Osmania Hospital performs super-urgent liver transplant; first time for a govt facility in India

Hyderabad: A 17-year-old girl from Film Nagar received an emergency liver transplant at Osmania General Hospital (OGH) after being diagnosed with acute fulminant liver failure.

The surgery was carried out under the ‘Super Urgent Category’ of the Jeevandan organ donation programme, marking the first time such a procedure has been performed on a poor patient in a government hospital in India under this category.

The patient, Miss Blessy Goud, was admitted to the Surgical Gastroenterology ICU at OGH on May 12. She arrived in critical condition, with deep jaundice, coagulopathy (INR of 11), metabolic acidosis (lactate 7.3), and Grade 4 hepatic encephalopathy. She had been unconscious and on ventilator support when the team began evaluation.

Financial constraints brought patients to OGH

“She met the King’s College criteria for emergency liver transplantation,” said Dr Ch. Madhusudhan, Professor and Head of the Surgical Gastroenterology Department at OGH. “Initially, her family approached a private hospital, but due to the severity of her condition and financial constraints, they brought her to Osmania.”

With no fit living donor available in the family, her mother is a single parent with medical issues, the team at OGH applied for cadaver organ allocation under the Jeevandan programme’s super urgent category.

“In India, such a category exists for acute liver failure cases. Once a hospital submits required medical documentation, a liver expert committee reviews and, if approved, prioritises the patient for organ allocation,” Dr Madhusudhan explained.

A donor liver became available within 24 hours from a private hospital. The transplant was conducted on May 14 and lasted nearly 20 hours.

“This is the first time an emergency liver transplant was done under the super urgent category in a government hospital,” Dr Madhusudhan said. “It was a difficult case due to the patient’s condition, but she recovered well and was discharged after two weeks. She is now continuing her education and preparing for her BTech first-year exams.”

The team acknowledged the support of multiple departments and officials in making the procedure possible.

“We are thankful to the Government of Telangana, the Health Minister, Health Secretary, and the Jeevandan team, especially DME Sir (Chairman, Jeevandan), Dr Sri Bhushan Raju (In-Charge, Jeevandan), Arogyasree Office, the Superintendent of OGH, Principal of Osmania Medical College, and the doctors, nurses, and staff involved,” said Dr Madhusudhan.