Balwant Singh Hospital completes 17 kidney transplants

With three patients slated to be operated on, Philanthropist George Subraj and a team of volunteer medical experts headed by Dr Rahul Jindal arrived last Friday to continue a kidney transplant mission which commenced almost a decade ago.
Although the crucial mission started at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, it has for the past few years been undertaken at the privately operated Dr Balwant Singh Hospital situated at East Street, Georgetown, a short distance from the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Last evening Subraj said that while there were some initial hiccups with one of the planned operations, it is expected that all cases will be completed before the team leaves on Wednesday. The intended donor seemed unwilling to go through with the procedure.
The other two cases were however completed successfully, Subraj said.
And according to him there has even been recent collaboration with Georgetown Public Hospital. This move, he said, saw a patient who underwent a transplant at the private hospital being able to secure follow-up treatment at the GPHC.
This was due to the fact that the patient, a Guyanese by birth who resides in Antigua, was unable to finance the cost for the operation at the private hospital.
Subraj explained that a kidney transplant operation overseas can cost as much as US$200,000 but at the Dr Balwant Singh Hospital it is done at a nominal cost of US$20,000.  This cost, he said, is mainly to cover the use of the private hospital since the expert doctors undertaking the procedures render their service free of cost.
The medical team’s travel and accommodation are mainly financed by Subraj who heads the Zara Reality in Queens’ New York, United States.
He disclosed that many times patients in need of transplant operations are not even able to pay the cost of the procedure as was the case with the Antiguan-based patient. However, patients are usually able to access US$5,000 support from the Ministry of Health to aid the cost of the operation.
Since commencing the kidney transplant mission, the Subraj-sponsored team has been able to conduct 17 successful procedures. And according to Subraj, yesterday, the operations have been chronicled in a video which he has brought with him this trip.
Copies of the video have been shared with a number of media houses and Government agencies with a view to highlighting the operations that have been completed.
Added to this Subraj said that sustained efforts are being made to raise awareness among the populace about the importance of diet, exercise and sanitation a strategic programme which was introduced at Cornelia Ida, West Coast Demerara, last year.