An open heart surgery and cochlear implant surgeries were successfully conducted for the first time at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) on Tuesday.
While the open heart surgery was completely done by an IGIMS team, Dr Rakesh Kumar, an ENT (ear, nose, throat) surgeon from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi (AIIMS), conducted the cochlear implant surgeries on two deaf and mute children - Khushbu Gupta, 5, from Khajekala and Preeti Kumari, 3, from Madhubani - which will help them hear and enable them to speak after speech therapy.
ENT surgeons from IGIMS including Rakesh Singh assisted Rakesh.
IGIMS officials said the first 10 cochlear implant surgeries would be done by AIIMS-Delhi doctors, assisted by IGIMS doctors.
The first open heart surgery at IGIMS was done on Ranju Devi, 30, from Patna.
She had a hole in the lower chambers of her heart since birth, which left her perennially fatigued and breathless. The Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery (CTVS) department doctors' team headed by Sheil Avnish performed the surgery.
Among state-run hospitals, only the Indira Gandhi Institute of Cardiology (IGIC) conducts open heart surgeries, but very few surgeries are conducted thanks to staff crunch and other issues. There is also a long waiting period.
Because of the absence of the facility at hospitals like AIIMS Patna and Patna Medical College and Hospital, poor patients either cannot get the surgery done or have to take loans to get them done at private hospitals.
At IGIMS, patients will have to pay Rs 60,000 for the surgery. The surgery costs around Rs 2 lakh at private hospitals, and is free at IGIC.
'We have a very experienced team at our CTVS department,' said a senior IGIMS administrative official. 'Dr Sheil Avnish has earlier worked at AIIMS Delhi and has done around 300 bypass surgeries.'
Cochlear implant surgeries will be free at IGIMS.
'The state government is providing Rs 6.5 lakh for each cochlear implant surgery,' said a doctor.
Apart from IGIMS, only AIIMS Patna conducts cochlear implant surgeries. At AIIMS also, it is free as the hospital is empanelled with the Union ministry of social justice and empowerment's Assistance to Disabled Persons scheme.
IGIMS is planning to conduct its maiden bone-marrow transplant, which would be a first for any Bihar government hospital. 'We have doctor Avinash Pandey, an expert in medical oncology, who was earlier associated with Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai and has performed many bone marrow transplants,' the IGIMS official added.
