BHUBANESWAR: Odisha’s premier health institution SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack may have successfully conducted the first liver transplantation with the support of experts from Hyderabad-based Asian Institute of Gastroenterology (AIG) last week but opinions are divided over continuity of the service in the absence of required trained staff at the new liver unit.
The transplant services, initially envisaged to start as early as 2013, was delayed by over a decade despite availability of equipment and infrastructure developed at a cost of over Rs 22 crore. The procedure could not be started then allegedly owing to administrative callousness. Sources said an 18-member team of medical professionals including gastrointestinal surgeons, general surgeons, hepatologists, anaesthesiologists, radiologists and staff nurses were imparted training at New Delhi-based Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in 2014 on conducting the highly complex procedure.
While two of them have retired from service, one has quit to join the private sector. Similarly two GI surgeons have shifted to MKCG Medical College and Hospital at Berhampur. A senior GI surgeon was among the two who have superannuated. GI surgeons are the most essential part of a liver transplant procedure.
On April 3, a nine-member team from AIG led by Dr P Balachandran conducted the liver transplant on a 45-year-old patient for whom his wife was the donor. The entire procedure that lasted nearly 10 hours was conducted by the AIG team. Questions are being raised over sustainability of the transplant service as the MCH does not have senior GI surgeons in the rank of professor, who can take the lead.
“The liver transplant team of SCB comprising an associate professor of GI Surgery department have undergone only one-month training and that too 10 years back. Since they are not capable of handling the transplant on their own, the AIG team conducted the whole procedure. The SCB team is not fully capable and two of the trained professionals are now out of the medical college. Can the authorities continue the transplant service in such a scenario?” wondered a health official.
Sources said AIG has been roped in by the state government for around 20 transplants and the SCB team will get hands-on training during the process. The AIG team will be paid Rs 10 lakh per transplant for both transplant and post operative care. Stating the condition of the transplant patient is improving, SCB medical superintendent Dr Sudhanshu Sekhar Mishra said the AIG team will continue to support the liver transplant service until the hospital’s team is fully trained and capable of conducting the transplant on its own.
“We are not going to hush up things. No decision has been taken or the patient selected for next transplant. It is a very complex procedure and we do not want to take any chance which will affect our years-long struggle to start the service,” he added.