OGH performs India’s first govt hospital liver transplant under Jeevandan super urgent category

Hyderabad: Osmania General Hospital (OGH) has performed India’s first emergency liver transplant on a poor patient under the ‘Super Urgent Category’ of the Jeevandan cadaver organ donation programme, marking a major milestone for public healthcare.

The patient, 17-year-old Blessy Goud from Film Nagar, was diagnosed with acute fulminant liver failure and admitted to OGH’s Surgical Gastroenterology ICU on May 12 in critical condition. She presented with deep jaundice, severe coagulopathy (INR 11), metabolic acidosis, and Grade 4 hepatic encephalopathy, and required immediate ventilator support.

“She met the King’s College criteria for emergency liver transplantation,” said Dr Ch. Madhusudhan, head of the department. The family had initially approached a private hospital but returned to Osmania due to financial constraints.

With no eligible living donor in the family, doctors applied for cadaver liver allocation through Jeevandan’s super urgent pathway. Approval was granted, and a liver became available from a private hospital within 24 hours.

The transplant surgery began on May 14 and lasted nearly 20 hours. The patient recovered and was discharged two weeks later. She has resumed studies and is preparing for her BTech first-year exams.

“This is the first such transplant done in a government hospital under the super urgent category,” Dr Madhusudhan confirmed.

The hospital credited its success to coordinated support from the Telangana Government, Health Department, Jeevandan officials, and multiple departments at OGH and Osmania Medical College.