Chennai, Nov. 12: Dr Rela Institute & Medical Centre, a multi-speciality quaternary care hospital in Chennai, and one of the largest liver transplant units in the country, saved the life of a Sri Lankan professor by mobilising a team of competent surgeons to perform a liver transplant surgery on him, amid strict lockdown restrictions - even as the original donor prospect, who was the patient’s wife, turned out to be medically unfit to donate her organ.
The patient, Prasanga Namal Karunarathne, a 44--year-old professor, flew to Chennai with his wife, the donor prospect, his mother in law, and brother in law by a cargo flight on July 4 , when the Covid lockdown was imposed in the state, and the rest of the country.
Chairman and Managing Director of the hospital, Prof. Mohamed Rela told the media that Karunarathne was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune liver disease about three years ago.
“We conducted all the tests on him for liver transplantation, but we were in for a rude shock when a CT scan done on his wife showed that she had a low grade tumour in her small intestine.
The presence of the tumour made her unsuitable to be an organ donor.
“Karunarathne’s brother-in-law came forward to be the donor. Luckily, his liver matched.
“We obtained the approval of the government committee for the transplantation and performed the surgery successfully on September 24.”
Vice-Chairman, Medical Advisory Board and Senior Consultant, HPB Surgery, Liver and Renal Transplant Surgeon, Dr. Gomathy Narasimhan also spoke.