A few months ago, Avtar Singh came to PGI with hope. His six-year-old Honey was not well. Doctors at the hospital examined Honey and gave up — the child requires a liver transplant, a procedure not available at PGI.

Two years ago, PGI had proposed to set up facilities for a liver transplant. But despite the Centre’s nod, the procedure remains in the ‘pipeline’.

A hospital spokesperson Manju Wadwalkar says plan to offer liver transplant is in the “pipeline but no exact dates can be given”.

The Centre has already given a go-ahead to upgrade the hospital’s Liver ICU for the purpose. Doctors say a liver transplant facility is needed, as liver failure cases are on a rise due to high alcohol consumption in the region. Every year, three to four per cent of cases are that of liver failure at PGI.

Though officials at PGI say the programme is “on” and would take some more time, time is running out for little Honey and his father, a resident of Daddu Majra.

Doctors say in the present condition, the child does not have more a month left. But Avtar Singh is helpless: the cost of a liver transplant outside the city is beyond his reach. “We came to PGI, thinking my son would get the treatment here. He was admitted in the hospital. But now they say we will have to take him to Delhi for a transplant,” says the father, a driver who earns Rs 3,500 per month. “And then his condition is fast deteriorating.

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