Cost-effective liver transplant treatment soon

BANGALORE: Health Care Global (HCG) enterprise is planning to bring cost-effective liver transplant treatment to Bangalore soon.According to doctors, most patients travel to Delhi, which is the hub of liver transplant. In a year, less than 30 liver transplants have been done in Karnataka, in comparison to 300 in Delhi. Despite HCG starting the service in Bangalore in September last year, not many have come forward for the treatment. The group plans to bring down the cost of the treatment to `14 lakh, which now ranges between `18 lakh and `30 lakh. “The need of the hour is to create more awareness on organ donation in Karnataka, which could save many lives,” said Dr B S Ajaikumar, Chairman of HCG. Dr Subash Gupta, Liver Transplant Surgeon, HCG, said, “In liver transplantation, the failure rate is 20 per cent because of the disease recurrence and the patient’s indiscipline in sticking to strict medication.”Dr Gupta, said, “Liver transplant is done in anticipation of liver failure, unlike in kidney failure where people can be on dialysis for a longer time. People need to understand this difference and come out to donate liver.”