Command Hospital, Western Command, has successfully performed its first live renal transplant, marking a milestone in the military healthcare system. In a moving gesture of familial sacrifice, a mother donated her kidney to her daughter, the wife of a serving Indian Army soldier who had been dependent on dialysis.
The complex procedure was carried out by a multidisciplinary team of specialists, highlighting the hospital’s growing capability in advanced organ transplant surgery. The transplant adds to India’s reliance on live-related donations, which account for more than 90% of kidney transplants nationally, according to a report by the Indian Journal of Nephrology.
The operation comes at a time when India continues to face a severe organ shortage, with the country’s organ donation rate standing at only 0.65 per million people, as reported by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO). Family-led donations remain a vital lifeline for thousands of patients awaiting transplants.
Command Hospital Western Command was recognized in 2024 as the ‘Best Emerging National Transplant Retrieval Hospital,’ an honor reflecting its steady progress, with 75 transplants conducted since 2014. The latest surgery reinforces its leadership in critical care and organ retrieval within the armed forces’ medical network.
Global examples such as the robotic-assisted kidney transplant between a mother and daughter in Louisiana earlier this year underline the medical significance of such operations. A study published in The Lancet estimates a 10-year graft survival rate of 85% for live-donor kidney transplants, offering hope for long-term recovery and improved quality of life.
This success story at Command Hospital not only boosts morale among military families but also signals a broader push for surgical excellence in military medicine, inspiring further innovation and improved access to complex procedures across India’s defense healthcare system.
