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Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) on Monday conducted the first kidney transplant in the state.

Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) is the first government hospital where a kidney transplant unit was established on March 31, 1987, but the facility has remained a non-starter.

On Monday, a team of four IGIMS doctors assisted by three others from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, including the chief of its surgery department, V. Seenu, conducted the seven-hour transplant on a Patna woman in her fifties.

The woman's brother donated her kidney. Sources said the government would reimburse the procedure cost of the first patient from the Mukhyamantri Chikitsa Sahayta Kosh.

The IGIMS authorities have kept the identity of the patient under wraps.

As per IGIMS authorities, the selection process of patients for kidney transplant is on a first come, first served basis. IGIMS selected the woman for the procedure because other patients who were prepared by the hospital for transplant were suffering from certain medical conditions due to which their transplants could not be done. While one patient has been put on ventilator at a private hospital, another patient's donor has developed complications.

No doctor or IGIMS official wanted to talk in detail because of strict guidelines from AIIMS Delhi.

Sources said the woman who underwent the procedure was undergoing dialysis at a private hospital in the city for the past year. The woman had approached Christian Medical College and Hospital, Vellore, which suggested her to undergo kidney transplant.

She contacted IGIMS in February after which her medical screening was done at the hospital. IGIMS has got the histocompatability test of the patient (which determines whether the patient's body would accept or reject the new kidney) of the patient from a Delhi laboratory.

"The woman would have to stay here at IGIMS for at least 15 days," said a hospital source. "Even after her release, she is required to visit the hospital for follow-up once every week for the next three months and depending upon her condition she would be asked to visit the hospital further once in a month or week. The patient would have to take immunosuppressant drugs for the rest of her life. These are given to patients after transplant so that the body does not reject the new organ. Initially, the patient would have to take medicines worth around Rs 18,000 a month. Later she would have to take medicines worth around Rs 12,000 per month. If a patient stops taking the pills even for a day after transplant, chances of failure of the transplant procedure would increase."

Sunil Kumar Singh, member of body of governors, IGIMS, said the kidney transplant was a major milestone for the hospital. "People have to go to places like AIIMS Delhi to get this surgery done," he added. "Residents pay something between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 7 lakh for the treatment and accommodation. With the facility becoming available at a government hospital, it will give huge relief to patients willing to undergo the transplant here."