Over 200 underprivileged children have got a new lease of life through affordable liver transplants at a private hospital in the city.
Through its affordable paediatric transplantation initiative — an effort that combines corporate social responsibility (CSR), government health schemes, and crowdfunding to make life-saving care accessible to underprivileged children — Aster CMI Hospital in Bengaluru and Kochi has successfully facilitated 200 transplants since 2016.
With this, the hospital has emerged as one of the largest facility in the country that supports paediatric liver transplants at affordable costs.
Sonal Asthana, lead consultant – Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary (HPB) and Liver Transplant Surgery at the hospital, said liver transplants are expensive and usually cost around ₹20 lakh to ₹25 lakh.
“However, we have created a mechanism that combines philanthropy, CSR, and government support to reduce the financial burden by nearly 80%. Families now only bear around ₹4 lakh to ₹5 lakh per transplant. This initiative is now the largest-of-its-kind in the country,” said Dr. Asthana.
The affordable liver transplant programme is driven by a specialised transplant team led by Dr. Asthana. The team includes Mallikarjun Sakpal, consultant – HPB and Transplant physician; Vachan S. Hukkeri, consultant – Liver Transplant and HPB Surgery, and Ashritha A., consultant – Pediatric Hepatology and Liver Transplant.
The hospital’s work has also drawn national attention, being featured as a case study by IIM Ahmedabad, and recognised by Harvard Business Publishing, for redefining how philanthropy can fund high-end medical care in a scalable, accountable way.
Hospital chief operating officer S.G.S. Lakshmanan said the hospital’s CSR model is structured to create lasting impact and scale nationally.
source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)