Kidney transplant patient, Munesh Mangal is showing signs of improvement and doctors continue to pay close attention to how his body adapts to the new kidney he received from his mother in a historic surgery on Saturday.
With the risk of him contracting infections still great, barriers have been put up in a section of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the George-town Public Hospital where the young man and his mother Leelkumarie Mangal, are patients.
Shortly after visiting the patients at the hospital yesterday Health Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy told Stabroek News that both mother and son are recovering well. He said they are doing better than expected, adding that Mangal’s new kidney is functioning but will take a few more days before it becomes fully functional.
He noted that the team of international doctors who operated on Mangal and his mother will continue to monitor them for another two days as will the local specialists before the overseas-based doctors leave the country.
“At this point we are still very much concerned about infections and how he responds to the kidney because there are still challenges ahead such as rejection of the kidney. But we are happy with how they are coming around”, Ramsammy stated.
Mangal has since passed urine which he could not do for sometime after being diagnosed with renal failure and he has also been more alert. His mother’s recovery has been going great, according to the minister and she is likely to be in the general ward by tomorrow while he will be in ICU for the next few days.
Mangal, 18, became the first Guyanese to have kidney transplant surgery in the country. His health had rapidly deteriorated after he was diagnosed and for over a year the young Lusignan, East Coast Demerara resident was on dialysis.
Dr. Rahul Jindal, lead attending surgeon, told the media on Saturday at a press briefing that the surgery went as expected. Mangal and his mother went in for surgery at 7.30 am and were out a little after 2 pm.
“The expertise and support was tremendous and the patient and his mother were trusting so everything just fell into place,” Dr Jindal told reporters.
He said too that post-op care was critical noting that the public hospital had all the facilities and expertise in place to provide the necessary care. Dr Jindal added that the patients would be well cared for while in hospital and after their release, since the hospital and the Ministry of Health had committed to this.
Kidney transplant surgery is expected to join the menu of medical services provided in the local health sector, according to Ramsammy who noted that it initially will require the necessary funding, human resources and collaboration.
Several kidney transplants are expected to be completed at the hospital in the coming months. Two patients suffering from renal failure who were seen by Dr Jindal and his team of US doctors on Friday were identified as possible candidates since according to the doctors, “they are in pretty bad shape”.
George Subraj, an overseas-based Guyanese who was instrumental in assisting Mangal with the surgery, has given a personal commitment to fund the medical team for at least another five kidney transplants.
