Kottayam Medical College creates history, successfully performs liver transplant surgery on five-year-old

KOTTAYAM: Kottayam Medical College Hospital has created history by becoming the first government hospital in Kerala to successfully perform liver transplant surgery on children. The surgery was performed on a five-year-old boy hailing from Malappuram.

The surgery was performed by the team led by Dr RS Sindhu, Head of the Surgical Gastro Department, Kottayam Medical College. The child had been suffering from liver disease since its birth. Before bringing him to the Kottayam Medical College, his family had taken him to a number of hospitals. The doctors made the preparations for the liver transplant surgery after the boy's 25-year-old mother agreed to donate her liver. The surgery, which was carried out the other day in the presence of doctors from Amrita Hospital, lasted for nearly 10 hours. Although the child was taken off the ventilator yesterday morning, the next three days will be very crucial. He has been placed under strict observation.

Pediatric liver transplantation, especially live transplantation, is very rare in government medical colleges. Minister Veena George congratulated Dr. Sindhu and the team members for undertaking and completing the complicated surgery.