Bhubaneswar: Heart transplantation facility will soon be available at the state-run SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, Health Minister Mukesh Mahaling said Wednesday.
For this, the Directorate of Medical Education and Training (DMET) signed an MoU with Chennai-based MGM Healthcare, he said.
The state government is committed to providing the best healthcare services to the people of Odisha, Mahaling said.
“Heart patients, those from the economically weaker section in particular, will immensely benefit from the facility that will be provided free of cost,” he said.
Heart transplantation will be conducted at the cardiothoracic and vascular surgery (CTVS) department, officials said.
The private hospital will provide training to the doctors, besides patient screening, and post-operative follow-ups, they said.
As the required infrastructure is available at the medical college, the service provider has agreed to conduct heart transplants free of cost for the first 10 cases, officials said.
Subsequently, further heart transplantations will be carried out by the trained team of doctors of the SCB hospital, they said.
Dr Suresh Rao of MGM Healthcare said they have one of the largest heart and lung transplantation facilities.
More than 650 heart transplant and 120 lung transplant surgeries have been conducted at MGM Healthcare, he said.
“We wondered why patients have to come to Chennai when Odisha has experienced doctors. So, MGM Healthcare has decided to help the SCB Medical College and Hospital to do heart transplants here,” he added.
PTI
