Liver Transplantation OPD opened in city

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 4

A new Liver Transplantation OPD was launched today at Fortis Hospital by Dr Vivek Vij, director, Liver Transplant and GI Surgery, Fortis Hospital, Mohali and Noida.

The doctor brought many stark facts about liver transplantation during the launch ceremony. He said, “The higher alcohol consumption in Punjabis has translated into higher incidence of liver ailments in the state, reiterating the need to have better facilities for liver treatment and liver transplantation.”

“Over two lakh people lose their lives in India every year due to liver diseases and around 20,000 people need liver transplantation to survive. However, as of now, only 2,000 liver transplantations are being done in India per year,” Dr Vij added.

The OPD will be open on every first and last Friday of the month.

Dr Ashish Singhal (consultant – Liver Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery, Fortis Hospital, Mohali) while addressing the press conference today said one in every five Indians suffer from liver problems and the most common were alcoholic liver disease, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and obesity-related liver disease. He added that due to the large number of alcoholics, Punjab had more incidence of alcoholic liver disease. “It develops after years of heavy drinking. Alcohol also causes inflammation in the liver,” he said.

Dr Singhal said the fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis were not necessarily distinct stages of evolution of the disease, but rather, multiple stages that may be present simultaneously in a given individual.

Causes and symptoms

Causes alcoholic liver disease include heavy drinking, gender, obesity, Hepatitis C, genetics and malnutrition.

The symptoms include pain and swelling in abdomen, decreased appetite, nausea, fatigue, vomiting, dry mouth and increased thirst, yellow color in the skin or mucus membrane or eyes, small, red spider-like veins on skin, itching and redness on feet or hands. A person also gets numbness in limbs and has problem thinking or memorizing, he added.