There is a high prevalence of COPD in Bengal. Yashoda Hospitals-Hyderabad and CMRI announced a collaboration to work together in providing Heart & Lung Transplantation Services, ECMO & Thoracic surgeries. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to this extent was signed between the two institutions.

The patients not only from West Bengal, Eastern India, and North-East India but also from neighboring cities like Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, etc. are likely to benefit from Transplants here.

Dr. Raja Dhar, Director & HOD, Department of Pulmonology, CK Birla Hospitals, CMRI, Kolkata, Dr.Simmardeep Singh Gill, CEO, CK Birla Hospitals, Dr.Apar Jindal, Director – Advanced Lung Failure, Transplant Pulmonologist, Co-Director Lung Failure Unit – Yashoda Hospitals, Hyderabad, Dr.PavanGorukanti, Director, Yashoda Hospitals and others graced the occasion.

Lung transplantation is a complicated surgical procedure that replaces a diseased or failing lung with a healthy lung, usually from a cadaveric / brain dead suitable donor (based on blood type, organ size, and tissue match) depending on the medical condition, such as COPD (Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease), Pulmonology Fibrosis (Lung Scarring), Cystic Fibrosis, and Pulmonology Arterial Hypertension, where you notice decreasing oxygen levels in the blood. It may be necessary to replace one or both lungs. After the surgery, the patient will spend a few days in the ICU, and after discharge from the hospital, the lung transplantation team will monitor the patient for three months. The CK Birla and Yashoda Hospitals will now collaborate on this program.

Yashoda Hospitals is now doing about 5 to 10 transplants per month with the best results. They also catered to the highest number of patients treated on ECMO care.

Dr.Shubham Sharma, Consultant Advanced Lung Failure & Transplant Pulmonologist of Yashoda Hospitals along with Dr. Shyam Krishnan, Interventional Pulmonologist of CMRI will drive this program at CMRI Kolkata.

The necessary pre-investigations, diagnostics, preparation, and selection of the right patient will be done with all the infrastructure available at CMRI, and currently, the transplant will be done at Yashoda Hospitals, Hyderabad in association with the CK Birla team registering the patient under Jeevandan Organ Donation program of Telangana. The transplants will be done at Kolkata Unit with continued collaboration.