CHENNAI: The feather to its cap, Apollo Centre for Liver disease and Transplantation has completed 100 liver transplantations in three years with a success rate of over 90 per cen, chairman of Apollo Hospitals Group Dr Prathap C Reddy said on Tuesday. Addressing a press conference in the city, Reddy said that this was a major milestone in the history of medicine, adding that the transplant cost $600,000 abroad while in India the whole treatment can be done for Rs 20 lakh to Rs 30 lakh.He said that since liver transplantation is expensive, Apollo was providing a compound financial package which helped in planning expenses making it more accessible for patients.“Understanding that liver transplantation is still an expensive option in India, we are also working with leading financial institutions for easy arrangements for finances for the patients and their next of kin,” Reddy said.Liver failure is a potentially fatal condition in which the liver stops performing its regular functions resulting in episodes of jaundice, accumulation of fluid in the body, vomiting of blood and general confusion. Conditions such as Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C infection, excessive alcohol consumption and certain auto-immune conditions can cause this state.Dr Anand Khakhar, a senior consultant of liver transplant and hepatobiliary surgery and program director for the liver transplant program at Apollo Hospitals, said that the 100 surgeries benchmark had been crossed by the Chennai department much faster than the other programmes in the country. “We are also opening centres in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Ahmedabad to enhance the network and accessibility,” he said.
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