Rishikesh (The Hawk): The departments of Medical and Surgical Gastroenterology of AIIMS, Rishikesh organized a symposium on liver transplantation. AIIMS, Rishikesh has recently received approval for conducting liver transplantation.
Professor Samiran Nundy, the President of AIIMS, Rishikesh gave the inaugural address, talking about how India has become one of the leading centers for liver transplantation in the world. He traced India’s journey and highlighted how laws regulating organ donation and transplant came into existence. Even though hurdles still exist, India has come a long way in the field of liver transplantation, with sir playing a major role in making India one of the top three countries in terms of number of liver transplantations being performed .
Professor Minu Singh, the Director of AIIMS Rishikesh, talked about her vision to start Liver transplantation at the hospital by closely coordinating with and providing full support to the Departments of Medical Surgical Gastroenterology.
Professor Y.K. Chawla, Ex Director of PGI Chandigarh and the guest of Honor for this symposium spoke about the challenges faced by Government institutions in setting up a liver transplantation and how to overcome them. He narrated his own experiences from his time in PGI Chandigarh where he started the liver transplantation program.
Dr Rohit Gupta, Head of the Department of Gastroenterology and the organizing chairperson for the event, discussed about embarking upon the journey of setting up a liver transplantation program in AIIMS Rishikesh. He introduced the eminent faculty who had come from various parts of the country to deliver talks on this subject. He laid out his plans to start liver transplant in the institute by next year.
Yeah, the world renowned hepatologist, Professor Shiv Kumar Sarin discussed about selecting and preparing donors prior to the transplant.
Dr Poonam Arora, Associate Professor, Emergency medicine, from the institute spoke about the concept of brain death. Professor Viniyendra Pamecha, Liver Transplant Surgeon from ILBS took the discussion forward and talked about the coordinated effort required from physicians, surgeons and the administration to ensure a successful liver transplant. Dr Gaurav Sindhwani, Organ Transplant Anesthesiologist from ILBS, spoke about the challenges faced during the transplant procedure and the immediate post-transplant period.
Dr Swapnil Dhampalwar, Consultant Transplant Hepatologist from Institute of Digestive and Hepatobiliary Sciences, Gurugram, enlightened the audience on the topic of managing the first six months post-transplant. Immunosuppression during this time is critical and the transplant recipient needs to be closely followed up. Post-Transplant immunosuppression was further elaborated upon by Professor Y. K. Chawla, Ex-Director of PGI Chandigarh.
Professor Vikram Bhatia from ILBS, New Delhi discussed about the management of biliary complications post-transplant. Professor Amar Mukund, Interventional Radiologist from ILBS, spoke about the role the radiologist plays in managing these critical patients. These include performing TIPSS to decrease pressure in the portal veins to prevent Gastrointestinal Bleeding and the diagnosis and management of biliary complications post-transplant.
The session ended with a riveting panel discussion on the challenges in starting a liver transplant program which included all the invited faculty. The panelists talked about their own experiences and the obstacles they faced in their respective institutions. They discussed about ways to overcome the various hurdles that would crop up along the way. Cost of the procedure, Financing options for the general population, developing human resources and infrastructure simultaneously were the key points that came up in the discussion.
Also discussed were the central role organ donation plays in any liver transplantation program. India lags behind other countries in this aspect. Bringing about awareness in the general public and breaking the stigma and various misconceptions surrounding it is the need of the hour.
Dr Rohit Gupta, the organizing chairperson, thanked the speakers for their participation. He thanked the Director and Dean for their support. With such able guidance , he hoped to flag-off the liver transplantation program in AIIMS Rishikesh by next year.
Dean research Dr Shailendra Handu, Dr Gita Negi , Dr sanjay agarwal dr gaurav jain dr Minakshi Dhar dr Ravi kant, Dr Udit’s Chauhan’s dr pankaj sharma, Dr Itish Patnaik, dr Anand sharma , Dr. Nirjhar Raj, dr Lokesh arora dr Sunita and Others gastroenterologist from Dehradun were present.
