Kozhikode Medical College Hospital to get liver transplant facility by mid-2023

Kozhikode: Aiming to provide affordable transplantation for patients, a liver transplant facility will be set up at the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital (MCH) for the first time.

The announcement was made by Health Minister Veena George, adding that all arrangements would be in place by mid-2023. For this purpose, the government will provide the necessary equipment required for the set up of the facility and doctors will be trained accordingly to perform the surgery.

The facility would benefit the public at large since most private hospitals charge high for liver transplant surgery. The cost of the surgery in a private hospital ranges between Rs 30 lakh to Rs 40 lakh in the case of a living donor. The cost is lower in the case of a deceased donor transplant.

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"The first successful liver transplant surgery in the government sector in the State was conducted in February this year. Three such surgeries have so far been performed at the Government Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, and one at the Government Medical College Hospital, Kottayam. We are planning to have the next one in Kozhikode," Health Minister Veena George told TH.

"Health professionals at the Kozhikode MCH too will have to be trained as it is a complicated procedure. Intensive care units will have to be set up for donors and recipients. Minor alterations in the existing facilities are being planned now," she added.

A transplant facility at a government hospital was a long pending demand by the people that has been finally fulfilled by the government. It would be beneficial to the patients if more facilities like this were set up at major government hospitals in the state.

Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported that Apollo Hospitals, Navi Mumbai, the foremost super-specialty quaternary care hospital in Western India had announced the completion of 53 life-saving paediatric liver transplant surgeries at a special press conference. Apollo Hospital entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Bombay Hospital to boost liver transplants in Mumbai. It will increase access to Apollo's advanced liver transplant program for patients across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

Also read- Apollo Hospitals Signs MoU With Bombay Hospital To Boost Liver Transplants In Mumbai