Tamil Nadu had evolved as a model state in organ harvesting as there was no other state that had shown such remarkable presence and affinity for the same, said Dr Attawar Sandeep of Global Health City, Chennai, while addressing a group of journalists here on Monday.
Dr Attawar Sandeep and his colleague Dr Govini Balasubramaniam were here to elaborate on the thoracic solid organ transplantations propagated by the hospital and the recent successful heart transplant surgery performed on a 58-year-old patient.
Dr Sandeep said that around 50 heart transplants were carried out across the country, of which three were done at the Global. The transplant on a 58-year-old was done for the first time in the country as chances of failure and risks associated with the surgery on people above 50 years were high. “We have stretched the boundaries of science by transplanting both the heart and the lungs on this patient,” he said. Thoracic organ transplant had evolved to reach the pinnacle of transplantation surgery, and challenge was to reduce rejection by body and to bring medicine cost down, he said.
Dr Govini Balasubramaniam, a lung transplant pioneer in the country, noted that India was emerging as multi-organ transplant major in the world. While waiting period for lung donation was high abroad, many patients from there were coming here. Two years back a lung transplant programme was started at Global and out of the 10 transplants done across the country, 8 were done at Global, he added.
Baskar Reddy, vice president of hospital said that an outpatient unit of the hospital was functioning at Vellore Medical Centre which could be contacted for help.