First successful kidney transplant in Karnali

Kidney transplant was successfully undertaken for the first time at Province Hospital Surkhet in the Karnali province headquarters, Birendranagar.

Kidney transplant surgery was successfully performed on Moti Bahadur Thapa, 22, of Bardaghat Municiplaity-4, Nawalparasi. After completing the legal and logistic processes, a team led by Dr Pukar Chandra Shrestha of the Martyr Dharma Bhakta Mathema National Transplant Centre, Bhaktapur and Province Hospital Director Dr Dambar Khadka undertook the transplantation.

Thapa ‘s 43-year-old mother had donated him a kidney for the transplant.

This is so far the second free transplant surgery of kidney at government hospital outside the Kathmandu Valley and first-ever in Karnali, shared Hospital Director Dr Khadka. He further informed that the transplant was successfully done three months after the provincial hospital got permission for the same.

The hospital has a plan to continue with the transplant service in a smooth manner. Dr Khadka said hospital’s doctors, nurses and technicians would be sent to the Transplant Centre for high-level capacity building training for this.

Dr Shrestha shared that the Centre has so far undertaken kidney transplant on 1,011 people and liver transplant on nine patients.

“From now on, patients from Karnali do not need to go Kathmandu seeking kidney transplant services”, Dr Shrestha said, adding the patients do not require to pay a single penny for the service.

Kidney transplant was done free of cost, shared Moti Bahadur’s father Tul Bahadur Thapa with happiness. “I am satisfied with the kidney transplant service at the provincial hospital”, he added.