Medical science has been making advancements by leaps and bounds each day. Researchers, doctors and all the people associated with the medical world try to help people in distress in every possible way. But if the liver — one of the most vital organs in your body — gives you trouble, it is serious.
And so, Medica and the South Asian Liver Institute (SALi) jointly aim at bringing liver disease treatment and liver transplantation in the eastern region at par with the best in the world. They hope to bring high quality in ethics and training, besides quality of medical knowledge and technical skills, at a cost that makes such treatments an option.
Kolkata-headquartered Medica Hospitals has launched the Medica Centre for Liver Disease in association with the renowned South Asian Liver Institute (SALi), a Tom Cherian initiative.
Founder Prof. Dr Tom Cherian, was earlier the National Director of HPB Surgery and Liver Transplantation in one of India’s largest hospital chains. He currently continues to be the Professor of Transplant Surgery at the prestigious Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), in Hyderabad, having started the liver transplant programme there. He completed over 400 liver transplants in England before his return to India, where he has carried out another 250 transplants.
Most importantly, Prof. Cherian and his team have, over the past five years, achieved an over 90% survival rate for their transplant recipients. These outcomes are comparable to results from the best liver units in the world. Moreover, in the past 50 liver resections that Prof. Tom Cherian has done for liver cancers, their mortality, or death rate was among the lowest, despite the fact that they underwent some of the most complex liver cancer resections in the country.
Medica Centre for Liver Disease aims at meeting the growing requirements for treatment of liver conditions, including transplants, in eastern India. The Centre is equipped to handle most diseases of the liver, pancreas and gall bladder. Medica’s liver transplant programme will involve both living and cadaver donors. Medica is among the very few hospitals in the region with comprehensive facilities for treatment of complex liver diseases and transplant surgery.
This is a great addition to the existing liver disease management team at Medica, led by experienced gastroenterologist and hepatologist Dr Pradeepta Kumar Sethy, director of gastroenterology, Medica Superspecialty Hospital.
‘World-class treatment’
‘We want to try and make the treatment of liver disease world class. And what is world class? It simply means that there must be no difference in the treatment of a patient with liver disease between Kolkata and London. I promise to make every treatment that I used to perform in London for liver disease available here in Kolkata! We’ve already treated several patients from Kolkata, who are doing well and are back in the city now, but had to travel far previously for their treatment. I’m glad we’re able to bring this treatment to this great city, which deserves a superb liver service’
- (Dr) Tom Cherian, Founder, South Asian Liver Institute (SALi)
‘Milestone in eastern India’
‘The Centre for Liver Diseases is a huge step and, I believe, this is a milestone not only in Kolkata and Bengal, but also in Eastern India as a whole. We have a fantastic team of doctors, surgeons and infrastructure to deal with liver diseases and associated complications’
- Dr Alok Roy, Chairman, Medica Group of Hospitals
‘A very timely decision’
‘It is, indeed, a timely decision to come up with the Centre for Liver Diseases. No doubt that we can have a focused, holistic approach in dealing with patients suffering from such ailments and diseases’
- Dr Pradeepta Kumar Sethy, director of gastroenterology, Medica Superspecialty Hospital
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