Minister inaugurates organ transplant unit

GURGAON - Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad inaugurated the Organ Transplant Unit at Artemis Health Institute (AHI) in Gurgaon Saturday.

A two-day workshop on pelvic surgery was also inugurated by the minster on the occasion.

Kushagra Katariya, CEO and chief cardiothoracic surgeon, AHI said: “Organ transplantation is accepted by doctors worldwide as among the best routes to treatment and often the only one for a wide range of fatal medical complications like renal failure. It is counted as one of the greatest advances of modern science that has resulted in many patients getting a new lease of life.”

AHI has in the last few months conducted 10 successful transplants which include renal and corneal transplants.

“Every year 1.75 lakh patients of chronic kidney disease get added to the Indian population. Of the total number of these chronic patients, only 3 percent are able to undergo a transplant. The rest of the 97 percent either live with the help of dialysis or face premature death,” said Onkar S Kanwar, Chairman, Artemis Health Sciences (AHS).

Through organ donation, healthy parts and tissues from a brain dead person are transplanted into an ailing patient. Experts say that the organs from one donor can save or help as many as 50 people. The key organs that can be donated include kidneys, heart, liver, pancreas, intestines, lungs, bone and bone marrow, skin and cornea.