BANGALORE: International Jehovah’s Witness Community has recognised the city-based Narayana Hrudayalaya as a referral centre for bloodless surgery.
The community refuses blood transfusion on the grounds of religious beliefs. Besides, there is a risk of transmission of infections. Hence, there is a strong effort across the world to perform bloodless surgeries on the heart and the other organs. This can be accomplished without great difficulty in most of the patients.
Recently, seventy-year-old Jack Jones from the USA and a Jehovah’s Witness, underwent a beating heart coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG)without any blood transfusion. He did not have any significant blood loss.
He was followed up routinely two weeks later. He was doing fine and was found to be having a haemoglobin level of 13.5 which is well within the normal range for an adult.
According to cardiologists, bypass surgeries in Jehovah’s Witness community are done preferably without using the heart lung machine on a beating heart. It reduces the blood loss. Any patient accepted for bloodless cardiac surgery should be first evaluated, preferably by a haematologist.