The organ transplant programme in PGIMER is one of the most prolific with 4,800 renal transplant surgeries done so far. What is heartening is that with 225 renal transplant surgeries done to date in 2023, we have already surpassed the numbers accomplished during the last entire year. Not only that, with the Department of Urology also doing renal transplants along with Renal Transplant Surgery, the waiting period for live renal transplant has substantially reduced from 12-14 months to 2 months, helping in the mitigation of the suffering of the patients. This is a huge step forward”, stated Prof. Vivek Lal, PGIMER Director while briefing the media about some of the recent developments undertaken at the institute on Sunday.
“The patient was suffering from chronic liver disease, and a liver transplant was the only survival option. He has been awaiting a transplant for the past three years. His wife donated 55% of her liver (Right liver) to her husband. The total time duration of surgery was around 12 hours. Both are doing well and are under regular follow-up. The immunosuppressant of the recipient is under close monitoring,’’ he elaborated.
Prof. Pankaj Malhotra, Head, Dept of Clinical Haematology shared, “The Department of Clinical Hematology and Medical Oncology at PGI Chandigarh has achieved significant success with a groundbreaking cancer treatment known as Chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR T) cell therapy during a clinical trial. This innovative therapy was initially administered to a patient diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia on 14 March 2023, followed by additional cases involving lymphoma and another leukaemia patient. Encouragingly, all three patients have shown positive progress following the treatment. PGI Chandigarh is the first public hospital in India to successfully implement this groundbreaking therapy” Endorsing the need to create independent departments to further the impetus on patient care, the Director said, “To provide a robust ecosystem for patient care, we need to create independent departments as has been seen from the prior experience that an independent department makes a colossal difference as far as the patient care is concerned and we are seriously considering to create independent departments in the near future.”