Bhubaneswar/Cuttack: The Odisha government on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Chennai-based MGM Healthcare for heart transplantation at SCB Medical College and Hospital (MCH) in Cuttack.
The MoU was inked between the Directorate of Medical Education & Training (DMET), Odisha, and MGM Healthcare Pvt Ltd in the presence of Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Mukesh Mahaling in Odisha capital.
The initiative will make heart transplant affordable and patients will no longer have to travel outside the state for treatment, the minister said, adding that patients can avail the service free of cost.
Sources said that MGM Healthcare had provided hands-on training to two teams from medical colleges of Odisha free of cost. It it expressed intent to conduct heart transplant free of cost for the initial 10 cases since infrastructure was available at the SCB Hospital. “We have four patients who got heart transplant at MGM and they are doing well. We thought why patients have to come to Chennai when there are doctors in Odisha who can do the transplant. We will come here and help the doctors and train them; and it will benefit the people of the state,” said official of MGM Healthcare Dr Suresh Rao.
Besides hands-on training, it would help in functionalisation, patient screening, and post operative follow ups. Subsequently, further transplantations will be carried on by the team of doctors here.