Third facility in state: Kidney transplant program to begin at KGMU

Lucknow: The King George's Medical University (KGMU) recently received permission from the Directorate of Medical Education and Training, to begin with, a kidney transplant program at the hospital. 

The permission given to conduct the transplant service is for five years, which the DMET granted after conducting an inspection of the place, reports the Times of India. It would be renewed in the future according to the situation then. 

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The director-general of DMET, Dr NC Prajapati had written to KGMU that the latter are being permitted to carry out kidney transplantation on the basis of the current staff and facilities at the centre. 

As per a media report in the Hindustan Times, it is the third such facility in Lucknow, which is the capital of Uttar Pradesh after SGPGIMS and Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences, and patient registrations for the same have already begun. 

Prof Vishwajeet Singh, HoD, nephrology said, "At present, four patients are in our contact and we have begun the process to evaluate them and their donors. This takes up to two months to prepare both the recipient and the donor for a transplant operation."

The patients who now require kidney transplants are required to get in touch with the doctors at the nephrology or urology department OPD.Dr. Singh said, " A patient in need of a transplant can come to our OPD, where we can evaluate them and prepare them for the procedure."

The first kidney transplantation was conducted by KGMU in 2014, following which it got discontinued because of some unsuccessful cases, and also because of the resignation of a few expert doctors. 

Kidney transplantation was carried out by the KGMU a year earlier, with the patient who underwent the transplant being totally fine after that, however, they could not run the programme as their only nephrologist had left the university. However, the university recently recruited two nephrologists and a better infrastructure. Dr Singh said, "We now have Dr Lakshya Kumar with us in the nephrology department, and Dr Meedhavi Gautam from the department of medicine, who is an expert in nephrology, will also be part of our programme." 

The kidney transplantation would be conducted in coordination with the urology department. Prof SN Sankhwar, HoD, urology told HT, "Our infrastructure is ready and tested for transplant operations. We just need to proceed with identifying patients and making other necessary preparations including the legal ones." 

The cost of covering kidney transplants in KGMU is less as compared to the other two facilities, SGPGIMS and RMLIMS. Whereas, the cost is less than a fourth as compared to those in private hospitals. Prof. Sankhwar told TOI, "Kidney transplant will be done as soon as we get a patient. The cost will be around Rs 2-3 lakh, much lower than the private sector."

Dr Abhishek Shukla, secretary-general, Association of International Doctors said, "A large number of patients are in need of kidney transplant in the state but not all can afford private hospitals, hence, starting another centre for a kidney transplant in UP after SGPGIMS and Lohia Institute will bring relief to many patients, particularly the poor."

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