Odisha Govt signs MoU with Aster CMI Hospital for paediatric liver transplant

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has signed a memorandum of understanding with a private hospital to provide paediatric liver transplantation service at a subsidised rate, a move that will help needy families requiring that expensive surgery.

The Bengaluru-based Aster CMI Hospital will set up a paediatric liver transplant unit at the SCB Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) in Cuttack, according to a statement issued by the private medical facility. Doctors from Aster CMI will screen children at the SCBMCH and those who need liver transplants will be referred to the Bengaluru hospital as part of a scheme.

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The Odisha government will bear the cost and patients with BPL cards will be eligible for free transplants under this scheme, the statement said.

Every year, more than 2,000 children in India require life-saving liver transplants, but only 10 per of them undergo that surgery, said Sonal Asthana, lead consultant of hepatobiliary and transplant surgery at Aster CMI.

With this MoU, children will undergo liver transplants at an affordable rate, much less than the actual cost, he said.

The MoU was signed in presence of Odisha Health Minister Naba Kishore Das and Aster CMI Chief Executive Officer Ramesh Kumar.

Monthly clinics would be conducted by doctors to identify and manage advanced paediatric liver diseases.

The institute will also provide information to the public, doctors and other healthcare workers on undertaking capacity-building training programmes and establishing organ-sharing registries, the statement said.

Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported that the state-of-the-art Advanced Hepatopancreatobiliary and Transplant Centre (AHTC) has been inaugurated in the Department of Hepatology of the PGIMER.

The Department of Hepatology has been providing care to patients with the liver disease since 1978 at PGIMER, and over time, has grown to be one of the largest hepatology departments in the country.

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