KEM liver grafts await nod

The King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital has listed 29 patients with chronic liver disease to undergo a liver transplant at the hospital’s new facility opened this month. But, these patients in need of an urgent transplant will have to wait till August. The Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee (ZTCC) is yet to inspect the liver transplant facility and thus it can only be operational after it gets the ZTCC’s nod.

The hospital has already written to ZTCC for an inspection and is awaiting their reply. “Once the ZTCC gives a nod after an inspection, we would start taking patients,” said Dr Chetan Kantharia, liver transplant surgeon, KEM Hospital. A senior member of ZTCC said the inspection will be done along with members of the directorate of health services (DHS) and it will be coordinated soon.

“The list of 29 patients has been compiled through the OPD,” said Kantharia, adding that the number will go up till the actual transplants are commenced.

A 30-member team from KEM Hospital was sent to Delhi to learn liver transplant procedures. The team will function in the two state-of-art modular theatres and the six bedded fully equipped intensive care units with separate cubicles for each patient.