Ludhiana, July 16
In what could be termed as a landmark surgical procedure in the course of kidney transplant, professor of urology and transplant surgery at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) Dr Baldev Singh Aulakh, successfully removed a donor’s kidney through one of the most advanced laparoscopic surgical techniques. The team of doctors lending assistance to the transplant surgeon in this innovative procedure included Dr P.L. Gautam and Dr Shikha Gupta.

Claiming that the laparoscopic removal of donor’s kidney would give a big thrust to the organ donation programme in the country, Dr Aulakh said the procedure, known as "laparoscopic donor nephrectomy" was a less invasive technique of removing a kidney from a living donor for the transplantation.

“The surgery involved the insertion of a laparoscope (surgical telescope) through three small incisions in the donor kidney for removal and simultaneously observing a magnified image on a TV monitor. The kidney was gently removed through a small opening and then prepared for being transplanted into the recipient.”

He said this technique for removing the kidney was far improved then the traditional method of open nephrectomy, which required a longer incision and occasionally, the removal of a rib. The laparoscopic technique required just three to four smaller incisions to remove the kidney, allowing minimal disruption to the donor’s abdominal wall.

“This result in less pain and scarring, a shorter hospital stay (a patient can be discharged within 48 hours) and a quicker recovery time for the donor. This will also help in increasing transplantation as more donors will be willing to donate as has been witnessed in the developed countries where laparoscopic nephrectomy is quite common."

Dr Aulakh added that in order to be eligible for laparoscopic nephrectomy, first a donor’s kidney must match with that of a recipient. At the same time, the donor should be healthy enough to donate it. Many factors were taken into consideration for one to be eligible for the laparoscopic surgery, one of them being body size.

Calling for massive promotion to the organ donation, Dr J.S. Sandhu, professor of nephrology at DMCH, remarked that nearly 1-lakh persons need kidney transplant in the country every year whereas just about 10,000 of them receive it due to the lack of donors.

"Most kidneys transplanted in India are from a living donor. With kidney diseases and kidney failure on the rise, living donor kidneys offer one way of bypassing the long waiting list. People who donate a kidney do not experience any ill effects aside from having surgery and often recover quickly. In the wake of more and more need for transplants, the society should encourage organ donation from brain dead patients to help the ailing community," he stressed.

Elaborating on the advantage of living donor organs, including kidney, Dr Aulakh maintained that living donor kidney was the best quality kidney that a patient could receive because in such cases the donor would thoroughly examined prior to transplantation. Moreover, living donor kidneys lasted longer as against cadaver kidneys, which tended to fail in the first 10 years. Most living donor kidneys became functional immediately after transplantation, while many cadaver kidneys did not function well initially. 

Ludhiana, July 16
Civil surgeon Sat Pal Sharma today asked medical officers and supporting staff working on the "Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme" (RNTCP) to aim for both qualitative and quantitative improvement as as the maximum number of patients could benefit from the same since the diagnostic facilities as also comprehensive treatment was provided free of cost by government health institutions.

He was addressing a meeting of TB control medical officers, senior technical supervisers and senior TB lab supervisers involved in the RNTCP here today after a review of the work done by the health staff in this direction.

Dr S.S. Khajuria, WHO consultant and the district TB officer, were also present at the meeting.

The civil surgeon expressed his satisfaction on the performance of medical officers and field staff while stressing the need for keeping vulnerable areas under focus to facilitate timely diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis.

Speaking at the meeting, Dr Khajuria directed the medical officers to achieve targets of RNTCP in the district while elaborating on technical and operational guidelines of the programme.

Ludhiana, July 16
The Bhagwan Mahavir Sewa Sansthan organised a specialised camp for bone disorders at Sachin Charitable Hospital in Shivaji Nagar here yesterday.

Over 125 persons were examined for various bone diseases and provided with free medicines.

Bone mass density test facility was also offered to patients free of cost in association with Pharmed, a Bangalore-based pharmaceutical company.

Inaugurating the camp, district president of the BJP Subhash Verma lauded the initiative of the organisation towards the welfare of society.

He said the work being done by the body was a tribute to Lord Mahavir, known as an apostle of peace, love, compassion and universal brotherhood.

A team of specialists comprising Dr Pawan Dhingra, Dr Pran Gupta, Dr Sandeep Kumar Jain, Dr K.K. Dhingra, and assisted by bio-medical engineer Manrag S. Jain, along with office-bearers of the society, contributed to the camp.

According to sansthan president Rakesh Jain, more such camps would be organised in different parts of the city on July 22 and 29 where doctors would examine patients and render follow-up advice.

The body, he added, had organised a polio corrective surgery camp in March, 2007, in which surgical procedures were performed by renowned polio correction specialists Dr Ujagar Singh and Dr Pawan Dhingra.