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Media Coverage of Dr. Shailesh Puntambekar and Galaxy Care Hospital
A Hospital in Pune is ready for the Procedure of India’s First Womb Transplant
Pune’s Galaxy Care Hospital is all set to perform India’s first uterine transplant on May 18. Three women suffering from different uterine complications will undergo womb transplant surgery. If the surgery is successful, all the three women can bear their own baby.
These transplants will be performed at Galaxy Care Hospital from Pune. The hospital has the license to conduct womb transplants for a period of 5 years granted by the Director of Health Services, Maharashtra. While this will be the first hospital to conduct the procedure in India, Bengaluru’s Milann Fertility Centre will perform uterine transplants in June on two women born without a uterus.
25 such transplants have been attempted around the world of which less than 10 successful post pregnancies are known. The first successful uterine transplant was carried out in Sweden in 2013.
Reacting to questions raised on a possible lapse in protocol, Dr. Shailesh Puntambekar, Medical Director, Galaxy Care Hospital, said, "They (Milann) probably did not get permission from the state authority, which is why they had to approach ICMR. They are getting a team from Sweden while we are doing it on own since we are competent." Dr. Shailesh Puntambekar is an onco surgeon who developed a laparoscopic radical hysterectomy for cervical cancer known world over as the Pune Technique.
Meanwhile, ICMR's Director-General Dr. Soumya Swaminathan said, "As this is an experimental procedure, it should be done under a research protocol. Galaxy Care Hospital appear to be going ahead with it as a patient treatment with approval from local health authorities. ICMR does not have the mandate to interfere at this stage."
The procedure
Uterus from a live donor (In Pune’s case, the donors are their mothers) will be transplanted. The procedure is expected to take about 10 hours, and has a high chance of rejection.
For six months after the surgery, patients will be monitored closely. Depending on their health, fertilized embryos will be transferred into the uterus via IVF procedure.
