Two-Year-Old Girl Saved by Delhi Doctors

Doctors in Jaipur had given up on two-year-old Zuana, who was near death due to terminal liver failure.

However, a rare surgery by a team of Delhi doctors saved the baby, who is now healthy and fully recovered.

"Zuana was suffering from terminal liver failure when she came to us and desperately needed a transplant. But as the blood group of her family donors did not match, we decided to offer her ABO-incompatible transplantation," said Neelam Mohan, one of the doctors at Medanta Mediclinic who operated on the baby.

"We used 20 percent of her 45-year-old grandmother Naseema's liver," she added.

Non-matching blood groups are called ABO incompatible. It is the best option for a patient who has no compatible donors in the family.

According to A.S. Soin who led the team of doctors, it was the first ABO-incompatible liver transplant in India and would have a far-reaching effect and would increase the transplant rate in the country by at least 50 percent.

"I was heartbroken when we were told to take the baby home because she had no chances of survival. But then, a doctor told me about this kind of operation and adviced me to visit Delhi," Zuana's father, Irshad Khan told IANS.

"By the grace of God, my daughter is perfectly fine now and her skin, which had been affected due to the disease is getting fairer everyday," added the 28-year-old.

According to Mohan, a routine liver transplant costs around Rs.16 lakh whereas the ABO-incompatible transplant costs around Rs.20 lakh.

Source: IANS