BATHINDA AIIMS GETS NOD FOR RENAL TRANSPLANT

BATHINDA: The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bathinda, is ready to start Punjab’s maiden affordable renal transplant centre. The director general of medical education and research (DGMER), an organ of the state health department, has granted a licence to AIIMS and about 50 patients on dialysis at the institute will start benefiting, officials said on Monday.

Associate professor (urology) Dr Kawaljit Singh Kaura, nodal officer of the transplant project, said that in the first phase, live renal transplants would start when patients get kidneys from blood-related donors. “The transplants will also be highly cost-effective for patients wherein a multi-disciplinary team of doctors will provide assistance in the process,” he said.

After a series of inspections in the last five months, the DGMER accorded permission to AIIMS last week. The new medical facility in Bathinda will benefit patients from across Punjab and Haryana and it will also reduce the burden of kidney patients at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, the only governmentfunded hospital in the two states having a similar facility.

“Currently, no public sector hospital in Punjab and Haryana offers renal transplants. In Rajasthan, only AIIMS (Jaipur) offers a similar treatment. The Bathinda hospital will cater to even adjoining districts of Rajasthan,” said Kaura, a seasoned transplant surgeon.

In the second phase, the institute will start cadaveric transplants wherein kidney will be harvested from a brain-dead person with consent, he added.

Compared to Rs 7-8 lakh at private facilities, the total cost of a standard renal transplant procedure at PGIMER is less than Rs 1 lakh, including the cost of medicines and two weeks of hospital stay for the donor and recipient.