CHENNAI: Doctors at the Gleneagles Global Health City Hospital successfully performed 38 living-donor liver transplants amid the pandemic, between March 23 and December 25. The surgeries were performed after doctors evaluated the urgency of each case using the Model for End Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score, according to a press release from the hospital.
Under normal circumstances, even patients with an MELD score less than 15 points are considered for liver transplant. But during the Covid outbreak, only very sick patients, with MELD scores above 25, were considered for transplants. The surgeries were performed in accordance with the infection-prevention protocols, the release said.
Of the 38 patients, 14 were children. As many as 26 liver transplants were performed under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme. All donors and recipients have been discharged from the hospital.