Bhubaneswar: AIIMS Bhubaneswar has marked a historic milestone in tertiary healthcare by successfully conducting its first liver transplant on 20 December 2025, reaffirming its commitment to delivering advanced and life-saving medical services to the people of Odisha and neighbouring states.

The Liver Transplant Programme at AIIMS Bhubaneswar conceptualised in 2023, under the visionary leadership of Executive Director Prof. (Dr.) Ashutosh Biswas, received the official license to initiate the programme in the same year. As a major step forward, the Liver Transplant Outpatient Department (OPD) became operational on 21st February 2025. Further strengthening transplant services, a 10-bedded, highly sophisticated transplant Intensive Care Unit (ICU) has been fully operational since November 2025.

Executive Director Dr. Ashutosh Biswas congratulating the entire transplant team has reiterated the commitment of providing new innovative procedures and services to the people of Odisha as well as the country. 

The liver transplant recipient is recovering well, and the near-related donor, the recipient’s younger brother, has also made an uneventful recovery and was discharged earlier this week. The liver transplant recipient is a 37-year-old individual from Pipili, Puri District, Odisha. The donor is a 30-year-old male, the recipient’s own brother, who voluntarily donated a portion of his liver purely out of love and affection, without any financial or material consideration. The surgery team comprised of more than 50 members, took 14 hours to complete the process, said Dr. Biswas.

To ensure excellence and sustainable capacity building, AIIMS Bhubaneswar entered into a MoU with the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS), New Delhi, the country’s premier public sector institute dedicated exclusively to liver and biliary diseases.

The liver transplant surgery was performed by the Department of Surgical Gastroenterology, led by Dr. Brahmadatta Pattanaik, Head – GI & Liver Transplant Surgery, along with Dr. Tanmay Datta and Dr. Sunita Gupta, under the mentored guidance of Prof. Dr. Vinayendra Pamecha, Head of Liver Transplant Surgery, ILBS, New Delhi, and his expert team. Dr. Subrat Kumar Sahoo, a trained paediatric liver transplant surgeon, was also a key member of the surgical team.

The programme received strong institutional support from Medical Superintendent Dr. Dillip Kumar Parida, DDA Lt. Col. Abhijit Sarkar, Dr. Manoj Kumar Mohanty, Head of the Department of Paediatric Surgery and OT Committee Chairman. Expert anaesthesia support was provided by Dr. Satyajeet Misra, HOD of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care, Dr. Sritam Swarup Jena and Dr. Prasanta Kumar Das. Radiological support was ensured by Dr. Tara Prasad Tripathy and Dr. Ranjan Kumar Patel.

The patient was meticulously optimized for liver transplant surgery by the Department of Gastroenterology, led by Dr. Manas Kumar Panigrahi (HOD, Department of Gastroenterology) along with Dr. Hemanta Kumar Nayak. Comprehensive blood bank services were provided by Dr. Somanath Mukharjee (HOD), Dr. Anshuman Sahu, and their dedicated team. Nursing services played a pivotal role in the success of the transplant, under the leadership of Dr. V. Mahalingam, Nursing Superintendent, supported by a committed team of nursing and critical care nursing professionals. The organ transplantation patient counselling process has been coordinated by Mr. Deepak Narayan. Technical support was provided by the team headed by Prakash Kumar Swain. 

AIIMS Bhubaneswar is witnessing a steadily increasing waiting list of liver transplant patients, not only from Odisha but also from neighbouring states. The Liver Transplant OPD is held every Tuesday from 2:30 PM onwards, and over 200 patients have already availed OPD services this year.

The programme is supported by a dedicated multidisciplinary team, comprising liver transplant and GI surgery specialists, gastroenterologists, paediatric surgeons, transplant coordinators, counsellors, nutritionists, anaesthesiologists, radiologists, blood bank specialists, and critical care experts, underscoring AIIMS Bhubaneswar’s unwavering commitment to providing world-class, comprehensive healthcare to the region.