NE HEALTH BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, AUG 14
With the help of advancement in medical science, women suffering from absolute uterine factor infertility (AUFI) condition can go for uterus transplantation and enjoy the joy of motherhood, said Dr Vineet Mishra, Director, the Institute of Kidney Diseases & Research Centre (IKDRC-ITS) here on Saturday.
Speaking at a World Organ Donation awareness campaign in Ahmedabad, Dr Vineet Mishra announced the opening of new frontiers in female reproductive medicine in the country, and the IKDRC has become the first public sector healthcare facility in India to offer uterus transplant bringing relief to hundreds of women unable to conceive due to AUFI.
Incidentally, the first woman from the country to undergo uterus transplantation and deliver a child was a Gujarati. On May 19, 2017, Dr Shailesh Puntambekar, founder of Galaxy Care Hospital, fulfilled the dreams of 28-year-old Meenakshi Valand, from Gujarat. Valand suffered from a rare condition where she could not conceive naturally and hence, chose to get a uterus transplant done in Pune.
- First public sector healthcare facility in the country to start Uterus Transplant Centre (UTC)
- The state authorisation committee, the apex body to regulate organ transplantation in the state, gave its permission to IKDRC earlier this month to open Uterus Transplantation Centre as per provisions of The Transplantation of Human Organ Act, 1994.
Speaking with navjeevanexpress.com, Dr Mishra said, “Dr Shailesh Puntambekar will render his expert guidance in initiating the uterus transplantation procedures at IKDRC. We have imparted adequate training to our staffers for this procedure and most of them have rich experience in organ transplants. This UT will commence in a month or two at our facility with very nominal cost and Gujarati women need not go for this special treatment out of the state.”
Throwing light on this efficacy, Dr Mishra said after the uterus transplantation, the recipient has to wait for three to six months for recuperation and start the process for conceiving. For women whose uterus is not healthy, or who do not have one, this is the newest form of infertility treatment.
Who can be the donors?
Usually, women biologically related to the recipient are potential donors and should ideally be a cadaver. The donor may be either living or deceased, and is chosen from among women in the age of 30-60 years, her uterus should have produced children, and the risk of organ rejection is higher when it is from a dead person. The transplanted uterus is generally intended to be removed after the woman has undergone one or two childbirths.
Allays fears of surgery
Minimally invasive surgery (robotic surgery) has become the standard procedure and in the future, it is likely that the recipient of the uterine transplant has to undergo only one surgery as vessels can also be sutured laparoscopically, he added.
“Uterus transplant at IKDRC has come as a boon for females with AUFI condition who are not only socially stigmatised but also undergo deep emotional stress for not able to produce a child,” said Dr Vineet Mishra, Director IKDRC-ITS.
“We have drawn up plans to commence cadaver uterus transplant in near future depending upon results of live related transplants,” added Dr Mishra. The institute has also made arrangements to offer pre and post uterus transplant care at negligible or no cost under various state government schemes for various groups, he said.
The state authorisation committee, the apex body to regulate organ transplantation in the state, gave its permission to IKDRC earlier this month to open Uterus Transplantation Centre as per provisions of The Transplantation of Human Organ Act, 1994.
Like any other organ transplantation, State Organ and Tissue Transplantation Organisation (SOTTO) would process registration requests through a computer controlled centralised system for uterus transplant.
As per an estimate around 15 percent of India’s female population has infertility related issues and 1 in 10,000 females have absent uterus. Absolute Uterine Factor Infertility (AUFI) condition refers to infertility that is completely attributable to uterine absence (congenital or surgical) or an abnormality (anatomic or functional) that prevents embryo implantation or completion of pregnancy to term.
Dr RK Patel, Honorary Director, UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology & Research Centre and Dr Jayesh P Sachdev, Director, Civil Hospital Medicity weere also present at the event.
