Pakistani teen undergoes liver transplant in India

Madiha Tariq, 16, had no hope of survival when she slipped into a coma after she collapsed in her school in Lahore in January due to acute liver failure.

However, an air ambulance from Delhi brought the young Pakistani student to India and saved her life.

Madiha underwent a liver transplant at New Delhi’s Indraprastha Apollo Hospital where a team of 18 doctors operated upon her and her brother Rizwan donated almost half his liver to her on February 3.

Madiha, who had developed acute liver failure due to Hepatitis A, was off the ventilator within 24 hours after the surgery and had started eating the next day. Over the following weeks, her condition improved and she is now ready to fly home to Pakistan.

“Sending an air ambulance to Pakistan, arranging for visas for the entire family and taking a decision on the transplant took around 48 hours, which was very crucial,” said Anupam Sibal, a senior pediatric gastro-enterologist, at the Apollo Hospital.

“This is the first time the Apollo Hospital has sent an air ambulance to a foreign country to pick up a liver transplant patient,” Sibal said.

He said that the entire government machinery in both India and Pakistan had been extremely helpful.

Neerav Goyal, who operated upon Madiha’s brother Rizwan, 25, said undergoing a donor surgery was a major procedure.

According to Madiha, her experience in Delhi had strengthened her desire to become a doctor.

The girl’s mother and brother were grateful to the Indian doctors for giving Madiha a second life.

“With this transplant, the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital completed 350 liver transplant cases of Pakistani patients,” Sibal said.

“Pakistani patients form the second largest chunk of patients from any country after India, who have undergone successful liver transplants in our hospital,” he said.

He added that the hospital has conducted 1,281 liver transplants of children and adults since 1998.