Liver swap: Wives of Mumbai doctor and Kolhapur farmer turn donors

MUMBAI: In a rare liver swap transplant, the wives of a city doctor and a Kolhapur farmer turned into liver donors to save the lives of each other’s husbands.
They couldn’t donate to their respective husbands because of mismatched blood groups, prompting their doctors to suggest the city’s second liver transplant — almost three years after the first one. So, 23-year-old Kolhapur resident Rupa Bhendigiri who had watched her husband Santosh vomit blood innumberable times over the past four years, donated a portion of her liver to a city doctor (who did not want to be identified).In return, the doctor’s wife donated a portion of her liver to Santosh.
“All four are doing well at the moment,” said liver transplant surgeon Dr A S Soin who led the 14-hour swap that was carried out across four operation theratres at Sir H N Reliance Foundation Hospital, Girgaum, on August 9.
Swaps are commonly used for kidney transplants, but rarely for liver transplants as the operations are far more intricate and take at least 10 hours each. “Moreover, the transplants must be done with zero error, and care should be taken to match the liver sizes of the patients and donors,” added Dr Soin, who has conducted over 43 swap liver transplants across the country.
Dr Chetan Bhatt, who took care of the patients, said at least 25,000 liver failure patients need transplants in India, but barely 1,800 transplants are carried out because of lack of donor organs. “Swap transplants is a way to increase the donor pool,” added Dr Bhatt.
Santosh’s liver failure was detected four years back in a small town near Kolhapur. “Two years back, a doctor in Kolhapur told us to go to Mumbai as he needed a transplant,” said his brother Sanjay, who works as a conductor with BEST. Santosh and Rupa have been staying in Mumbai for the last 18 months in the hope of getting a deceased liver donor but in vain.
“That is when a relative of a patient we met in a private hospital told us to go to Reliance Hospital which was looking for a swap transplant partner for one of their patients,” said Sanjay.
The family sold one of its homes in Kolhapur for Rs 25 lakh to fund the transplant. “In fact, a wall in our family home in Kolhapur collapsed due to the heavy floods just when the transplant was underway,” he added.
Rupa said she is happy she could save her husband’s life. “His life is more important to us than a home or money,” said Sanjay.