Liver Transplantation Service
A team of liver transplant surgeons from the organ transplant centre at Samsung Medical Center jointly performed the nation’s first liver transplant operation with Nepali doctors at the Human Organ Transplant Centre in Bhaktapu, Nepal, on Dec. 17 last year.
A 41-year-old man who suffered from liver failure successfully underwent a liver transplant – the first ever such procedure in Nepal. During the transplantation, doctors cut off part of his sister’s liver and put it in his body. The Korean experts were led by Professor Dr. Joh Jae-won, Professor Dr. Kwon Choon-hyuck and Professor Dr. Choi Kyu-sung from the organ transplant centre at Samsung Medical Center.
The Human Organ Transplant Centre, which is located 13 kilometers east of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, is the third government health facility. It was established in 2011 as the nation’s first transplant facility for liver transplantation services.
Currently, around 1,000 people are diagnosed with liver diseases every year in Nepal and 200 of them are suffering from liver failure. Due to poor medical facilities and medical care, it has been impossible for patients to undergo a liver transplant in Nepal. This is why they have had to pay a large sum of money to have a transplant in other neighboring countries, including India.
Since there were problems with conditions and surgical equipment at the Human Organ Transplant Centre and skills of Nepali doctors, it took longer to perform the operation than the average surgical time of liver transplantation. However, the procedure was successful.
Professor Pukar Chandra Shrestha, director of the liver plantation center at the Human Organ Transplant Centre in Nepal, said, “The first successful liver transplant at the Human Organ Transplant Centre in Nepal is a great achievement. Now, Nepali patients can undergo a liver transplant at home and the fact itself is a new hope for Nepali patients.”