India's First Transplant-Only Hospital to be Operational by 2015

An exclusive transplant-only hospital will be set up in West Bengal by 2015, making India one of the few countries to have a hospital dedicated solely for organ transplants.

Providing facilities for liver, bone marrow, pancreas and kidney transplants, the state-of-the-art establishment slated to be built at Andal in Bardhman district of the state, will employ surgeons from Britain and the US as part of their full-time staff, a hospital official said.

"Initially there will be facilities for liver, bone marrow, pancreas and kidney transplants. This will be the first transplant-only hospital in the whole country. We have shortlisted doctors from the US and Britain who will be there full time," said Satyajit Bose, chairman of the Mission Hospital.

The initiative has been strategically planned at Andal, where a 650-acre airport will come up by the year-end. The project will take off in sync with the completion of the airport.

"Any transplant hospital needs to be located next to an airport. Keeping that in mind, we are building it at Andal which will soon have an airport. As soon as the first flight takes off, we will start our construction. The finance is ready and so is the design," said Bose.

However, cadaveric transplants (like heart transplants) which require donors to be brain-dead, will have to wait until it becomes permissible by the state legislature.

"West Bengal doesn't have legislation for cadaveric procedures yet. As soon as it is a yes, we will go ahead with heart transplants and related organ transplants," said Bose.

Backed by an investment of Rs.200 crore, the 150-bed speciality hospital will be equipped with two air-ambulances and digital operating theatres.

The Mission Hospital, as part of its expansion plans, will introduce digital OTs in its Durgapur campus, the first in eastern India.

Source: IANS