Boy need not go to India as liver transplant can be done in Malaysia

Putra Muhammad Ilyas Rahizal Khiri, who suffers from liver failure need not go to India for liver transplant as it can be done at government hospitals here with minimum cost.

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said as such, his family need not collect donation from the public to pay for the liver transplant.

"The family of the two year-old boy is advised to contact Selayang Hospital for more details," he said in a statement here, on Friday.

Newspapers reported on Thursday that the boy who suffered from biliary atresia needs RM150,000 to pay for the transplant scheduled in New Delhi, India in two months.

Dr Noor Hisham said liver transplant from donors who are still alive or had died had been conducted at Selayang Hospital since 2002.

The liver transplant at the hospital costs not more than RM500 while civil servants, retirees and family members of retirees do not have to pay.

About the suitability of donors, he said, living donors normally consist of immediate family members including the parents.

"Transplants that involve living donors can be done as soon as possible provided they are compatible.

Dr Noor Hisham said if no immediate family members are willing to donate the organ, the patient will be placed on the list to receive from donors who died.

Fourteen patients are waiting for liver transplant from donors who died.