Patna: The Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) has taken a step further in starting liver transplant at the hospital.

A team of IGIMS doctors is undergoing a two-week training at the Delhi-based Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS). This would be the final training of the doctors.

Last year, a doctors' team from IGIMS (that includes gastrointestinal surgeons, liver transplant surgeons, hepatologist, immunologist, anaesthetist among others) had undergone training at ILBS.

IGIMS director N.R. Biswas on Sunday said 90 per cent work to start the procedure (referring to liver transplant) has been done and the hospital is now waiting for cadaver donors to start the transplant.

"We have collaborated with private laboratories which will conduct necessary tests that would be part of the liver transplant procedure. Around 90 per cent work for starting liver transplant at IGIMS has been done. We have decided to start the transplant through cadaveric donations as liver donors have huge risk to life. As soon as we get a cadaver donor, we will start the transplant. We have started listing patients, who are supposed to undergo liver transplants. The matching of the blood group of the donor and recipient is important in transplant. We are listing patients of all blood groups so that if we get a cadaver donor of any blood group, we can start the transplant without delay," said Biswas.

He said doctors of ILBS would assist the IGIMS team in the first few liver transplant surgeries. "The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi doctors had assisted IGIMS doctors in the first few kidney transplants. Similarly, the ILBS doctors would assist the IGIMS team in the first few liver transplant surgeries," he said.

In case of liver transplants at IGIMS, it would be the first hospital in the state among government and private to start the facility.