President Kovind addresses 10th foundation day of Institute of Liver & Biliary Sciences

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : The President of India Ram Nath Kovind while addressing the tenth foundation day of the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) and the seventh convocation ceremony in New Delhi on January 15, 2020,said that in India, we need about two lakh liver transplants a year while only a few thousand are done every year.

President Kovind said there is need to establish liver transplant programmes in more public hospitals and ILBS can provide necessary expertise in this regard. But perhaps most crucial is to encourage organ donation and spread awareness about it. There is a huge gap between the requirement and availability of organs needed for saving lives, he said. The dearth of donors results mainly from lack of awareness about organ donation. He urged ILBS to prepare a roadmap suggesting ways to encourage Liver donation, to improve the related procedures and protocols, and to strengthen the infrastructure needed to support a higher number of Liver transplants than is currently possible, according to a PIB release.

The President said that the growing incidence of liver diseases is also linked to our unhealthy lifestyles. He noted that at present nearly one out of four Indians have fatty liver and may be ten per cent of them have liver diseases due to excessive body fat. He said that this condition is known to be a precursor to development of diabetes and heart disease. And diabetics have greater incidence of liver disease than others. It is for institutes like ILBS to take up research that can clarify the linkages between our lifestyle and liver diseases. That would help in developing a preventive care system based in lifestyle changes.