Surkhet, Feb 5: A successful kidney transplant has been carried out for the first time at Surkhet Provincial Hospital in Birendranagar, the capital of Karnali Province. A 22-year-old Moti Bahadur Thapa of Bardghat Municipality-4 Nawalparasi underwent a kidney transplant on Saturday. After the completion of the legal and administrative process, a joint team led by Dr. Pukarchandra Shrestha, director of Shaheed Dharmabhakta Mathema National Transplantation Center Bhaktapur and hospital director Dr. Dambar Khadka completed the transplant work.
His 43-year-old mother donated a kidney to Thapa. Dr. Khadka, director of Provincial Hospital Surkhet, informed that kidney transplantation was done for the second time in a government hospital outside Kathmandu valley and for the first time in Karnali Province. According to him, a successful kidney transplant took place three months after getting permission.
Dr. Shrestha, Director of National Transplantation Center Bhaktapur, and Dr. Khadka, Director of Karnali Province Hospital, Surkhet, signed an agreement on 10th Chait 2078 BS for kidney transplant at the provincial hospital. Dr. Rabikiran Gautam, Dr. Hari Baral, Anesthesiologist Dr. Sovit Thapa, Rashmeet Shrestha, Nephrologist Dr. Sumit Acharya, Dr. Deepa Lamichhane and Radiologist Dr. Sameer Dawadi were involved from the center.
Similarly, a team of employees including Dr. Poojan Ball, Dr. Jani Bajracharya, Physician Dr. Kulraj Shahi, OT in-charge Prabha Rawal and OT and nurse laboratory in-charge Bharat Devkota from Surkhet Hospital were involved in the kidney transplant procedure.
The next plan of the provincial hospital is to conduct transplant services regularly. For this purpose, Director Dr. Dambar Khadka said that the doctors, nurses and technicians working in the hospital will be sent to the center for high-level training to increase their capacity.
Executive Director of Bhaktapur Hospital Dr Pukarchandra Shrestha informed that 1,011 people’s kidneys and nine people’s livers have been transplanted in the transplant center so far. “Now the patients of Karnali will not have to go to Kathmandu and the patients will not have to spend even one rupee”, he said, “It’s service will be continuous and will not be stopped under any circumstances.”
Tul Bahadur Thapa, Moti Bahadur’s father, said that the kidney transplant was free and no fee had to be paid. “I went to Shaheed Dharmabhakta National Transplantation Center”, he said, “I dared to come here alone after being told that the treatment would be done in Surkhet as well.”
Thapa said that his son’s health condition is satisfactory now.
