NewZNew (Chandigarh) : A press meet was convened at Chandigarh by the Nephrology (Kidney) department of Mayo Hospital which is located in Sec 69, Mohali. Dr Manish Singla a Consultant Nephrologist & Transplant Physician, who formerly was with PGI & who is Head, Nephrology Department, Mayo Hospital, Mohali and Dr Virender Dhankar, Urologist and Transplant Surgeon, Mayo Hospital, participated in the press conference.
There is a new hope for dialysis patients who’re waiting for kidney transplant. “We have started a noble kidney transplant initiative. Mayo Hospital, which is one of the few private hospitals in the region, that have the wherewithal to conduct kidney transplants, will perform such transplants for needy patients at costs equivalent to PGIMER—the government hospital that conducts kidney transplants in the region.” Said Dr Manish Singla, Head, Nephrology Department, Mayo Hospital, Mohali, the only Nephrologist in tricity holding a fellowship from Canada.
Details of a unique Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) medical procedure were also shared. A young 22-year-old Kidney patient – Sandeep, who is from Karnal, was saved by performing a kidney transplant on him by the expert doctors at Mayo, free of cost, as Sandeep is son of a Rickshaw puller and could not afford the expenses.
“The hospital has proved to be an angel sent down by God as they did the operation free of charge. Today i am alive because of the highly committed & dedicated team at Mayo hospital.” Said Sandeep.
“We have an average waiting time for kidney transplants of one month while in bigger government Institutes like PGIMER the same is 6-9 months due to the patient load. While the patient will have to bear very affordable transplant expenses that match PGIMER, due to the reduced waiting time, he or she will save on an average Rs. 1.5-2 lakhs on dialysis.” Said Dr Virender Dhankar, Urologist & Transplant Surgeon, Mayo Hospital.
It was revealed that prevalence of kidney failure had increased over last 10 years with 3% of population suffer from early kidney failure stage & 10-20 per 1000 population needing dialysis. According to a government estimate, over 2 lakh new kidney failure patients are added to the existing load every year.
“There is a demand of lakhs of kidney transplants every year and less than 5% are being done Nationally the rest 95% remain on dialysis and die awaiting transplant. In HP there is no Hospital Equipped with Transplant infrastructure, in Haryana there are a few in Gurgaon & in Tricity- PGI is there along with a few including Mayo. So there is a major short fall.” Said Dr Singla.
Apart from shortfall of kidney transplant centres there is a major problem of availability of Donor kidneys. In India donor kidney from a brain dead person constitutes just 5 per cent of total transplant, while in the West (USA & Canada) this constitutes around 75% of total transplant.
