PGIMER performs India’s first lung transplant surgery

The complex operation took over 12 hours and was successfully completed by a team of 20 doctors

The Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, has performed its first lung transplant surgery successfully on a 35- year-old woman from Punjab. The complex operation took over 12 hours and was successfully completed by a team of 20 doctors and support staff, a spokesperson said.

The surgery was done under the supervision of cardiovascular and thoracic surgeons Rana Sandip Singh and Harkant Singh Baryah, and anesthetists G D Puri and Virendra K. Arya.

The lung transplant was done on a 35-year-old woman from Sangrur district. She received the organ from the donor family of Bhola Singh (22) from Moga district, who was declared brain dead last night, the spokesperson said, adding that the woman was suffering from interstitial lung disease.

“PGIMER has become the first institute in this region to conduct a lung transplant successfully,” Director, PGIMER, Jagat Ram, said.

“Though donor organ transplants are becoming frequent in India, lung transplants are still very uncommon. This is partly because the surgery is complex and technically demanding,” he said.

Ram said the recipients, too, have to be selected very carefully for these procedures.

“Today, PGIMER surpassed the 27 cadaver organ donations of last year and is also the first in public sector hospitals in lung transplant surgery in India,” he said.