Commemorative Postage Stamp on Liver Transplantation in India released on 4th November 2014.

The Department of Posts released a commemorative postage stamp on Liver Transplantation in India on 4th November 2014 on the occasion of 15 years of Liver Transplantation in India. The commemorative postage stamp was released by Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Hon'ble Minister of Communications & IT in a function held at Hotel Lalit, New Delhi. Shri S. K. Sinha, Member, Postal Services Board and Dr. Prathap C. Reddy, Chairman Apollo Hospitals Group were present in the function. 

The only definite treatment for liver failure is a liver transplantation. During a liver transplant, the diseased liver is removed and replaced with a healthy one. The first successful Liver Transplantation was performed on a child in 1967. Since then, there has been tremendous progress in the complicated process of liver transplantation, which in 1983 was confirmed to be a valid procedure in cases of end stage liver disease (ESLD), in a consensus by the National Institutes of Health. The first successful liver transplantation in India was performed at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi on 15th November, 1998 and since then around 4,500 such transplants has been done in the country.

The liver performs various functions that are essential for the well being of the body. Two types of liver transplant are possible: living donor transplant and cadaveric transplant. In living donor transplant, a portion of the liver is removed from a healthy person and placed into the patient. Since the liver has the capacity to regenerate, both the donor and the recipient liver portions grow to a normal size in a few weeks. In a cadaveric transplant the donor is a brain dead person.