The Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, is set to become the first public sector medical institute for lung transplantation in the country soon. “It is the need of the hour. And being one of the leading medical institutes of India, PGIMER is ready for the same,” said Dr. Yogesh Chawla, Director, PGIMER in July this year. A team of experts from the institute is undergoing training in the United Kingdom. Lung transplantation is a surgical procedure in which a patient’s diseased lungs are partially or totally replaced by lungs which come from a donor. Donor lungs can be retrieved from a living donor or a deceased donor. Living donors can donate part of one of their lungs called a lobe.

“There is an acute lack of deceased donors in the country that make transplants a difficult proposition. Besides, the costs are high but will come down drastically once the procedure becomes common,” said Dr. Vipin Kosuhal, Nodal Officer, Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (ROTTO), PGIMER.