, while the recipient is recovering well, as witnessed in a video conference with the media. The significant achievement was celebrated in a meeting attended by key figures, including Dr. Ayushman Khanna, the Anaesthesia and transplant critical care specialist, Prof.
Swagata Khanna, the director of the institute and COO Mr. Jahidur Rahman. Prof. Khanna Highlighted that this will be a major development in medical tourism for the state and the region and he wanted the media to support the institute in this endeavor. Briefing about the transplant he said that in the recent past, we have seen sudden increase in liver diseases including non-alcoholic and alcoholic liver disease. With the increase in the incident of the alcohol Intake by the younger generation we are getting many end-stage liver failure patients who usually don’t live long and we have lost about 15 to 20 patients who were waiting for liver transplants for the last 4 years as because we couldn’t get a good donor. The recent announcement and the initiative of the Government of Assam to make cadaver donation facility available and easier for any recipient is going to a go a long way in helping the needy patients of the state and the region and gradually in due course of time they may not need to go out of the state. He also said that this is going to be a major development for medical tourism at least for the state of Assam as none of the northeastern states have at present a liver transplant facility available. Swagat management announced the names of the team transplant apart from Prof. Khanna, being team In charge, the surgical team included Dr. Basant Mahadevappa the transplant surgeon, another co surgeon Dr.Rohit, Dr Areendam Barua, team transplant anesthesia Dr K Srikanth, Dr. Kaneenika Das & Dr. Shabbir Khan and intensive care specialist Dr. Ayushman Khanna, Dr. Angkita Barman and Gastroenterologist Dr. Amitava Goswami. Senior consultants of cardiology, Pathology and psychiatry were also involved in the care of the patient. There were 12 staff female nurses and 8 ICU nurses dedicated to this surgery and the whole surgical OT suite was cordoned off. Dr Khanna also announced they would come back to the media after a couple of weeks again for the development and he prayed for the early recovery of the recipient who was present in a video interview with the media. The management of Swagat Hospitals also took it as an opportunity to felicitate the donor Mr. Sarat Singh who is also young but voluntarily agreed to donate. It was also to be noted that the recipient Mr. Shunil Singh who had come in the month of February 2023 with blood vomiting and complete liver failure was saved by another procedure called TIPPS (Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt) and that shunt was working perfectly for the last 9 months before he was taken up for the transplant. The media was also informed about the safety of Live donation of part of liver. Dr. Khanna in his concluding remarks requested to the society and the people to come forward and pledge to donate their liver the way they are donating eyes, kidneys, and other tissues of the body they can always come forward and donate their organs after or during life or even after death. If they pledge to donate their organs, they will be living in the body of another even after their death they will be alive with the organs in another body. He is also appealed for support to all sections of the society. Dr. Ayushman Khanna informed the house that we shall continue our drive and try to provide the most affordable treatment to people suffering from liver failure. He also said that we are expecting people from neighboring countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal and other distant countries to come as this facility is not available there too.
