Meenakshi Hospital, a leading multispecialty hospital in Thanjavur, and Gleneagles Global Health City Hospital, a leading tertiary care hospital in Chennai, have entered into an agreement to jointly offer liver transplant as well as hepatobiliary surgeries for the benefit of the patients from the delta districts. As per the agreement, experts from Gleneagles Global Health City Hospital, Chennai will provide outpatient consultations and perform liver transplant surgeries at Meenakshi Hospital’s advanced medical facilities in Thanjavur.
An MoU in this regard was signed by Dr. Ravichandran, Medical Superintendent of Meenakshi Hospital and Dr. Joy Varghese, Director- Hepatology and Transplant Hepatology, Gleneagles Global Health City Hospital, in the presence of Dr. Prasanna, Senior Consultant and HOD, Department of Surgical Gastroenterology, Dr. Arimanickam, Senior Consultant and HOD, Department of Anaesthesiology, Dr.Balamurugan, General Manager, Operations, and Mr.S.Sivakumar, General Manager, Marketing representing Meenakshi Hospital and Dr.Mettu Srinivas Reddy, Director- Liver Transplantation and HPB Surgery, Mr. V. Bhaskar Reddy, Head- Corporate Relations, Gleneagles Global Health City Hospital.
Liver transplant is the only definitive treatment for people suffering from end-stage liver diseases. Hepatobiliary procedures treat disorders of the biliary system, which comprises the liver, pancreas, gallbladder and bile duct. However, there are only a few reputed liver transplant centers in Tamilnadu that can offer these interventions. There are none so far in the delta districts, including Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, and Nagapattinam, with a combined population of over 1.5 crore people. People from Delta districts who need liver transplants have to travel to and stay in cities like Chennai and Coimbatore.
The coming together of the two reputed institutions in Tamil Nadu’s healthcare sector marks a new beginning in liver care in the delta districts. Meenakshi Hospital, Thanjavur is making available modern infrastructure including liver transplant Operation Theatre, and liver transplant ICU, and advanced medical technologies including CT scan machines and CUSA machine, a device used in tumor surgery, for the experts from Gleneagles Global Health City Hospital. A team of doctors well trained nursing staff and technicians will be available to support liver transplants. Gleneagles Global Health City Hospital, Chennai, is one of the leading multi-organ transplant centre. The hospital has undertaken several path-breaking liver, neurological, heart, lung, and kidney transplant procedures.
In his comments, Dr. Prasanna, Senior Consultant and HOD, Department of Surgical Gastroenterology, Meenakshi Hospital, said, “We are very happy to bring special procedures for liver and liver transplants, besides hepatobiliary procedures, for the first time to the delta districts in collaboration with Gleneagles Global, which is one of the highly reputed liver transplant centers in India. We are commencing the outpatient service immediately with experts from Gleneagles Global visiting Thanjavur once a month, on the third Friday of every month, and providing consultations. Initially liver transplant screening will be done every month. We are hoping that the first ever liver transplant here is likely to be performed in about two months.”
He added that Meenakshi Hospital, Thanjavur is committed to evolve as a world class multi-organ transplant centre. Since 2013, the hospital has performed over 25 kidney transplants - out of which 13 were live donor transplants and the rest deceased donor transplants.
In his comments, Dr. Joy Varghese, Director - Hepatology and Transplant Hepatology, Gleneagles Global Health City Hospital, said, “At Gleneagles Global, we see tremendous scope for our tie-up with Meenakshi Hospital to grow from strength to strength. We are a pioneer in liver transplant. Our success rate in liver transplant is over 95%. We are happy to partner with Meenakshi Hospital which has state-of-the-art infrastructure, including the operation theatre and a well-equipped ICU exclusively for liver transplant patients. With this partnership, patients from delta districts don’t have to travel to Chennai to avail our advanced procedures for liver and liver transplants and for multiple review visits.”
The doctors informed that in India, almost 2,00,000 people die of liver disease every year and around 50,000 – 60,000 require a liver transplant. However, only about 1,500-odd transplants are done in about a 100 liver transplant units in the country annually. The most common reason for liver transplants in the case of children is biliary atresia, a condition in which the bile ducts outside and inside the liver are scarred and blocked, while it is liver cirrhosis, caused by Hepatitis C, in the case of adults. Liver cirrhosis is also caused by long-term alcohol abuse.