Covid scare affects liver transplants in Telangana

13 patients who needed liver transplant delayed the go in for the procedure due to the fear of contracting the virus, and have died because of the delay, said transplant team of Gleneagles Global Hospital

Hyderabad: Fear of contracting Covid-19 is making patients with end-stage liver disease, who need a liver transplant to survive, postpone their procedures. As a result, the mortality among such patients appears to be very high, the transplant team of Gleneagles Global Hospital, Lakdikapul, said.

During Covid-19 lockdown and in subsequent months, a total of 48 patients at Global Hospitals were in need to undergo liver transplant at the earliest. Of them, 23 patients were under regular medical supervision and did not test Covid positive and underwent successful liver transplantation, while seven patients with Covid-19 infection also successfully underwent a liver transplant and survived.

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However, 13 patients who needed liver transplant delayed the go in for the procedure due to the fear of contracting the virus or for associated reasons, and have died because of the delay. The remaining five patients, though prepared for liver transplant surgery, got infected with Covid-19 and died in the pre-transplant phase, hospital doctors said.

“The main reason for these unwanted deaths is a delay in transplant surgery rather than Covid-19 infection itself. These patients and their family members delayed the procedure due to the fear of contracting coronavirus or other related reasons, and this delay proved costly for the patients,” says Clinical Head and Senior Liver Transplant Surgeon, Dr Raghavendra Babu.

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