BGS Global Hospitals has set up a Centre of Excellence for Liver & Pancreatic Disorders with a Multi Organ Transplant cell and Liver ICU. The advanced facility will now be a major centre to treat liver and pancreatic cancers, a challenge for surgical oncologists. This makes BGS the sixth centre to have a dedicated Centre of Excellence for Liver & Pancreatic Disorders in India after AIIMS, Gangaram Hospital in New Delhi, Global Hospitals in Hyderabad and Chennai and Amritha Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi.
Expertise along with economies-of-scale are set to improve the outcomes for patients who could be diagnosed early and with immediate intervention, Dr K Ravindranath, chairman and managing director, Global Group told Pharmabiz.
The Bangalore arm of Global Hospitals, BGS Global is now equipped with largest liver transplantation division in the country in the private sector. This is supported with a team of transplant surgeons led by Dr Mohamed Rela. In fact Global Hospital in Hyderabad and Chennai which already have the facility and have been successful with surgeries for liver and pancreatic cancers, he added.
On the World Cancer Day observed annually on February 4, the World Health Organization (WHO) has selected the theme "Cancer can be prevented too" for this year. This is where liver function test and controlling chronic pancreatitis could help control the onset of liver and pancreatic cancers.
Currently, Liver and Pancreatic cancer is the fifth highest cancer after cervical, breast, oral and brain cancer. It is difficult to treat liver and pancreatic cancer because of being unresponsive to chemotherapy and patients land up in an advanced stage of the disease. Pancreas, liver and gall bladder surgeries are complicated because of the important structures blood vessels around these organs which provide a major challenge to the surgeons. "This is where Dr Rela made a mark at our facilities in Hyderabad and Chennai handling cases which were refused at other centres in the country thus increasing life span and work productivity of patients," said Dr Ravindranath.
Globally too, efforts are on to improve the management and treatment of liver and pancreatic cancer. But a major issue is cost of treatment. There are many international patients travelling to India to undergo treatment at centres here. BGS Global has a business development team working to inform medical experts abroad about the available expertise, quality facilities and cost advantage, he said.
Liver transplantation is the only means of saving a person with end-stage liver disease. Nearly 2, 00,000 patients in India need liver transplantation. Global Hospital in Hyderabad and Chennai have successfully carried out nearly 100 liver transplants.
According to Dr N K Venkataramana, vice-chairman, BGS Global Hospitals, this is the only facility in Karnataka to have a Liver Intensive Care Unit and one of the largest in the country equipped with cell savers and ventilators. Pending the availability of a donor liver, a patient stricken with end-stage liver disease has to be cared for in the Liver ICU, he added.
BGS Global Hospitals is a 500-bed multi-speciality tertiary care centre focused on the centres of excellence in gastroenterology, neurosciences, orthopaedics and trauma cancer, kidney, and heart & lung disorders. It has 14 major speciality operating rooms and 120 intensive care beds.