Over 50 million Indians affected by liver diseases

Over 50 million Indians are affected by liver diseases and it appears to be on the rise, a senior doctor of the private Apollo hospitals said on Thursday. The Apollo Liver Clinic has been launched as a part of steps to increase awareness about liver diseases, among others, Dr Mahesh Gopasetty, Paediatric liver transplant surgeon, Centre for Liver Disease and Transplantation, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, told reporters in Kozhikode. It is a novel concept that offers multi-disciplinary evaluation under one roof by several sub-specialists in liver medicine, he said according to pti. 'We aim to become a one stop solution for patients with liver diseases and hepato-biliary pancreatic disorders so that all their requirements related to medical care are available under one roof and from one place thus saving patients time, cost and reducing duplication of tests and clinic encounters,' he said. About the current shortage of cadaveric donors, he said that the living donor liver transplant is a safe procedure with high success rates for both the donor and the recipient. He claimed that Apollo Hospitals had to its credit the first successul liver transplantation in India. 'With the largest presence in India and over 100 liver transplants since its inception in 2008 at Chennai with 90 per cent success rate, we are at the forefront of the expanding horizons of organ transplantation in India,' he added.