Apollo Hospitals Group on Wednesday completed 25 years of paediatric liver transplant programme in India. The Hospital had conducted India’s first successful liver transplant in 1998. The first liver transplant patient, who was 20 months old at that time, is now a doctor.
Apollo Hospitals in a press release said that over the past 25 years, the Apollo Institutes of Transplantation have performed over 4,300 liver transplants for patients from more than 50 countries, including 515 children. Under Apollo Transplant programme, the other services include Management of Liver Disease, Kidney Disease, Liver and Kidney Transplantation, Heart and Lung Transplantation, among others.
Dr Preetha Reddy, Vice Chairperson, Apollo Hospitals Group, said: “Liver disease results in annual loss of around 2 lakh lives. Despite the 1,800 liver transplants conducted each year, the demand for this procedure reaches as high as 20,000 individuals at any given time. While India has made substantial progress since the inception of these operations, a considerable gap remains unaddressed.”
Dr Reddy further said that at Apollo, the focus involves establishing top-tier transplant centres, led by esteemed clinicians. “We are committed to extending our expertise to individuals worldwide seeking liver transplant services,” she added.
