It took just over two months to wrap up negotiations so that the 17-year-old youth from Lusignan could get a much-needed kidney transplant which is set for July at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Chief Executive Officer of GPHC, Michael Khan, yesterday said that he finalised the negotiations with Dr Rahul M. Jindal, who will be the lead doctor in the ground-breaking operation set for July 12.
It all began when Dr Jindal, a transplant surgeon at the Walter Reed Army Medical Centre in Washington, visited Guyana at the request of a Guyanese group which has been contributing to the health sector in Guyana for quite sometime.
They heard about the young Lusignan boy who was a patient at the GPHC and was later told that he needed the kidney transplant. His family then launched an appeal to raise funds to get this done in India and through this appeal the Guyanese group heard of him.
After making contact with the boy, the group along with the doctor spoke with Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy.
Khan said at this point he became personally involved as the minister informed him that the doctor was interested in a tour of the hospital.
The doctor found the hospital’s facilities to be suitable for such an operation and on his return to the US, he and Khan maintained regular contact via e-mail.
Khan said that at the hospital they are very excited and proud that such an operation could be done there following soon on the heels of the first open- heart surgery. It is expected that four kidney transplants would be done per year once all goes well, and all will be free of cost.
This would greatly assist local patients who have to find large sums of money to travel overseas to have the transplant done, often travelling as far as India.
Khan said at present they are checking to ensure that they have all the medications listed to be used after the surgery and if any is out of stock they would have it delivered on special order.
Last week Saturday the boy’s mother, who is his donor, had an examination done to ensure that she can donate the organ to her son.
“It is a tremendous boost for the health sector and it is all part of the thrust of the government to deliver good health care,” Khan said. Dr Jindal would be assisted by both local and overseas-based doctors during the operation.
A release from the Health Ministry on Tuesday said the procedure would likely reduce the trips abroad by local patients suffering from kidney failure.
