A city-based doctor made the way for the first living donor intestine transplant surgery in Singapore. The patient, a 7-year-old girl, was born with rare intestinal pseudo-obstruction or the inability of the muscles to contract by birth as well as multiple liver complications, but couldn’t undergo the surgery due to lack of clinical expertise in the country. Dr Gaurav Chaubal from Global Hospital, who has successfully operated two such cases prior to this, was contacted and flown into the country for the surgery, giving the child a new lease of life.

The 7-year-old had been unable to eat since birth and was put on Total Parenteral Nutrition, which involves the management of macro and micronutrients, fluids, and electrolytes via the central vein. Her health deteriorated further and the only option left was an intestine transplant. As part of the surgery on March 26, 150 cms of terminal ileum—the most distal segment of the small intestine—was resected from the girl’s father and was transplanted into her after removing the dysfunctional bowel. Doctors said that the transplanted bowels looked healthy a day after the surgery.