US surgeon offers free service in Jharkhand

17 Jun 2009, 2206 hrs IST,

RANCHI: The president-elect of the International College of surgeons (USA) and chairman of the Critical Care Task Force for the American Society of Transplant surgeons, Dinesh Ranjan, has offered to provide free medical service to the people of Jharkhand.

An alumnus of the Rajendra Medical College and Hospital (now Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences RIMS), Ranjan addressed a gathering of the RMCH-RIMS alumni here on Tuesday.

After deliberating extensively on liver transplant techniques, a field in which he attained expertise after moving out to the USA in 1979, Ranjan said that liver transplant, considered one of the most sophisticated organ transplant techniques, is still in a primary stage in India.

Ranjan has conducted over 1000 liver transplants in the University of Kentucky and helped set up transplant facilities in Albama and Egypt. He acknowledged his association with this tribal-dominated state of the country. "In India, liver transplantation is practised in metros like Delhi and Mumbai. Since it is difficult for people to bear the cost of transplantation and lodging in metros, it would be convenient for patients if such a facility is available here," he said. Ranjan called upon the local medical fraternity to come up with a project here. He offered free medical service to such a facility on behalf of his team. He said even the state government could utilize his expertise and experience. "Recently, I facilitated set-up of transplantation facilities in Albama and Egypt. I would be happy to do this for my own state," he said. Speaking on the success of liver transplant and the intricacies involved in it, Ranjan said that the survival rate is more than 90 per cent in the first year of surgery and the risk gradually diminishes with time. "Liver is the only organ in the human body that grows to its normal size even if half of the portion is removed. This unique aspect of the liver encouraged surgeons to try liver transplants. The results, so far, have been highly encouraging," he said. As against over 16000 liver transplantation carried out all over the world annually, more than 5000 transplantation is done in the USA. Ranjan said that live donor transplantation and cadaveric transplantation are two different aspects in which surgeons have to be very cautious while dealing with the live donors. "Our expertise comes into play when we operate upon a healthy person and take a part of his liver for transplanting it into another patient and ensuring at the same time that the healthy person's condition remains fit," he said. Speaking about the medical expenses on liver transplantation, Ranjan said that the process is cheaper in India and involves an expenditure of around Rs 15-20 lakh. He said the same process is carried out in the USA at an expense of around $200,000. Via: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com