Child with rare liver cancer gets surgery at SVP Hospital under Ayushman Bharat Yojana

Jamnagar: Doctors from the Gastroenterology department at SVP Hospital in the city performed a very complicated surgery on a child suffering from a life-threatening rare liver cancer under the PMJY scheme.

A one-and-a-half-year-old child from Jamnagar was brought by his parents to Ahmedabad for treatment. The child was diagnosed with hepatoblastoma, a rare and serious liver cancer that affects only one child out of one million.

The child had already received seven doses of chemotherapy at another hospital. It was then determined that surgery was necessary, specifically a complicated procedure called Right Extended Hepatectomy. Although the patient’s relatives initially sought another hospital for this operation, they were unable to proceed there and contacted S.V.P. Hospital instead.

On July 3, 2024, a team of pediatric surgeons, anesthetists, and pediatricians, along with the gastro-surgery team, conducted the operation. During the complex, approximately six-hour procedure, 60% of the patient’s liver was removed. Post-surgery, the child was treated in the pediatric ICU. The child regained consciousness on the second day after the operation and was soon playing with the parents after all the complicated tubes were removed.

The treatment was completely free under the PMJY scheme. The operation, which would have cost approximately ₹3 lakh in a private hospital, was performed under the leadership of Gastroenterologist Dr. Premal Desai and Pediatric Surgeon Dr. Ramendra Shukla.

DeshGujarat