Irfan Tramboo
Srinagar, Oct 14: In a first, and after witnessing a considerable delay, the Urology Department of the Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar has carried out two back-to-back renal transplants at its Super Speciality Hospital, Shireen Bagh, igniting a bright hope for such patients across Kashmir.
In this regard, the officials told Excelsior that both the patients who have undergone the transplantation needed it and were on the list of the hospital, following which they were monitored before finally starting the transplantation.
The patients who have undergone kidney transplantation are both males of age 30 years and 45 years respectively. One got the kidney from his wife while another received the same from his brother.
The officials said that both the recipients as well as the donors are stable and their condition is being regularly monitored. “The donors will be discharged after 3 days while the receipts will be with us for 7 days. The donors will be discharged by Monday and the recipients will go home likely next Friday or Saturday,” Dr. Syed Sajjad Nazir, Head of the Department of Urology, told Excelsior that everything went as planned and the surgery was a success.
It is to be noted here that the Department of Urology and Nephrology has got more than enough manpower and experts in place, however, the renal transplantation, as per the rules and regulations, was carried out by a team of doctors from Jaslok Hospital, and Research Centre (JHRC), Mumbai, while the rest of the staff provided the necessary assistance.
As per the guidelines, which the GMC, Srinagar has to follow and is a condition for the approval which it has secured for the conduct of renal transplantation, the team of doctors from (JHRC), Mumbai will be there for the conduct of a few more such surgeries and after that, the concerned doctors and staff at the GMC, Srinagar will carry out further transplantations where the department of Nephrology and Urology has got 8 and 15 specialists respectively apart from other assisting staff along with the machinery necessary for conducting such surgeries.
“We have got quite big teams to take care of such cases apart from the necessary assistance from the department of anesthesia; the conduct of first two back-to-back transplantations is a history that we have created at the GMC, Srinagar and we continue to look ahead for more,” Dr. Syed Sajjad Nazir said.
He said that with the start of renal transplantations at GMC, Srinagar patients in the need of such surgeries earlier used to go outside J&K and spend lakhs and despite that, he said, they had to reach out to concerned doctors at GMC in case of any complication.
“It will be of great help and will also save the costs because it is not only available here in Srinagar, but is also covered under the PMJAY Sehat Scheme which also takes care of the medicines too,” he said.
About further transplants, he said that they have got a few more patients on the list, but at the time, only 2 transplants were possible because the donors, as well as recipients, are to be kept separate under round-the-clock monitoring. “We have requested more space so that we could accommodate more patients and that will be done soon,” he said.
Earlier, it is to be noted here that the GMC, Srinagar was set to conduct the renal transplantation in August, however, that could not materialize and the plan was delayed. Later, it was given out that the same will be carried out in September, but that also witnessed a delay, taking it to October to finally witness the conduct of the first-ever renal transplantation at GMC, Srinagar.