9 Dec, Bhaktapur: Minister for Health Gagan Kumar Thapa has stated that the government was ever ready to lend any support for the continuation of liver transplantation.
At a press conference organized by the Human Organ Transplant Centre at Bhaktapur on Thursday to inform on the first successful liver transplantation conducted at the Centre, Minister Thapa also pledged government’s readiness to train Nepali medical team abroad to enable them for the same.
It was shared that a team of South Korean specialists-Jae-won Joh, Choon Hyuck David Kwon, Gyu-Seong Choy, Chan Woo Cho and Justin Sangwook Ko performed nine-hour long liver transplantation in thirty six-year-old Balram Naga of Bhaktapur on Wednesday. Balram was donated liver by his sister.
The national liver specialists at the Centre will be receiving support from their South Korean counterparts for the same until they could perform kidney transplantation themselves, the Centre said.
Minister Thapa shared that Teaching Hospital at Maharajgunj and few other private hospitals were demanding with the government for its support to initiate liver transplantation in their health facilities.
According to him, the latest provision in the country allows donation of seven kinds of organs from the brain-dead people. On the occasion, he inspected the Centre and took stock of the patients’ health.
The health condition of Balram is normal, shared Centre’s Executive Director Pukarchandra Shrestha.
The liver transplantation, which could cost up to Rs 150 million in India, was performed at free of cost.
Patients could avail the same service at the Centre for Rs 1.5 million, said Dr Shrestha.
It is estimated that around 1,000 liver patients are recorded every year and more than 50 of them are believed to receive liver transplantation services in Nepal annually, informed Gastroenterologist Deepesh Gurubacharya. RSS
