Kolkata's IPGMER SSKM Hospital (Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research and Seth Sukhlal Karnani Memorial Hospital) became the first hospital in Eastern India to perform hand transplant surgery. Haripada Rana, 43, who suffered severe injuries in a road accident was declared brain dead at the SSKM trauma centre in July 2023. When informed, Haripada's family came forward to donate his organs including hands. This marked the tenth deceased organ donation of the year in West Bengal.

A 27-year-old youth who had lost both arms below the elbows due to an electrical burn received the bilateral hand transplant. He was one of the eight potential candidates listed by SSKM for transplant procedure. The hospital stated that the hand-transplant team at SSKM spent seven months looking for a suitable donor and a family willing for hand donation. A team of around twenty-five doctors, including orthopaedic and plastic surgeons, anaesthetists, were involved in the transplant procedure.

SSKM Hospital is the third public medical college and hospital in India to successfully perform a hand transplant procedure, following JIPMER in Puducherry and Stanley Medical College in Chennai. It was stated that the annual cost of immunosuppressive medications would be covered by the state government.