Ruban Memorial Hospital in Patliputra has become the first private hospital in the state to perform kidney transplant.

The private hospital achieved this feat on Sunday when two patients whose kidneys had failed and were dependent on dialysis for over a year received kidneys through transplant, said the hospital's senior-most urologist-cum-managing director Satyajit Kumar Singh. The hospital is not making the identity of the two patients public.

The team that took part in the maiden transplants includes urologist-cum-transplant surgeon Praveen Kumar Sinha, earlier associated with Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Centre, Ahmedabad (where he has performed over 50 kidney transplants), general surgeon-cum-transplant expert Avinash Kumar (earlier associated with All India Institute of Medical Sciences-New Delhi), nephrologist Pankaj Hans, laparo-scopic surgeon Rahul, urologist Mukesh Soni and anaesthetist Vijay Kumar Singh among others.

'In one surgery, a 42-year-old patient received a kidney from his mother while in the other a 58-year-old patient received a kidney from his wife,' said hospital managing director Singh. 'Both patients are doing well. While kidney recipients will remain at the hospital for the next 15 days, the donors are likely to stay for another seven days.'

Before Ruban, the city's Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) was the only hospital in the state wherein kidney transplant was possible. IGIMS conducted the first kidney transplant in March.

Kidney transplant costs Rs 3-4 lakh at IGIMS and Rs 4.5 lakh at Ruban. But under the Mukhyamantri Chikitsa Sahayta Kosh, below poverty line (BPL) patients can undergo the surgery at either hospital at a lesser cost. The state government is supposed to reimburse up to Rs 2.5 lakh to the hospitals as procedure cost for patients whose annual income is less than Rs 1 lakh.

Managing director Singh said the Rs 4.5 lakh kidney transplant package also includes consultation and investigation charges for three months after surgery. 'Under the package, post-transplant drugs, such as those that check infections, would be provided for three months but other medicines would have to be bought by the patients themselves,' said Singh.

City doctors hailed Ruban's move. 'Public and private hospitals have to be developed together in the state,' said Sunil Kumar Singh, a member of the Indian Medical Association's state chapter.

'Government hospitals alone cannot bear the patient load. Starting of such super speciality treatments would also reduce the waiting period of patients who undergo such surgeries.'