Medicine is now bridging borders that were once thought to be insurmountable. Shreyar , a one – year – old boy from Karachi , Pakistan , underwent an over eight – hour – long liver transplant surgery on june 19 , 2006 at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital , New Delhi , to become the youngest ever such recipient I India.

Dr. A. S Soin, a leading liver transplant surgeon performed the surgery on Shreyar. He said, “The child was born with biliary atresia, a condition in which the bile ducts of the liver are under – developed. The problem causes jaundice, pale stools and lack of digestion soon after birth. The damage liver of the child was replaced by a portion of his grandmother’s liver”.

Neelam Mohan, a liver intensivist from the hospital said that the boy had undergone a surgery when he was three months old, but it was not a successful. She added that when he came to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, his weight was just six kg, but after working on his health, his weight increased to over nine kg in six weeks – which is what it was at the time of operation.

The boy’s grandmother who donated a portion of her liver for the transplant said that since both Pakistan and India shared a close resemblance in terms of food , way of life and language , they never faced any kind of inconvenience. The parents were grateful to the doctors in India for the success of their son’s operation. And said that they had drawn courage from the positive experience of another child, Safi , from Lahore , who had also undergone a success surgery in Sir Ganga Ram Hospital a few months ago.