News Desk : dhakamirror.com
Bogura resident 53-year-old Monetzar Rahman received a liver transplant from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) physicians.
At a press conference yesterday, BSMMU officials stated Montezar’s sister Shamima Akter, 43, gave 60% of her liver to save her brother. The Prime Minister’s Relief and Welfare Fund paid for surgery.
BSMMU surgeons performed the 15-hour-long complex surgery on January 1. This is one of the only seven liver transplant surgeries performed in this country so far.
The surgery went well and both the patient and the donor were doing fine, according to the doctors. They will be released from the hospital shortly and will remain under observation for one year, they added.
The patient and the donor both joined the press conference at the BSMMU virtually and thanked Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the physicians and staffers of BSMMU.
Montezar Rahman was admitted to the BSMMU with liver illness a few months ago.
After his diagnosis, doctors decided that a liver transplant was the only way to cure him. Later, they found his sister to be the ideal donor for him.
Speaking at the press conference, BSMMU VC Prof Sharfuddin Ahmed, said, “There have been seven liver transplant surgeries in the country. Of those, we (BSMMU) have done two.”
He said many patients go abroad for liver transplant surgeries, which cost about Tk 40-50 lakh. “But we hope we will continue to perform such surgeries here at half the cost,” the VC added.
Prof Mohsen Chowdhury, chairman of the hepatobiliary, pancreatic and liver transplant department, said liver transplant surgery is quite challenging and done in three steps.
“The surgery started at 7:00am and ended at 10:00pm,” he said.
