PGIMER Performs India's First Successful Lung Transplant

A successful lung transplant has been a long time dream of many doctors in India but this particular achievement has eluded our grasp many times in the past. But not anymore. This Tuesday the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research created history by performing the first-ever lung transplant in a government hospital in the country on 35- year-old woman from Punjab who was suffering with interstitial lung disease. A team of 20 competent doctors worked for 12 hours to complete the surgery. The donor was an accident victim who was declared brain dead the previous night. "Though donor organ transplants are becoming frequent in India, lung transplants are still very uncommon. This is partly because the surgery is complex and technically demanding," he said.

The patient had been suffering from an end stage lung disease and was constantly being provided oxygen supply. After agreeing to the transplant, the retrieval of the organs commenced and what followed was a successful surgery. The patient is stable post operation but is being held under observation.

"The patient will be put on immuno-suppressor drugs. The success rate for a lung transplant is 50% for the first five years," said Dr Ashutosh Aggarwal, pulmonary medicine department.
In a private hospital, the same treatment would amount to almost Rs 45 lakh, while it can be available for Rs 6 lakh to Rs 10 lakh at OGI. Even so, all the cost of this first lung transplant is being borne by the institute.

"This is probably the first lung transplant performed by any public-sector hospital in the country. I congratulate the entire team. It is a big day for all of us and it is the result of the hard-work of the entire team," Dr Jagat Ram said in a conversation with media houses after the transplant.

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