Max Super Specialty Hospital (MSSH), Mohali has conducted 100 successful
renal transplants at its Renal Transplant Centre. While announcing
this milestone during a press conference held at a hotel in Sector 43
here today the MSSH doctors pointed out that increasing the supply of
organs by motivating more donors to come forward for donations was one
solution to curb the organ trade in India.

The Cadaver Donor Program
too needed to be given momentum, as 95% transplants in India were
living donor whereas only 5% were cadaver (deceased).”

Presented at the press conferences were; Dr Vinay Sakhuja, Director &
Head, Nephrology & Transplant Medicine, Dr Munish Chauhan, Sr
consultant, Nephrology and Dr Sananda Bag, Sr consultant, Renal
Transplant Surgeon & Urologist and Dr Jagdish Sethi Consultant Renal
Transplant at MSSH, Mohali .

They said further , India has an important role to play in Asia and
has the capacity to lead the way in transplant surgery. It has the law
for it, the expertise and the hospital infrastructure to support the
programme. The need of the hour was to streamline the implementation
of the law, and to promote the deceased donation programme. If the
cadaver (deceased) donation programme was successful, it could not
only take care of shortage of organs but also help in stopping illegal
organ trade.

Dr Chauhan informed that about 30-35 transplants were performed every
month in private centres whereas government institutes roughly
performed 15-20 per month. Patients were now attracted towards private
centres because of good results, better patient care, better
facilities, lesser waiting time for transplants. Also because
medically challenging cases like ABO incompatible kidney transplants,
transplants in HIV positive patients, have been conducted successfully
at centres like Max Hospital Mohali, he asserted.

Talking about kidney transplantation, Dr Chauhan said that it was a
best treatment possible for kidney failure. Kidney transplants were
also the most common of all transplant operations and have excellent
success rates. It could improve quality of life dramatically and
increase life expectancy. Some kidney transplant patients have
survived more than 25 years, he remarked.

Dr Bag said that patients from faraway places for transplant would
require around 2-week after transplantation, subjected to completion
of legal formalities , whereas at government centres they would have
to stay on dialysis due to long waiting periods over around 6 months
before they get transplanted. This added to total cost. This was the
reason that over a period of time, numbers of kidney transplant
requests have increased in private centres. Moreover 95% of transplant
surgeries performed at Max Hospital used Laparoscopic surgery, where
the recovery of donor was faster as compared to the open surgeries.”

Dr Sakhuja said that patients coming from different states like HP,
Manipur, Haryana, J&K, Uttaranchal, Western UP, Bihar, Orrisa where
there were either no transplant centres or very few centres, have to
take permission from their respective state authorities before
transplant. The file was again submitted to the authorization
committees at the respective states for clearance. Patients needed to
carry files on their own and there was no online system of approval.
In a few states, it was even difficult to find the person concerned
which added to patient frustration. Since one needed to carry on
haemodialysis which also added to total cost. There was a need to
improve the process of legal formalities for renal transplant,
observed Dr Sakhuja.

Dr Sethi asserted that tricity could become the most preferred
destination for organ transplant in years to come, since the
connectivity to the city was improving with the starting of
International Airport. We were expecting patient flow from SAARC
Centres, Middle East and Afghanistan in the near future, he
maintained.

Max Hospital , Mohali Highlights and Milestones:
Conducted Region’s First ABO Non compatible Kidney Transplant in October 2013.
Conducted Region’s First Kidney Transplant on a HIV positive patient
in January 2014.
Conducted First couple donor swapping transplant in August 2014
Conducted 100 successful Kidney Transplants in First year of starting
transplant program and has become the busiest program in North India.
The stringent infection control practices, immunosuppressive protocols
and proactive vigil for complications and their prompt management has
made the Renal Transplant Program at Max Mohali a Huge success.

Transplant Infrastructure & Facilities at Max Hospital Mohali:

· Dedicated Operating Theatres customized for transplant surgeries.
· Dedicated State-of-the-Art Intensive Care Units.
· Specialty blood bank facilities.
· High end Laboratories for all tests and investigations.
· Diagnostic and Radiology Facilities which include in-house
CT scanners, MRI machines, high-end Ultrasound facilities.
· Counselors and Transplant Co-coordinators to take care of
all your needs.
· Dedicated and trained nursing staff for your pre-operative
and post-operative care.

Facts About Kidney illnesses in India

There are more than 2,000,000 patients with renal failure in the country.
Every year, in India, there are 1,00,000 new patients with end-stage
renal failure (ESRD) who require treatment.
Of these patients alone, 9,00,000 patients will require dialysis,
apart from the already existing patients.
Only 2% of these patients can avail of dialysis treatment.
Only 5% of these patients get transplanted.
India ranks 2nd in kidney transplants from live donors
The cost of dialysis per month could sometimes amount to the entire
family income per month, or even more than that.
Photos caption:

1,2: Dr Vinay Sakhuja, Director & Head-Nephrology & Transplant
Medicine at Max Super Specialty Hospital, Mohali speaking during the
announcements of 100 successful renal transplants performed at Renal
Transplant Centre of Max Hospital during a press conference held at a
hotel in Sector 43, Chandigarh on Thursday.

3,4,5: Dr Vinay Sakhuja ( 2nd from left) , Director & Head, Nephrology
& Transplant Medicine, Dr Munish Chauhan ( extreme left), Sr
consultant, Nephrology and Dr Sananda Bag( 3rd from left) , Sr
consultant, Renal Transplant Surgeon & Urologist and Dr Jagdish Sethi
( 2nd from right) Consultant Renal Transplant during the announcements
of 100 successful renal transplants performed at Renal Transplant
Centre of Max Super Specialty Hospital, Mohali at a hotel in Sector
43, Chandigarh on Thursday.

6,7: Dr Munish Chauhan , Sr consultant, Nephrology at Max Super
Specialty Hospital, Mohali speaking during the announcements of 100
successful renal transplants performed at Renal Transplant Centre of
Max Hospital during a press conference held at a hotel in Sector 43,
Chandigarh on Thursday.

8: Dr Sananda Bag , Sr consultant, Renal Transplant Surgeon &
Urologist speaking during the announcements of 100 successful renal
transplants performed at Renal Transplant Centre of Max Hospital
during a press conference held at a hotel in Sector 43, Chandigarh on
Thursday.