New Delhi, Feb 02: Forty-Four-year-old Nigerian
Mariam Shehu was asked to wait for her death in her country,
before she got a new lease of life here through a liver
transplant surgery.
She is just one of 34 patients who have got highly
specialised liver transplant surgery done in a hospital here
in the past one year - 14 of them being from other countries
such as Pakistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nigeria and West
Indies.
Mariam was diagnosed with end stage liver failure caused
due to Hepatitis C in her country in February 2005.
"The doctors told me nothing can be done here...Go back
to your home. That meant waiting for death," Mariam told
reporters here. However, her brother, who is in the US surfed
the net for her and discovered India could be her saviour.
She got a live donor and liver transplant done here at
the Gangaram Hospital on August 4, 2005. Her son, 26-year-old
Toyin, donated liver.
Both Mariam and her son are now doing well, Dr S Nundy,
Chairman of Surgical Gastroenterology at the hospital, said.
"Out of the 34 patients who underwent liver transplant
done in the past one year, 20 are from India, Eight from
Pakistan, three from Myanmar and one each from Bangladesh,
Nigeria and Aruba (West Indies).
Liver transplant is needed for patients who are suffering
from end stage liver failure. "Success rate in this hospital
is 89 per cent which matches the best internationally," he
said.
Bureau Report