Another kidney transplant, March 18
Mere days after the Guyana Kidney Foundation (GKF) was launched, renal failure patient Gopinauth Rampersaud, 34, of Race Course, Corriverton, Berbice, will undergo transplantation surgery at the Dr. Balwant Singh Hospital. Mr. Rampersaud, a bank clerk, diagnosed with the life-threatening illness, is also suffering from severe anaemia, weakness and fatigue, according to Dr. Rahul Jindal, Walter Reed Army Medical Centre, Washington, DC, transplant specialist.

Dr. Jindal, who has distinguished himself locally as having performed the first four ever transplants in Guyana (Munesh Mangal, Mohammed Hussain, Jairaj Singh, Winston George), will also arrive with his team on Wednesday, for surgery Friday.
Gopinauth’s brother, Kapildeo, 32, a mechanic, will donate his kidney.

Reacting to the news of the newly launched GKF, Dr. Jindal, speaking from his Washington office, said, “This is a positive step and I welcome it. It is always good to bring like-minded people together. Creating such headquarters of social networking is the beginning of a dynamic education process.

“Former Army Major Winston George, a former patient of mine, has been working closely with a number of institutions and patients to establish such a public awareness programme.  Now, with the GKF also, it would be much more organized and the process of passing on information from doctors, health care professionals and the patients and their family themselves will be extremely beneficial,” said Dr. Jindal.

Dr. Jindal also disclosed that apart from Gopinauth Rampersaud, there are nine other patients who require urgent surgery, but “because this is a long and delicate process, we have to be cautious on all fronts and proceed with one case a time.”
“ I am hoping to have as many as 20 such surgeries per year and that’s why, given the opportunity, we are introducing new doctors to the system so they can become familiar with the Guyanese environment and be able to later take one more than one case per visit.”

Dr. Jindal will be accompanied by Dr. Arthur Womble, Dr. Guy Stephen, Dr. Alden Doyle and Ms. Tara Farley. Mr. George Subraj is again providing funding for the team and also the medication for pre-and-post surgery.

Hospital expenses will be borne by Mahendra Jainarine and other well-wishers.

“I also welcome the news of the launching of the Guyana Kidney Foundation. This will bring about the much-needed awareness; and through education from a functional, organized body, much can be achieved,” said the Guyanese-born philanthropist, Mr. Subraj, in New York.

“I believe any kind of help and assistance one can dispense to the sick and needy should be done. And it is not only for kidney problems but every other disease that alters the normal functioning of the human body. But most importantly I am ever so glad this has come about because for many years Guyana has been paying large sums to export her patients overseas. These costs are not only prohibitive but difficult to realize. Now that we are beginning to see that Guyana has the potential to do all of this internally I am hoping this will be fully explored in the other areas of health care also,” said the former Bel Air resident.

Dr. Jindal who also introduced peritoneal dialysis to Guyana last year; and was recently part of the ground-breaking team in the USA to have performed the Islet Cell Transplant(*see related story), said that Guyana kidney cases are beginning to mount and serious efforts should be made to arrest the situation.

“When George Subraj and I went there in 2008 we were told that Guyanese do not suffer from this disease now there are about 200 cases and this is alarming. With Guyana’s population being under a million such numbers would reveal about 45 new cases per year and with those from the previous cases untreated the number will continue to mount. So it is necessary that proper plans be put in place,” he said.

Asked if he would share his knowledge with the local fraternity he said, “this is what I have been doing all the time. Recently, the ministry suspended their programme to put better systems in place. While this is being done Subraj and his team continue to work. And this I am doing also. This is all pro bono work; and my colleagues and I are happy to assist,” said the soft-speaking Indian-American.

In the meantime Dr. Jindal said that Gopinauth’s surgery is eminent as his funds have deteriorated. “Without transplant his life would be cut short. Thankfully, the Ministry Of Health provided him with some 10 dialysis sessions but even this has evaporated. End stage renal failure is a very, very costly disease, that is why organizations such as the GKF are necessary.

“We will be screening new patients over the weekend at Dr. Balwant Singh’s Hospital  and look forward to all the support we can get,” he concluded.