Puducherry: The Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) is to start an institute of organ transplant soon. A proposal in this regard would be made and placed before the standing committee of finance for approval, said SC Parija, JIPMER director. JIPMER would be starting liver transplants within a month and is also planning to start heart transplants by the year-end, he added.
JIPMER had established a multi-organ transplantation unit, including facilities for liver transplantation. In view of the large number of patients who need transplantation and the acute shortage of organ donors, the institute had also established a deceased (cadaver) donor transplantation program at JIPMER in December 2013. JIPMER is the first institution to start a deceased donor transplantation programme in Pondicherry.
The institute was a pioneer in the kidney transplant programme with 111 cases of transplants performed since the launch of the programme in 2014. Fifty per cent of these transplants were cadavar transplants. This was benefitting the poor patients, said Mr. Parija.
