‘India needs to bring down tax, duty on medicine imports’

Credited with conducting the first-ever liver transplant in India in 1998 and the highest number till date in the country, Dr A S Soin, said, "India has progressed a lot in this field since the time we started, but there is a dire need for the government to bring down the taxes and duties on import of certain medicines and equipments which are used in liver transplant programs to make it more cost effective."

"Though even now, if we compare the cost of the liver transplant surgery with other Asian countries such as Singapore or USA or UK, India is still more affordable. But this cost can be brought down even further if the government takes certain steps," he said while interacting with the media on the sidelines of Fortis International Liver Summit.

A leading liver transplant surgeon and chairman of Medanta Institute of Liver Transplantation and Regenerative Medicine, Gurgaon, Dr Soin said, "Cadaveric liver transplant in the country is the need of the hour and more cadaver donations should be made."

"Our team performed the first cadaveric liver transplant in 1998 at Apollo in Delhi on a 43-year-old patient. After ten days, we performed the first live liver transplant on an 18-month-old baby. Liver transplantation has picked up momentum in the past 5-6 years. At Medanta we perform around 250 liver transplants a year," he added. Medanta Institute of Liver Transplantation and Regenerative Medicine is placed at number two across the globe after Asan Medical Center, South Korea.

"The success of our liver transplant programme is evident from the fact that last year ten surgeons from abroad came to our centre for training," he said.

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