Sep 13,2019

AFFORDABLE LIVER TRANSPLANT CONCLAVE 2019

Mumbai, 2nd August 2019

The recently held Affordable Liver Transplant Conclave in 2019 brought together India’s finest Liver Transplant Specialists, Healthcare Professionals and Crowd Funding Partners. This event was organized by The Pravin Agarwal Foundation (TPAF) who are the pioneers in conducting successful pediatric liver transplant in the country. The main aim of this assembly was to address all the challenges that are encountered during liver transplant surgery.

The whole event was divided into 3 panels where each panel discussed different issues.

Panel 1 (1:30 PM to 3:00 PM)

The Panel began with the welcome note of Mr Pravin Agarwal, Founder of TPAF. “When we all met last year, TPAF had supported nearly 50 transplants. I am happy to share that, as on today, The Pravin Agarwal Foundation has enabled more than 100 liver transplants”, Mr Pravin Agarwal said.

In Panel 1, there were a lot of ideas exchanged for increasing the success rate of pediatric liver transplants and to improve the infrastructure for surgery. Special emphasis was also given to the improvement of post-surgery care which is equally important as the surgery itself. Dr. Anil Dhawan, King’s College Hospital, London through video conference said, ” After the liver transplant surgery, attention to every single detail should be given, for example looking at every blood tests very carefully.”

Panel 2 (3:00 PM to 4:00 PM)

Panel 2 probably featured the most important points that were discussed during the whole conclave. In this session, the discussion was about the prevention of liver transplant surgery through early detection of liver disorders like Biliary Atresia, which is the most common reason for the surgery.

Dr. Priya Ramachandran, Consultant – Pediatric Surgery, Rela’s Institute and Medical Centre, mentioned how a child’s mother plays a crucial role in detecting liver disorders.  “BiIiary Atresia is an absolutely curable liver disease,” she said. She also explained why the mother is pivotal for diagnosing liver diseases in the infants and the need for making them aware of stool charts. It is important to note that 80-90% of Biliary Atresia cases can be cured if they are diagnosed under 90 days.  These stool charts if made available to every mother in the country can tremendously shorten the diagnosis time of Biliary Atresia.

Ideas were also exchanged on how to boost the efficiency of physicians in health care centres to detect the need for pediatric liver transplants.

Panel 3 (4:00 PM to 5:00 PM)

In Panel 3, the conversation was about the importance of fostering a good relationship between the families of donors and recipients. The need for a peer support group was also effectively addressed.

Following were the proposed solutions which were put forth for tackling the problem of providing long term support to children who have undergone pediatric liver transplant surgery.

• Implementing a system for complete communication and commitment between patients, caregivers and the transplant team.
• Providing liberty to the patients to follow up with doctors at liver transplant centres across the country, irrespective of where they underwent the surgery. This would tremendously increase the accessibility to post-operative care after the surgery.
• Focusing on enhancing the physical health, social and emotional well being of the patients.

The Outcome of The Event 

The Affordable Liver Transplant Conclave 2019 brought the biggest minds of the country under one roof. From child patients to stakeholders to doctors involved in liver transplants, everyone benefited hugely from the discussions. Following were the significant outcomes of the event:

• Families of child patients learned simple techniques on how liver disease in children can be detected at the earliest.
• Doctors themselves got clarity on improving the success rate of pediatric liver transplant surgery.
• Physicians got to know about techniques that can quickly detect the need for a liver transplant.
• The technology-based joint solution was also suggested for providing the best post-operative care for both recipients and donors.
• Crowdfunding partners learned ways of addressing the gaps in funds for liver transplant surgeries.

Summary 

It is vital to note that only 1 out of 20 child liver patients in India get a liver transplant. There are various aspects that lead to this unfortunate scenario. An event like Affordable Liver Transplant Conclave 2019 can address all the gaps that are created while having a successful liver transplant surgery. Conclaves of these sorts hold potential to build an efficient and affordable ecosystem of liver transplant treatment in India.