Brain-dead woman's liver transplanted at PMSSY hospital

The liver of a 59-year-old brain-dead woman was transplanted into a patient at the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) super-speciality hospital here on Wednesday, making it the third such operation at a government facility.

The donor, Lingamma, hails from Kotappanapalya village in Magadi taluk, Ramanagar district. She was rushed to a hospital in Magadi on Sunday after complaining of dizziness.

She was referred to Nimhans but doctors there said they could not perform a corrective surgery to treat her intracranial bleeding as her blood pressure was high.

“We asked the doctors at Nimhans for her discharge summary and admitted her to KIMS for treatment. Doctors there counselled us on organ donation and we gave our consent,” said her son, Basavalingiah T.

Doctors at the PMSSY hospital, which is located on the Victoria Hospital premises, were alerted at 2 pm on Tuesday about a possible donor liver at KIMS.

The woman was then wheeled into the PMSSY hospital. A team of four surgeons performed the liver transplant. “We started at 1 am and worked until morning to complete the procedure. The transplant was successful,” said Dr Nagesh N S, head of the transplant team, PMSSY hospital.

One of her kidneys was sent to the JSS Hospital in Mysuru and another to Manipal Hospitals in Bengaluru, but her heart could not be harvested given her age, according to officials in the Zonal Co-ordination Committee of Karnataka for Organ Transplantation.

While the recipient’s family has paid Rs 5,500 as initial deposit, they would be asked to foot a minimal bill of Rs two lakh. According to senior doctors in the hospital, Rs one lakh has been sought from the chief minister’s fund.